At this period Lord Townshend was lord-lieutenant : His favourite and principal object was, to destroy the power of the Tilsit aristocracy, and to take out of their hands the influence and distribution of places and pensions, which had been hitherto allowed them, in consequence of the supposed necessity of courting their favour and votes. This was a difficult point; hut the viceroy carried it, though not by the most justifiable means. From this time, the lord lieutenant, or in other words, the British government, was regarded and treated as the only source of honours or emoluments. During the administration of this nobleman, who was very popular among the Irish, not merely on ac count of his public measures, but also on account of his disposition and manners, open and convivial, and thus highly congenial to those people over whom he was placed, some disturbances broke out in Ulster, in conse quence of a system introduced there of letting land on fines. As the great majority of the small farmers and peasantry were totally unable to pay these fines, and were consequently deprived of their farms, they became'despe •ate, and committed such violent outrages on those who had taken their lands, that government was obliged to have recourse to military force. The insurrection was thus quelled ; but the distressed inhabitants, deprived of the means of subsistence, were driven to America in great numbers.
We now approach one of the most interesting and im portant xras in the history of Ireland. From the conduct almost uniformly pursued by the British government to wards this country, as we have detailed it, it must appear evident, that Ireland could never expect to obtain freely from Britain, those privileges and that treatment, which, had the government of Britain been wise, she would have been anxious to grant, not merely from a feeling of justice, but from a view to her own real interests. Neither this feeling, however, nor this enlightened and liberal view of her own interest existing, the conduct of Britain to Ireland had been, with scarcely a single exception, marked by mean and narrow jealousy ; and, what was worse, by a de termination, which ought not to have found a place in the mind of Britons, who prided themselves on their love of freedom, to treat Ireland in every respect as a conquered cou ntry.
To Ireland there appeared no chance of escaping from the degradation and thraldom in which she was thus in volved, when the American war broke out. This imme diately produced a remarkable change in the language and conduct of the British government as they related to Ireland ; proposals were made in the British House of Commons in favour of Irish commerce ; and some of the penal statutes against the Catholics were annulled. They were now enabled to acquire full property in land, and a son could no longer force a settlement from his father by conforming to Protestantism, provided the Catholics sub scribed an oath of allegiance and a declaration, which were prescribed. Still, however, Irish commerce and trade
languished, and the Patriots of Ireland aimed at much greater privileges with respect to it, and to their political state in general, than had yet been granted.
The means by which their views might be forwarded were at hand. The American war had drawn from Ireland nearly all her regular forces, and her coasts, thus unpro tected, were exposed to invasion. In consequence of the town of Belfast not receiving a garrison adequate to their protection, the inhabitants, in 1779, entered into armed as sociations to defend themselves against the eoemy. This gave rise to the system of volunteers, which soon spread over the whole country. The Irish now began to feel their strength, and even the House of Commons unanimously passed a resolution, on the first day of their session this year, that, in their address to the king, it shbuld be repre sented to his majesty, that "it was not by temporary expe dients, but by a free trade alone, that Ireland could now be saved from impending ruin ;" and in order to give effect to this address, they voted their supplies only for six months. A motion was also made, that the granting of new taxes would at that time be inexpedient, which was carried by a large majority. Thanks were voted, unani mously, in the House of Commons, and, with only the dis sentient voice of the Lord Chancellor, in the House of Lords, to the volunteers, for their exertions in defence of their country.
Lord North, who was at this time prime minister, now found himself obliged to give way ; but hoping that the Irish would be content with the removal of commercial re strictions, he carried a bill through the British parliament, which in some measure effected that object. But the Irish looked to greater objects; and, unfortunately for his own views, Lord North, in order to induce the British manufacturers and merchants to agree to his commercial concessions, had represented them as a boon resuniable at pleasure. The Irish thus learned, that what had been granted, had been granted either through fear, or as a matter of favour, and not as their right, and they became sensible that they could not be secure, unless they had an independent legislature of their own. Resolutions to this effect were published by the different volunteer corps, who, in order that they might act with more effect, formed a union among themselves, and they were not only animated by the same spirit, but, in all their resolutions and pro ceedings, directed to the same object.