THE HISTORY OF THE Irish Insurrection. AT a period when France had put an end to the Vendean war, Britain unfortunately beheld an insurrection in the bowels of the empire; and as the former contest had been fomented and prolonged by the policy of the neighbouring powers, so the present appears to have assumed a formidable shape, and even in part to have originated, in consequence of the machinations of a hostile state. THE history of no nation in Europe, perhaps, exhibits such an uniform series of misery, oppression, and misfortunes, as that of Ireland. Never acknowledging the undisputed authority of a single monarch in the early period of its history, the unhappy island was split into hostile districts; and while the various septs denounced perpetual vengeance against each other, the petty toparchs contended for superiority with all the eagerness of rivalship, and all the injustice generated by the lust of power. Nor were the people subject to the calamities of war alone; they were cruelly oppressed during the short intervals of peace, by their chieftains and tanists, whose horses and dogs they were obliged to feed, in consequence of certain exactions, denominated cosherings and sessings, which, in the strong language of a celebrated lawyer,* "made the lord an absolute tyrant, and the tenant a very slave or villain; and in one respect *Sir John Davies. B more miserable than bond-slaves; for commonly the bond-slave," says he, "is fed by his lord, but here the lord was fed by his bond-slave." ALTHOUGH often agitated in former periods, it would now be equally vain and unprofitable to enquire whether Ireland yielded by treaty, or was overcome by the sword? The fact is, that the natives were treated like a conquered people, and denied a participation in the English laws. Stigmatized as helots, even intermarriage with them was deemed a capital crime, and their murder has been more than once adjudged to be no felony. Amidst such cruel and impolitic restraints, it was not to be expected that the people would emerge from barbarity; on the contrary, they were rendered discontented and ferocious by. oppression, and three successive national insurrections, the fruits of a false and perfidious policy, prove better than any testimony, however strong, that their servitude was equally galling and ungrateful. All the bitterness of religious intolerance, in consequence of the Reformation, was superadded to civil disabilities; and a black catalogue of penal statutes exposed the unhappy Catholic to a variety of fines, mulcts, and disfranchisements, from which the more fortunate and less numerous Protestants were of course exempt. AT length, towards the close of the American war, the spirit and loyalty of an oppressed nation procured a melioration of its condition, and a milder and more liberal system began to be adopted: but this only extended at first to commercial and parliamentary independence; for even then those of the Romish faith, constituting an immense majority in point of numbers, but far inferior in respect to wealth, remained utterly bereft of their elective franchises, and subject to a variety of disadvantages. In the course of a few years more*, the exercise of * In 1792 the Irish Catholics were permitted by act of parliament, 1. To practise as barristers and attorneys; 2. To intermarry with Protestants; 3. To edu many of the social rights was restored to them; and a prospect of full redress opened on the commencement of a war which instead of relieving, entailed infinite misery upon Ireland. Yet something essential was achieved in favour of a bulk of the nation, and the glimpse of complete emancipation held out by a popular noblemant, in consequence of which supplies were voted with equal promptitude and liberality. THE sudden recal of the new viceroy, and the denial of the promised boon, unhappily became the signal for a civil war; and those who had hitherto confined themselves to constitutional remedies alone, now determined to recur to the sword. Many of the societies formed for the purpose of obtaining a redress of grievances, and a parliamentary reform, were perverted to the purposes of insurrection; while a new one, under the title of "United Irishmen," received all who were disaffected, after pledging their fidelity by the solemnity of an oath. A system of representation, founded on the customs of our Saxon ances, tors, and adopted by the venerable Alfred, was prepared, formed, and completed, by the labours of an aspiring individual‡, with a mystery equal, and an effect still more general, than the secret tribunals which at one period kept a large portion of Germany in awe. By an ascending scale of representation, from decennaries and hundreds, to baronies, pro cate youth, in the capacity of school-masters, without obtaining a license from an ordinary of the church of England; and 4. To send their children abroad for in- struction. * In consequence of a recommendation from the throne, in January, 1793, many other restrictive laws were repealed; but Catholics were still prohibited from sitting in parliament, or enjoying any of the great offices of state. Earl Fitzwilliam, then lord-lieutenant. Theobald Wolfe Tone, a Protestant, educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and a barrister, practising in the courts of law. vinces, and at length to the whole kingdom, such an interchange of opinions took place, and such a force was prepared, as had never before been witnessed in modern times, in the face of an existing government. AT the head of the whole presided a directory of five*, possessing unbounded influence over all, but known only to a few: the members consisted partly of Catholics, and partly of Protestants; some of them had been in parliament, and were either sprung from, or connected with, the first families of the kingdom, and they were all noted for their abilities. These, dazzled with the success of America and France, and warmed with the theories of the day, conceived the romantic idea of shaking off all dependence upon England, converting the monarchy into a republic, and effecting a complete toleration in respect to religion; but neither the state of the country nor of the people was calculated for such a change. It was determined, however, to attempt it; and the executive, which had its ambassador at Paris, and whose diplomatic agents were supposed to have some influence on the late negociations at Lisle, was at length resolved to try its strength with the established government, aided by all the wealth and all the power of GreatBritain. So conscious were the members indeed of their own power, and so much did they dread the ifluence of foreign domination, that they expressly stipulated with their ally on the continent, for a certain limited assistance onlyt. * Lord Edward Fitzgerald, brother to the duke of Leinster; Mr. Arthur O'Connor, nephew of lord Longueville, descended from Roderic O'Connor, king of Connaught; Mr. Oliver Bond, a reputable manufacturer of Dublin; Mr. Emmet, a barrister of considerable eloquence; and Dr. M'Neven a physician, and a man of great talents, who acted for some time as the secretarygeneral to the executive. + Report of the secret committee of the house of come mons. |