IRELAND 191 IRELAND forces of James on the Boyne, near Drog- heda. In 1778 the penal laws against the Catholics, though not repealed, were made much more lenient. The French Revolution had a great effect on the minds of the Irish people, and it was partly through this influence that the Society of United Irishmen was formed, and that rebellion broke out in 1798. Great atrocities were perpetrated, but the rising was speedily crushed. A body of French soldiers, 1,500 strong, landed in Killala Bay, but were compelled to sun-ender. The British Government now resolved to unite the Irish and English Parlia- ments, and an act providing for the legislative union of the two countries during the Civil War in that country hoped for a rupture between it and Eng- land, of which they might take advan- tage. This conspiracy, the members of which called themselves "Fenians" (See Fenians), soon spread to Ireland; but laefore they could take any overt actioi in that island their design was stifled by the British Government (18G5-1866). The ministry now resolved to do all in their power to render the Irish people loyal and contented; and accordingly the Irish Episcopal Church was disestab- lished in 1869, and another act was passed to improve the tenure of land, in 1870. Since 1871 an agitation for what i£ called Home Rule has made itself promi- nent. Its chief supporters, designated VILLAGE IN SOUTH OF IRELAND passed the Irish Pai'liament in May, 1800, and the British Parliament in July of the same year, in virtue of which the union was effected on Jan. 1, 1801. In 1829, mainly through the efforts of O'Connell, the Catholic Emancipation act was passed under which Catholics could take a seat in Parliament, and were ad- mitted to most public offices. The Irish National party now tried to repeal the Union, for which purpose O'Connell founded the Repeal Association. This movement collapsed in 1843, and after- ward the potato famine in 1845, and again in 1846, cast all other interests into the background. To mitigate this cal- amity Parliament granted enormous sums of money; yet thousands died from starvation, and hundreds of thousands emigrated to America. The year 1865 witnessed a new con- spiracy designed to separate England and Ireland. This originated in the United States, when the numerous Irish "Nationalists," profess not to desire the severance of Ireland from Great Britain; what they mainly want, is to have an Irish Parliament for matters exclusively Irish. In 1880 Ireland became the soene of an agitation carried on mainly by a body known as the Land League. The movement was so lawless that two special acts, a "coercion" act and a peace preser- vation act, were passed. Still further to redress Irish grievances a land act was also passed in 1881, the chief provisions of which have already been mentioned. The Land League was suppressed, but a body called the National League was soon organized in its place. In 1885, 86 Nationalist members (under the leader- ship of Parnell) were returned to Parlia- ment, and their pressure on the govern- ment led to Gladstone's scheme in 1886 by which Ireland was to receive a Parlia- ment of her own and the Irish members to be withdrawn from the Imperial Par- liament. This and the accompanying
