The encouragement so generally given to the volun teer system in England and Scotland was not extend ed to Ireland, from a dread of embodying, indiscrimi nately, a people of whom so great a proportion were disaffected. The yeomanry, however, or select vo lunteers of Ireland, were very numerous (about 80,000) ; and had been highly instrumental in put ting down the unfortunate insurrection of 1798. In addition to these, Ireland required a large body (.50,000) of our regulars and militia, as a defence against invasion, a guarantee of public tranquillity, and a check on illicit distillation and smuggling. The return yielded by Ireland in the shape of revenue was small, but her supply of recruits to our army and navy was very considerable.
The suspension of the Habeas Corpus continued in 1805, a year remarkable as the first in which the Catholic question was submitted to Parliament. It was brought forward in the Commons by Mr Fox, in the Peers by Lord Grenville, and curiosity was strongly excited in regard to Mr Pitt, who had late ly accepted office without carrying his professed ob ject,—the grant of political privileges to the Catho lics. He, however, extricated himself with address ; declaring, that if his vote could give the Catholics what they desired, the) should not long want it, but that at present the prevailing sentiment was against their claims ; as was, in fact, sufficiently -shown by the division that ensued, and which exhibited 236 votes against them, and only 124 in their favour. Next year, the appointment to office of Lord Gren ville and Mr Fox raised high the hopes of the Ca tholics ; but the known repugnance of the Sovereign to their claims induced these ministers to dissuade a direct discussion of the question in Parliament ; un der an assurance, that they would do whatever should be otherwise practicable for obtaining the removal of disabilities. Hence the bill of February 1807, which, caused the dismissal of the Grenville ministry, and excited such a ferment in England against the Catho lics as to render it wholly unadvisable to bring for ward the question for several years.
In 1809, the Catholic Committee in Dublin held public meetings, but confined themselves to prepar mg a new petition to Parliament. Next year they went much farther, and sought to assume an impos ing attitude ; proposing that ten persons should be darned by each county to Dublin, and there form an amembly, charged not only with the petition to Parliament, but with measures for the redress of the general grievances of the Catholic body. The
secretary for Ireland (Mr Wellesley Pole), alarmed at this design, addressed circular letters to the she riffs of counties, requiring them to prevent the elec tion of the proposed delegates, and even to arrest all persons taking part in such elections. This order appeared too peremptory to the Opposition, and a debate took place, in which Mr Wellesley Pole ex plained, that, so long as the Catholics confined their proceedings to petitioning, they had received no interruption, but that the delegates proposed to go much farther, and that a body, under the name of a Committee of Grievances, had assembled weekly in Dublin with all the forms of Parliament. The House supported the measure adopted by Mr Wellesley Pole, and disapproved the proceedings of the Catho lics. Still the latter deemed this session not unfa vourable to the discussion of their political claims, on account of the laurels lately won by our armies in Spain and Portugal,—armies which counted many Catholics in their ranks. The question was brought forward by Mr Grattan, but lost by a large majority in both Houses.
The same fate attended its discussion next spring. Another year elapsed ; and in the session of 1813, it was brought forward with more combination and better prospects. Mr Grattan, supported by a part of the Cabinet, obtained the assent of the House to several preliminary resolutions ; first, " That the Catholic disabilities ought to be removed ;" next, That the " Catholic clergy should bind themselves on oath to hold no correspondence with Rome except on ecclesiastical business;' and, thirdly, " That two commissioners should be appointed for examining in-. to the loyalty of persons recommended as deans or bishops among the Catholics." The time occupied in these discussions was considerable, and gave oc casion to the Catholic clergy in Ireland to testify their dissent from several of the provisions ; particu larly from that which restricted their correspondence with Rome. The knowledge of this dissatisfaction made a deep impression on Parliament, and gave a turn to the question, which induced the supporters of the bill to withdraw it for that session.