In 1798 the condition of Ireland induced the French to attempt an invasion. The corruption and tyranny of the House of Commons had brought that country to the brink of civil war. The Protestant majority refused either to reform themselves, or to remove the remaining Catholic grievances, and when in 1795 Lord Fitzwilliam went as Lord-Lieutenant to carry out the policy of emancipation with, as he imagined, the consent of his colleagues, the combined opposition in London and Dublin was too strong for him, and a fortnight after the day on which Grattan had introduced a Bill to remove all religious disabilities, Lord Fitzwilliam had to leave Ireland, and was succeeded by Lord Camden. A formidable association, styled the "United Irishmen," was now organized throughout the country. It comprised Protestants and Catholics alike. The former represented the floating elements of political discontent which the events of the French Revolution had stirred into activity all over the world, but the real strength of the movement lay in the Roman Catholic population, whose priestly leaders only concealed for convenience' sake their intention of proclaiming a religious war against the Irish Protestants as soon as the English Government had been got rid of.
The rebellion, the death of Lord Edward FitzGerald, the cruelties of the rebels, the barbarities of the troops sent to suppress them, the landing of the French too late and in too small numbers to be of any assistance to their allies, are amongst the most interesting pages in the history of Ireland. Chatham had repeatedly declared himself against the Union of the Irish and British Parliaments, because—so he had told Shelburne—the British Legislature would be deluged by an addition of Irish Peers and Commoners; and he feared the results.[1] But the main result of the events of 1798 was to prove the incompetence of the Irish Parliament to govern. The minds of men were naturally turned towards a union with England: the bigoted Protestant in the hope that
- ↑ Arthur Young, Tour in Ireland, ii. ch. xxii. 251, ed. 1892.
