should be redressed, and resented the recall of Lord Fitzwilliam in 1794; he spoke of the poverty and the hardships endured by the Irish, and of the cruelties practised upon them by the military; he even went so far as to declare his opinion that unless grievances were put an end to, and the number of malcontents thereby reduced, Ireland would not remain connected with England for five years longer. He was a consistent advocate of Catholic emancipation, and frequently urged that important reform. He opposed the Union on the ground that it was not acceptable to the people, and voted against it in the Irish House, but, on its passing, he gave it his adhesion in the House of Lords at Westminster.
Conciliation is a wise policy, and the redress of grievances and of injustice the only time and proper solution in the case of general discontent; and Moira did well in denouncing the bigotry which prevailed against the Catholics, and in trying to improve the condition of the people; but he went too far, and was censured for it, when he was understood to justify, and therefore to encourage, the Irish Jacobin movement that broke out into a savage rebellion in May 1798[1].
- ↑ Moira's views received a rude, if not an amusing, illustration, when only a short time after making one of his most violent speeches against the Government, the rebels selected his demesne near Ballynahinch as their battlefield against the King's authority. The wits of the day thereupon composed 'A New Song' called 'Ballynahinch,' in which the following lines occur: —
