Wright, History of Ireland

Mr. Hume, having directed much of his attention to the affairs of Ireland, embodied one of his plans, in the course of the present session, in four resolution; the object of which was to declare, that the property of all ecclesiastical bodies in the church of Ireland was public property, and might, by right, be appropriated to any other public purpose which parliament might deem fit; to inquire whether the church, as established in that part of the United Kingdom, was not more than commensurate, both in the incomes and numbers of its clergy, with the wants of the country, and whether a reduction might not be of advantage to the country at large; and to assert that the peace and best interests of Ireland would be promoted by a commutation of the tithes, both lay and clerical, not overlooking the vested interests of the present possessors. It is singular, that every one of these principles has, since the passing of the catholic emancipation bill, been advocated by the leaders of the whig party; lord John Russell having, in 1834, been defeated on an appropriation clause precisely similar in principle to the first of these: the second his lordship partially carried out by the suppression of two of the Irish bishoprics; and the third was, in subsequent years, fully effectuated by sir Robert Peel. But, in 1823, the doctrines advocated by Mr. Hume were considered so extreme, that he met with a vehement opposition, Mr. Peel and Mr. Plunkett being his chief opponents they holding that the effect of the resolutions, if adopted by parliament, would he to prepare the way for the downfall of the hierarchy; and the overthrow of the throne must follow as a necessary consequence. Mr. Goulburn in part provided for the mischief complained of by Mr. Hume, by bringing in a bill for the amendment of the law of the previous year and regulating that interminable source of discontent - the tithes, The object of the present hill was to facilitate the working of the machinery of the act of the year before, by enabling the owner and the payer of tithes to enter into a composition, through the agency of a commissioner, chosen, not only with the consent but under the sanction of the lord lieutenant, who was empowered to direct a special vestry to be held, and whose business it was, in the first instance, to discuss with the incumbent the necessity or advisability of entering into a composition at all. If they agreed, the incumbent, on his part, and the vestry, on their part, were each to appoint a commissioner to assess the value; notice being given to the bishop of the diocese, the church-wardens of the parish, and to the office of the secretary of state The bill soon became the law of the land, but proved to be almost totally inoperative for its avowed object, that of tranquillizing the country.

On the 19th of June, the duke of Devonshire submitted a motion to the house of lords, embodying resolutions to the effect, that on a review of the documents which had been laid before parliament by royal authority, it appeared that very serious disturbances prevailed in Ireland, and that it was incumbent upon their lordships to take into their serious consideration the causes of those evils, with a view to provide a remedy. The motion was very ably debated on both sides. A complete retrospect of the whole state and history of the country was taken; lords King, Holland, and other leading peers of the whig party, advocating an adoption of some immediate measures, asserting that the entire course of policy pursued by the government had been only of a repressive and coercive character, the effect of which had been to throw the whole of the public influence into the hands of the members of the orange lodges, while nothing of encouragement to good conduct had been held out to the Irish people This was stoutly denied by the members of the ministry and their adherents. The insurrection act and other measures of repression, it was true, they said, had been numerous; but then it was to be recollected, that they had only been originally passed for short periods, and had only been resumed upon the renewal of offensive acts by the insurgent population. Lords Liverpool and Limerick, and especially the lord chancellor, pressed these points with great pertinacity, and the motion was ultimately lost, the numbers, on the division, being 59 for, and 135 against it. The partisans of the catholic party were not slow to take advantage of every chance of implicating the government. On the 25th of June, Mr. Brougham, having presented a petition to the commons, signed by 2,000 Catholics, complaining of the partial administration of justice in Ireland, made a motion for inquiry, adducing several instances to show that it was a common practice to suborn the under-sheriffs of counties to delay or withhold writs on the suits of creditors, who, at that ime, had large demands upon many of the gentry. He concluded with a sweeping denunciation of the whole magistracy of the land. This charge was loudly and sternly repudiated by the whole of the Irish members. Mr. Daly especially denounced the whole affair as a mere job, and asserted that the petition was not signed by a single nobleman, gentleman, or man of known respectability in Ireland; Mr. Peel also strenuously opposed the motion; and, after an active debate, it was defeated; only 59 members voting for it, while there were 135 in the adverse majority.

Mr. Hume continued the attack the same evening, by moving a resolution that the office of viceroy was useless, expensive, and inexpedient; that the business of it might just as well be transacted in London; stating that the cost of Ireland to the imperial exchequer had risen to the enormous sum of £3,098,826 in 1822; that the cost of the military at the time of the Union had only been £510,000, but it had now risen to £1,500,000 a-year; and that the allowances to the lord lieutenant had been increased from £20,000 to £30,000 per annum. The city of Dublin, he contended, would not suffer in any way by the change, for it was a prosperous and rising place in its commercial interests, and did not depend for its wealth at all on the presence of the vice-regal court. The opposition he met with, particularly from all who were anxious to uphold the dignity and splendour of Ireland, was almost fierce. They threw the utmost opprobrium upon the proposition, and declared that a removal of the seat of government from Dublin would reduce the country to the condition of nothing better than that of a conquered province; that every spirit capable of national enthusiasm or honest patriotism would be roused into the utmost disgust; and that, if the measure was carried, the causes and the exhibition of discontent and disturbance would be increased tenfold. So great indeed, and so bitter was the feeling that he had excited, that Mr Hume was induced to withdraw his motion without going to a division.

All these debates, if they were terminated by no particularly apparent result had the good effect of making the people of Britain better acquainted with, and more interested in, the internal and social condition of Ireland. One of the consequences of this was an inquiry into the conduct of judge O’Grady, chief baron of the exchequer, who was accused of corrupt practices in receiving larger fees than the custom or the rights of his office justified, and it was therefore argued that other judges might be equally faulty. The inquisition, however, terminated happily, for it was proved to the satisfaction of the house that if the judge had received larger emoluments than were his due, the circumstance arose from the carelessness and culpability of his underlings, over whom he had not exercised a sufficiently strict control; for, in his judicial capacity, he was not open to the slightest censure. The spirit of disturbance which had been manifested in the spring, among the rural population of the proclaimed districts, after settling for a while, rose to a great height towards the end of summer; but the vigilance of the police and military was sufficient for its reduction; and, at the approach of winter, that part of Ireland was in a state of greater tranquillity than it had enjoyed for many previous years, at the same season.

Notwithstanding the general tranquillity of the country during the winter of 1823-24, outrages, similar in their character to these which had created so much alarm previously, were still, from time to time, perpetrated in the south and west. The constabulary bill had been found to be a most effective measure; and the police instituted by it, even at that early period after their appointment, had been eminently beneficial to the country, and few very daring violations of the law were committed. In some parts, however, especially in the county of Roscommon, there was enough of disturbance to induce the ministry to again demand the renewal of the insurrection act. On the second reading of the bill it was strongly opposed by the opposition, particularly by Mr. Abercromby, Mr. Denman, and lord John Russell; the last of whom adduced numerous instances in which the powers of the act had been very forcibly abused. Of the two counties in which it was in operation, and from which returns had been received, it appeared that in Kildare not one person had been punished, although 87 had been apprehended. In Cork and Kilkenny there had not been one punished, and in Clare county, out of 189 taken up, only four had been convicted; in Kerry, only one out of 132; and in King’s county and Limerick county, there had only been one convicted in each. No doubt there had been inordinate stretches of authority, and there always have been and always will be, where a new system of control or oppression has to be brought into operation; but, on the whole, the operation of the act had not only been highly beneficial in the protection of the respectable and peaceable residents of the disturbed districts, but also in its effect in restraining the offenders themselves from the commission of dreadful crimes, and from the continuance of a course that was alike injurious to their fellow-men and themselves, and odious to God. The bill passed by a majority of five to one, and in the lords the opposition was still more feeble.

The tithe composition act, passed in the previous session, began to work at the latter end of 1823, and in the course of February, so anxious were the owners of tithes to avoid any pretence for predial outrage that a return could be made stating that upwards of a thousand applications had been made from different parishes to carry its arrangements into effect, 507 of which had proceeded from the different incumbents. The details of the act were found to be inconvenient, and a bill was brought in to correct the mischief, which gave Mr. Hume and other members an opportunity of inveighing strongly against the church. The establishment was ably defended by Dr. Jebb, bishop of Limerick; and the motion before parliament for the “break-up” of the Irish church was negatived by a large majority. Several discussions took place in the course of the present session on the state of education in Ireland, and all agreed that in this respect the country was in an improving state. In 1773, as appeared by a return in the west and southwest parts of Ireland, there were only eight schools, while in 1816, there were 800, and in this year of 1824 there were as many as 1,122. The poorer part of the population were also evidently alive to the benefit placed within their reach, for their children were readily sent to be instructed. The bible, without note or comment, was used in the schools, but no attempt was made to derive any particular doctrine from its contents; the children were simply made acquainted with the text. This was not consonant with the views of the Roman catholic clergy. They, therefore, discouraged the attendance of the children; and, in the course of March, their bishops presented a petition to the house of commons, in which they complained that the public money granted for the promotion of education in Ireland was applied in such a manner that Roman catholics could not conscientiously avail themselves of the instruction thereby provided. Their objection arose out of the fact that the Bible was used in them, as well as other books and tracts which the Roman catholic church did not sanction. The same spirit against the enlightenment of the people was, at this time, manifested in a furious opposition made by the Roman catholic priesthood to the operations of the Bible societies. This was evinced on every occasion where it could be shown. At a meeting of the county of Galway society, held in the court-house of Loughrea, where the bishop of Tuam presided, when the motion was put in the usual way from the chair that the report be adopted, in obedience to a signal given by the priests, the expressions of acquiescence by the gentry who were present were entirely drowned by an immense outcry or the moat discordant yells which burst from the rabble. A scene of riot immediately ensued. Sticks were brandished, and there was an evident intention on the part of the mob to clear the court by force. Ladies even were attacked, their clothes were torn, and several of them received personal injury; and, in the midst of the confusion, the archbishop and several of the gentlemen by whom the meeting had been promoted, narrowly escaped with their lives; and, in the end, left the priests and their adherents in possession of the place of meeting. Something of a similar course was pursued at Carlow; when a debate, which lasted three days, took place in the presbyterian meeting-house, between the catholic clergy and the friends of the Bible society, on the propriety of circulating the scriptures without note or comment. On the two first days the discussion was conducted with something like propriety, but on the third, the papists present, incited by their priesthood, shocked the meeting by the most discordant yells of a truly appalling kind; and these not sufficing to accomplish their object, a rush was made over the partitions by which the pews were divided; the barrier which excluded the populace from the speakers and members of the committee was forced, and the whole fury of the mob was directed towards the right of the platform, where the protestant clergymen who took part in the discussion were assembled. The lights were nearly all extinguished, and the most disastrous results were imminent, when the timely arrival of the police saved the members of the society from the infuriated bigotry of the mob.

This violent excitement was not a little promoted by the proceedings of the catholic association founded by O’Connell in Dublin; who, in their meetings and in the printed papers which they circulated, indulged in a vehemence of exciting language which went beyond all precedent. Indeed, so unqualified was the tone they assumed, under the guidance of their leader, when they addressed Parliament through their petitions, and so immoderate were their demands, that even lord Holland and Mr. Brougham felt themselves compelled to express their disgust at its unqualified violence. The association held regular sessions in Dublin; nominated committees; received petitions; referred them to a committee of grievance; ordered a census of the population to be taken; and even levied a tax indirectly upon the people. It assessed cities, towns, and parishes; and appointed collectors in every district for the receipt of what was called the “catholic rent.”

The contributions were said to be voluntary, but as the “rent” was enforced by all the influence of the popish priests and the popish demagogues, the poor, ignorant, and deluded peasantry dared not withhold their few pence to a fund which was called for and administered by so high an authority, and gathered under such auspices. So successful was this heartless imposition upon an impoverished and suffering people, that sometimes as much as £50 in a day were collected, and in the course of time the fund amounted to many thousands a year. What was done with the money was never satisfactorily stated, but the general promotion of the catholic religion was said to be its primary object, though nothing was known of the accounts, except to those who received the money, and it was generally believed that the bulk of it went into the pockets of O’Connell and a few of his principal supporters. The subject was brought before parliament by Mr. Brownlow, but no attempt was made to check the proceedings of the association.

Notwithstanding these causes of excitement, a plenteous harvest enriched the country, and tended more to its tranquillity than any other cause so much so, indeed, that shortly after the close of the session the lord-lieutenant was enabled to put an end to the operation of the insurrection act in several of the disturbed counties. During the latter part of 1824 and early in 1825, the proceedings of the catholic association were consolidated into a regular system. Lists of the contributors to the funds were regularly kept in books, duplicates of which were held by the catholic priests of every parish in the country; and those whose names were not found in them were regularly proclaimed in their several districts and frequently denounced from the altar. The committee of the association assumed to themselves the power of adjudicating upon the conduct of every man in Ireland. All the machinery possessed by the Romish church was used with a most facile unscrupulousness. If testimony was wanted to convict a man, plenty Of witnesses were found ready to swear to his guilt. If an offender was to be liberated, evidence was never wanting to prove an alibi, or swear to the prisoner’s innocence. No extent of perjury was too great to be committed. No difficulty ever lay in the way of the association to effect any end which its principles desired to accomplish. A statement appeared in the Irish papers that, towards the end of July, 1824, a brutal murder had been committed by a protestant on a roman catholic; and a letter was published, calling upon the association to interfere. A committee of their body was appointed to investigate the circumstance, and they reported that the supposed criminal ought to be prosecuted, and Mr. Cavanagh was appointed to conduct the prosecution. When the trial came on, a host of witnesses appeared, and swore to the infliction of a great many wounds on the body of the deceased, and to the manifestation of the most horrid cruelty. Witness after witness declared upon oath that the prisoner jumped on the throat of the deceased, kicked him in the spine, broke his ribs, and otherwise injured him so dreadfully that death must certainly ensue; and yet the surgeons who had examined the body proved most satisfactorily to the court that there was not a word of truth in all this evidence, and that the body had suffered no violence. It appeared that the deceased person died in consequence of an accidental fall over a short post, which broke one of the small vertebrae of his back, and eventually the prisoner was acquitted. The judge, upon discharging him, expressed his entire satisfaction with his conduct, and then intimated that the accident happened while the prisoner was discharging his duty in keeping the peace of the country.

In one instance it was announced to the catholic association, by one of their agents, that a private in the 25th regiment had been discovered in the act of seducing several catholics to take an oath to kill all the protestants, all the soldiers, and all the orangemen; his object being, of course, apparently to lay informations against them for such a malicious intent. The association issued a declaration, stating that the soldier was a ruffian who deserved the punishment of transportation, but that unless they sent down an agent he might escape; and this declaration was read by the priests in all the chapels. An agent was accordingly employed to prosecute the soldier; and in the meantime search was actually made for his wife and other members of his family, with a view of compelling them to leave the country. The case came on before a bench of no fewer than 43 magistrates, and the evidence adduced on the part of the prosecution developed so much of inconsistency and contradiction, that they decided that there was no foundation for the charge. The association engaged in a similar transaction with respect to a member of the police: their object being to render the body to which he belonged odious in, the eyes of the people. In fact, the whole tendency of their conduct was to excite, in any case in which catholics and protestants were concerned, all the acrimony of party feeling.

During the December of 1824, the association issued an address to the people of Ireland, which concluded with a passage which will ever be memorable for the force of its language, the jesuitry of its principles, and the malevolence of its object. They said, in concluding - “In the name, then, of common sense, which forbids you to seek foolish resources; by the hate you bear the orangemen, who are your natural enemies; by the confidence you repose in the catholic association, who are your natural and zealous friends; by the respect and affection you entertain for your clergy, who alone visit with comfort your beds of sickness and desolation; - by all these powerful motives; and, still more; by the affectionate reverence you bear for the gracious monarch who deigns to think of your sufferings with a view, to your relief; and, above all, and infinitely beyond all, in the name of religion and of the living God: we adjure you to abstain from all secret and illegal societies, and white-boy disturbances and outrages.”

This address, so anti-christian in its language and sentiments, was sent to all the different parishes, and was read by each priest at the altar. This was seconded by the priests, who very generally obeyed the directions which they received, and without hesitation, on any occasion denounced their protestant brethren. In this way, then, the declaration reached the catholic population, and was left to work its natural results on an illiterate and excitable people. Few of the gentry were its dupes; but it is not to be wondered at, that a society so formed and so acting, should create much anxiety and alarm. The violence of the association at length necessitated the notice of the government, and in the king’s speech at the opening of Parliament on the 3rd of February, 1825, it was pointedly noticed; and measures were suggested for putting an end to its lawlessness and malicious influence. Accordingly, on the 10th of that month, Mr. Goulburn moved for leave to bring in a bill to amend the acts affecting unlawful societies in Ireland. In order to meet objections, it was stated that it was intended to have reference, not merely to the catholic association, but to all societies of a similar kind; and its objects were to prevent the permanent sittings of any associations, or appointment of committees beyond a certain time; and also to put a stop to any levy of money for the purpose of redressing private or public grievances. It was further to make illegal all societies which were affiliated; which corresponded with other societies; which excluded persons on the ground of any particular religious faith; or in which any oaths were taken other than those which were directed by the law.

Four nights of most animated debate ensued upon the motion, in which all the strength and influence of the house of commons was called into action, but leave to bring in the bill was carried by a large, majority. On the 17th of that same month of February, Mr. Brougham presented a petition, very numerously signed by members of the association, stating that their only object was to promote the interests of the Roman catholic religion generally that it was composed of all classes of persons of that faith, comprising prelates, peers, and baronets; of many protestants of noble families and great possessions, of many distinguished members of high and learned professions, of commercial men of great wealth and character, of country gentlemen, farmers, traders, and substantial citizens; that the association met publicly in order to prepare and forward petitions to both houses of parliament for the redress of grievances, and to procure for the poor, the ignorant, and the defenceless, redress from the known tribunals of the law for outrages and injuries, arising from party spirit, and praying to be heard by counsel and witnesses at the bar of the house, before any enactment affecting the association should be made by the legislature. Mr. Brougham, the same night, after an eloquent speech, made a motion that the prayer of the petition should be complied with, but its statements were so palpably at variance with the seditiousness of those by whom it was forwarded that the motion was rejected by a majority of nearly three to one. On the second reading of the bill, on the 21st of February, a discussion quite as animated as that occasioned by its introduction, but it was carried by a majority of 253 votes against 107; it was read a third time, on the 25th, and passed by a majority still larger in proportion. It went rapidly through the house of lords, and, on the 9th of March, received the royal assent

The association fell without a struggle. No attempt was made to resist the law; but a large aggregate body was held in Dublin shortly after the session closed, and a committee of 21 noblemen and gentlemen was appointed to consider what course it would be the best to adopt under the circumstances. On the 13th of July, lord Killeen, as the organ of the committee, submitted the report, on which they had agreed, to another large aggregate meeting, and its provisions were almost entirely adopted. It recommended that a new catholic association should be formed, which should have its head office in Dublin that there should be ramified associations in every county in Ireland, which should act, with apparent independence of each other, in getting up petitions to parliament for catholic emancipation; that each or these associations should have a permanent committee, which was to meet 14 days at a time, but that all its members should be, whether in meeting or not, in constant correspondence with the head committee in the capital; and finally, in order to do away with the seeming factiousness of a Roman catholic opposition to goverment, it was agreed that any person, to whatever denomination he might belong, should on payment of one pound, become a member. Such was the new machinery which O’Connell and his coadjutors devised for raising the popular passions, and lashing them, as they afterwards did, into the most uncontrollable fury. Mr. O’Gorman was appointed secretary of the association, and on accepting his office (with a mind filled with virulence and hatred to England) affirmed, as it soon afterwards became the custom to do, that England was on the eve of ruin, and that that was the most cheering prospect that Ireland could behold.

Early in March, and while the unlawful societies’ bill was pending in the house of lords, sir Francis Burdett submitted a series of resolutions to the house of commons; the effect of which was, that it was desirable and expedient that the Roman catholics should be admitted to the same political privileges as their protestant follow subjects. The resolutions were adopted by a considerable majority; and a bill was founded upon them; which, after a long and stormy debate and several adjoumments passed its third reading on the 10th of May, by a majority of 19 in a very full house. There was every prospect of its passing the lords also; but, on the second reading of the bill, the duke of York went down to the house and emphatically declared himself against it. Such an intimation from the heir presumptive to the throne had naturally great weight, and the bill was consequently negatived by a majority of 48.

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