in its birth the warlike spirit of the Volunteers), wore scarlet and white; other people. In May, 1779, we find a letter of Lord Buckinghamshire to Lord Weymouth, which clearly proves the fears and hypocrisy of Government, and the alarming progress of the armament. "Upon receiving official intimation that the enemy meditated an attack upon the northern parts of Ireland, the inhabitants of Belfast and Carrickfergus, as Government could not immediately afford a greater force for their protection than about sixty troopers, armed themselves, and by degrees formed themselves into two or three companies; the spirit diffused itself into different parts of the kingdom, and the numbers became considerable, but in no degree to the amount represented. Discouragement has, however, been given on my part, as far as might be without offence at a crisis when the arm and good-will of every individual might have been wanting for the defence of the state." Lord Buckinghamshire, in another part of the same letter, attributes the rapid increase in the ranks of the Volunteers to an idea that was entertained amongst the people that their numbers would conduce to the attainment of political advantages for their country. All motives conduced to the same end, and that end--the armed organization of Ireland-was rapidly approaching. The fire of the people, and their anxiety to enter the ranks of the national army, may be judged from the fact, that in September, 1779, the return of the Volunteers in the counties of Antrim and Down, and in and near Coleraine, amounted to: regiments of Irish Brigades wore scarlet faced with green, and their motto was " Vor populi suprema lex est; the Goldsmith's corps, commanded by the Duke of Leinster, wore blue, faced with scarlet and a professional profusion of gold lace. The "Irish Volunteers" were at first a Protestant organization exclusively. It was only by degrees and with extreme jealousy that its ranks were afterwards opened to those of the proscribed race It might seem, indeed, that the Catholics would have been justified in taking ro interest in the movement, and that they had little to hope from any change. They were not yet citizens, and if permitted to breathe in Ireland, it was by connivance, and against the law. Even the most zealous of the new Volunteers, who were now springing to arms for defence of Ireland, were, with some illustrious exceptions, their most determined and resolute foes. But, plunged in poverty and ignorance as they were, despoiled of rank, and arms, and votes, they yet seem to have felt instinctively that a movement for Irish independence, if successful, must end in their emancipation. They had grown numerous, and many of them rich, in the midst of persecution; and, notwithstanding the penal laws against education, many of the Catholics were in truth the best educated and accomplished persons in the island. These instructed and thoughtful Catholics could see very well-what Grattan also saw, but what most Cromwellian squires and Williamite peers could not see-that if Ireland should still pretend "to stand upon her smaller end," she would not long stand against England. Then they were naturally a warlike race; and, it must be added to their credit, that the late small and peddling relaxations in the Penal Code, urged on by the British minister in order to conciliate them to the English interest, had signally failed. The English interest, as they felt, was the great and necessary enemy of all Ireland, and of every one of its inhabitants, and so it was very soon apparent that the armed Protestant Volunteers would have at their back the two millions of Catholic Irish. The uniforms of the Volunteers were very various, and of all the colours of the There is in the dark records of the rainbow. The uniform of the Lawyer's depravity of the Government of that day corps was scarlet and blue, their motto, a singular document, which, while it "Pro aris et fucis;" the Attorney's regi-attests the patriotism and zeal of the ment of Volunteers was scarlet and Catholics, illustrates the base and vile Pomona green; a corps called the Irish spirit which repelled their loyalty and Brigade, and composed principally of Catholics, (after the increasing liberality of the day had permitted them to become refused their aid. The Earl of Tyrone wrote to one of the Beresfords, a member of that grasping patrician family, which HISTORY OF IRELAND. had long ruled the country,* that the rian, or revolutionary movement. Thus, Catholics in their zeal were forming they adopted a system of officering their themselves into independent companies, army, which gave a pledge that no anarand had actually begun their organiza- chical idea had place in their thoughts. tion; but that, seeing the variety of con- The soldiers elected their own commandsequences which would attend such an ers; and whom, says MacNevin, whom event, he had found it his duty to stop did they choose? "Whom did this demoNot the low their movement! Miserable Government cratic army select to rule their councils -unable to discharge its first duty of and direct their power? defence, and trembling to depute them to ambitious-not the village vulgar brawler the noble and forgiving spirit of a gallant-but the men who, by large possessions, people! The Catholics of Limerick, lofty character, and better still, by virtue forbidden the use of arms, subscribed and and by genius, had given to their names made a present of £800 to the treasury of a larger patent than nobility. Flood and Grattan, Charlemont and Leinster-the the Volunteers. chosen men in all the liberal professions During all this time "the Castle" looked on in silent alarm. Even so late as May, the orators who led the Patriot party 1779, when the Volunteer companies num- in the House of Commons-the good, the bered probably twenty thousand men, the high, the noble; these were the officers lord-lieutenant gravely considered whether who held unpurchased honours in the Voit were still possible to disperse and disarm lunteers. We may well look back, with them by force. In one of his letters to mournful pride, through the horrid chaos Lord Weymouth† he says-"The seizing where rebellion and national ruin rule the of their arms would have been a violent murky night, to this one hour of glory expedient, and the preventing them from-of power uncorrupted, and opportuniassembling without a military force im-ties unabused." practicable; for when the civil magistrate will rarely attempt to seize an offender suspected of the most enormous crimes, and when convicted, convey him to the place of execution without soldiers; nay, when in many instances persons cannot be put into possession of their property, nor, being possessed, maintain it without such assistance, there is little presumption in asserting, that, unless bodies of troops had been universally dispersed, nothing could have been done to effect this. My accounts state the number of corps as not some exceeding eight thousand men, without arms, and in the whole, very few who are liable to a suspicion of disaffection." But in the next month, the same viceroy communicates to the same minister, that, by advice of the Privy Council of Ireland, he had supplied the Volunteers with part of the arms intended for the militia. This was really giving up the island into the hands of the Volunteers. The leaders of that force at once felt that they might do what they would with Ireland-for a time. After the delivery of the arms, the numbers of Volunteers rapidly and greatly increased. ‡ But a spirit of great moderation reigned over the councils of this armed nation. It was, in the hands of those leaders, anything rather than a republican, or agra May 28, 1779. Grattan's Life: cited by Mac- † May 24, 1779. It is difficult to arrive at any accurate statement of the numbers of the Volunteers within the first year of their organization. There have been both exaggerative and depreciative estimates. We have seen that the lord-lieutenant, in June, 1779, had supposed their force to be only 8000; yet in the very next month had yielded to them a demand which it would have been vitally important to the Government to refuse them. And as will be always the case, where the money of Government can command the venal crew of writers, the most elaborate falsehood and the most insulting ridicule were poured upon the heads of those by whose exertions the national cause was so nobly maintained. In Lloyd's Evening Post, an article appeared on the 7th of July, stating that the numbers of the Volunteers had been monstrously exaggerated; that no call could bring into the field twenty thousand men; that persons of all ages were enrolled and put on paper; that every gentleman belonged to two, and most of them to five or six different corps, and that by this ubiquity and divisibility of person, the muster-rolls of the companies were swelled. Doubtlessly there was some exaggeration in the representation of the numbers occasionally made; but a competent authority, commenting on this article, states, that at this time there were 95,000. In the ranks of the Volunteers there were, in point of fact, very many Catholics 16.000 stand of arms were delivered to the from a very early period of the movement; Volunteers at this time. but they were there by connivance, as they were everywhere else. But in the next year, after meetings of Volunteers had passed resolutions in favour of Catholic rights, the young men of that religion began to swell the numbers of many corps. Some corps were composed altogether of Catholics: and when the Dungannon Convention came, the Volunteer army was at least 75,000 strong. During the summer of 1799, an event occurred, which immensely stimulated the volunteering spirit:-the combined fleets of France and Spain entered the Channel in overwhelming force, which the British could not venture to encounter the vessels passing between England and Ireland were placed under the protection of convoys; Paul Jones, with his little squadron, fought and captured, within sight of the English coast, the Serapis, man-of-war, and Scarborough frigate, with many vessels under their convoy; in short, there was another alarm of invasion, both in England and in Ireland. MacNevin, in his History of the Volunteers, says with a cool naïveté, which is charming, that this "was fortunate for the reputation of the Volunteers, for the purpose of establishing their fidelity to the original principle of their body," which principle was defence of the country against a foreign enemy. Most of the Volunteers knew well that their only foreign enemy was England, and that France, Spain, and America would have been most happy to deliver them from that enemy. They knew, also, that the only use of the Volunteer force, in practice, was likely to be the wrestling of their national independence from England. However, the new alarm aided, and seemed to justify the volunteering. Therefore, the delegates of 125 corps of Volunteers, all of them men of rank and character, waited on the lord-lieutenant with offers of service in such manner as shall be thought necessary for the safety and protection of the kingdom.' The offer was accepted, but very coldly, and without naming "Volunteers." tory nullification of Poyning's Law, which required the Irish Parliament to submit the heads of their bills to the English Privy Council before they could presume to pass them-these were, in few words, the two great objects which the leaders of the Volunteers kept now steadily before them. It must be here observed, that the idea and the term "free trade," as then understood in Ireland, did not represent what the political economists now call free trade. What was sought, was a release from those restrictions on Irish trade imposed by an English Parliament, and for the profit of the English people This did not mean that imports and ex ports should be free of all duty to the state, but only that the fact of import or export itself should not be restrained by foreign laws, and that the duties to be derived from it should be imposed by Ireland's own Parliament, and in the sole interest of Ireland herself. This distinction is the more important to be observed, because modern "free traders” in Ireland and in England have sometimes appealed to the authority of the enlightened men who then governed the Volunteer movement as an authority in favour of abolishing import and export duties. The citation is by no means applicable. The first measure to convince England that Ireland was entitled to an unrestricted trade, was the "non-importation agreement," which many of the Volunteer corps, as well as town corporations, solemnly adopted by resolutions, during the year 1779. Although there were frequent debates in the British Parlia ment this year on the subject of modifying the laws prohibiting the export of cottons, woollens, and provisions, from Ireland, yet it was but too plain that the rapacious spirit of British commerce, and the menacing, almost frantic, opposition given to all consideration of such measure, by petitions, which sounded more like threats, coming from the great centres of trade in England, Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool, and Bristol, would render all redress hopeless from that quarter. The non-importation agreements became popular, and the people of many towns and counties were steadily refusing to wear or use in their houses any kind of wares coming from England. The town of Galway had the honour of leading the way in this movement: the example was immediately followed by corps of Volunteers in many counties; and as the VolunArming.-Reviews.-Charlemont.-Briberies of teers were already the fashion, women Buckingham.-Carlisle.-Viceroy. CHAPTER XIX. Free Trade and Free Parliament.-Meaning of Free Trade."-Non-importation agreements Rage of the English-Grattan's motion for free trade.-Hussey Burgh.-Thanks to the Volunteers.-Parade in Dublin.-Lord North yields. -Free Trade Act.-Next step.-Mutiny Bill The 19th of April-Declaration of Kight.-De feated in Parliament, but successful in the country.-General determination.-Organizing. To force from reluctant England a Free sustained their patriotic resolution, and ladies of wealth began to clothe themselves exclusively in Irish fabrics. The resolutions are not uniform in their tenor. in Great Britain to attend to the comAt a general meeting of the Freemen and plaints of that country, different indeed Freeholders of the city of Dublin, con- from that which Ireland had hitherto vened by public notice, these resolutions experienced. were passed: "Resolved, That the unjust, illiberal, and impolitic opposition given by many selfinterested people of Great Britain to the proposed encouragement of the trade and commerce of this kingdom, originated in avarice and ingratitude. The feeling of Government on the subject of non-importation was one of great irritation, and their partisans in Parliament did not hesitate to give bitter utterance to their hatred of the Volunteers and of the commercial movement. Lord Shelburne, in May, 1779, called the Irish army an "enraged mob;" but the phrase was infelicitous, and told only half the truth. They were enraged, but they "Resolved, That we will not, directly or indirectly, import or use any goods or wares, the produce or manufactures of Great Britain, which can be produced or were not a mob. They had no one quality manufactured in this kingdom, till an of a mob. They had discipline, arms, and a enlightened policy, founded on principles military system. Their ranks were filled of justice, shall appear to actuate the with gentlemen, and officered by nobles. inhabitants of certain manufacturing But such expressions as Lord Shelburne's towns of Great Britain, who have taken so active a part in opposing the regulations proposed in favour of the trade of Ireland; and till they appear to entertain sentiments of respect and affection for their fellow-subjects of this kingdom." Shortly after the assizes at Waterford, the high sheriff, grand jury, and a number of the most respectable inhabitants, assembled for the purpose of taking into consideration the ruinous state of the trade and manufactures, and the alarming decline in the value of the staple commodities of the kingdom; and looking upon it as an indispensable duty that they owed their country and themselves, to restrain, by every means in their power, these growing evils, they passed and signed the following resolutions : were of great advantage. They kept clearly, in bold relief, the ancient and irremovable feeling of Englishmen, and the contemptous falsehood of their estimate of the Irish people. In the same spirit, the organ of Government wrote to the central authority in England on the subject of the non-importation agreement :-" For some days past, the names of the traders who appear by the printed returns of the custom-house to have imported any English goods, have been printed in the Dublin newspaper. This is probably calculated for the abominable purpose of drawing the indignation of the mob upon individuais, and is supposed to be the act of the meanest of the faction."* When the lord-lieutenant penned this paragraph, he did not, assuredly, remember "Resolved, That we, our families, and the meanness of the manufacturers and all whom we can influence, shall from traders of his own country, or the this day wear and make use of the manu- measures adopted by the English Parliafactures of this country, and this country ment, at their dictation, to crush the only, until such time as all partial restric- trade and paralyze the industry of this tions on our trade, imposed by the country. The retaliation was just, and illiberal and contracted policy of our no means that could have been adopted sister kingdom, be removed; but if, in could equal the atrocity of the conduct of consequence of this our resolution, the the English towns to the productive inmanufacturers (whose interest we have dustry of Ireland. Englishmen had a more immediately under consideration) | Parliament obedient to the dictates of the should act fraudulently, or combine to impose upon the public, we shall hold ourselves no longer bound to countenance and support them. "Resolved, That we will not deal with any merchant or shopkeeper who shall, at any time hereafter, be detected in imposing any foreign manufacture as the manufacture of this country." Resolutions of this kind became general in consequence of which efforts the manufactures of Ireland began to revive, and the demand for British goods in a great measure decreased, a circumstance which tended to produce a disposition encroaching spirit of English trade-the Irish people had not as yet established their freedom nor armed themselves with the resistless weapon of free institutions. They were obliged to legislate for themselves, and were justified by the exigency in adopting any means to enforce the national will. It seems strange that it should be necessary to defend the measure of holding up to scorn the traitors who could expose in their shops articles of foreign consumption, every article of which was a representative of their *Letter of the lord-lieutenant to Lord Weymouth, May, 1779. scanned the opposition benches. They saw that something would be done embarrassing to their system and to them; but they could not anticipate the blow that was ready for their heads, or that their fiercest foe would be a placeman in their ranks. An address was proposed by Sir Robert Deane, a drudge of Government, re-echoing, in servility, the the vague generalities of the speech. Grattan then rose to propose his amendment: "That we beseech his majesty to believe that it is with the utmost reluctance we presume to approach his royal person with even the smallest appearance of dissatisfaction; but that the distress of this kingdom is such as renders it an indispensable duty in us to lay the melancholy state of it before his majesty, and to point out what we apprehend to be the only effectual means of relief; that the constant drain of its cash to supply absentees, and the fetters on its commerce, have always been sufficient to prevent this country from becoming opulent in its circumstances, but that those branches of trade which have hitherto enabled it to struggle with the difficulties it labours under, have now almost totally failed; that its commercial credit is sunk, all its resources are decaying rapidly, and numbers of its most industrious inhabitants country's impoverishment and decay. But the English press denounced it as the policy of savages, and pointed out the Irish people to the contumely of Europe. At the same time, the English manufacturers, ever careless of present sacrifices to secure permanent advantages, flooded the country towns with the accumulated products of the woollen manufacture, which, owing to the war and other causes, had remained on their hands. They offered these goods to the small shopkeepers at the lowest possible prices, and desired them to name their own time for payment; and they partially succeeded in inducing many of the low and embarrassed servitors of trade, through their necessities, and by the seductive promise of long credit, to become traitors to the cause of Irish industry. The Volunteers and the leaders of the movement were equally active on their side. The press, the pulpit, and the ball-room, were enlisted in the cause of native industry. The scientific institutions circulated gratuitously tracts on the improvement of manufacture-on the modes adopted in the continental manufacturing districts, and on the economy of production. Trade revived; the manufacturers who had thronged the city of Dublin, the ghastly apparitions of decayed industry, found employment provided for them by the pain danger of perishing for want; that as triotism and spirit of the country; the long as they were able to flatter themproscribed goods of England remained selves that the progress of those evils unsold, or only sold under false colours might be stopped by their own efforts, by knavish and profligate retailers; the they were unwilling to trouble his majesty country enjoyed some of the fruits of free- upon the subject of their distress; but, dom before she obtained freedom herself. finding that they increase upon them, The session of the Irish Parliament of notwithstanding all their endeavours, they 1779-80 had been looked forward to with are at last obliged to have recourse to his profound interest; and it opened with majesty's benignity and justice, and most storiny omens. The speech from the lord-humbly to acquaint him that, in their lieutenant contained more than the usual opinion, the only effectual remedy that quantity of inexplicit falsehood and can be applied to the sufferings of this. diplomatic subterfuge. The address in kingdom, that can either invigorate its reply was its echo, or would have been, credit or support its people, is to open its but that Henry Grattan, he who was ports for the exportation of all its manufacabove all others, the man of his day,tures; that it is evident to every unpremoved his celebrated amendment. The judiced mind that Great Britain would speech of the viceroy had alluded with derive as much benefit from this measure skilful obscurity to certain liberal inten- as Ireland itself, but that Ireland cannot tions of the king on the subject of trade: subsist without it; and that it is with the but there was no promise for hope to rest utmost grief they find themselves under upon; it was vague and without meaning. the necessity of again acquainting his This was not what the spirit of the hour majesty that, unless some happy change or the genius of the men would endure. in the state of its affairs takes place They felt the time had come to strike without delay, it must inevitably be with mortal blow the whole system of reduced to remain a burden upon England, English tyranny, and to give freedom and instead of increasing its resources, or security to the trade and industry of affording the assistance which its natural Ireland. affection for that country, and the inWhen the speech was read in the Com.timate connection between their interests, mons, the English interest anxiously have always inclined it to offer.” |