atrocities of the rebels, than by the revolting cruelty and lawlessness of the troops, and the vindictive passions of all concerned in the administration of affairs. Moderation and humanity were to be found in none but English regiments. With native officers, rapine and murder were no crimes.3 The rebellion was crushed: but how was a country so convulsed with evil passions to be go- The Union verned? Lord Cornwallis found his coun- concerted. cil, or junto, at the Castle, by whom it had long been ruled, blinded by their passions and preju dices.' Persuaded that the policy of this party had aggravated the political evils of their wretched country, he endeavoured to save the Irish from 6 1 Writing June 28th, 1798, he said: 'I am much afraid that any man in a brown coat, who is found within several miles of the field of action, is butchered without discrimination.'-'It shall be one of my first objects to soften the ferocity of our troops, which I am afraid, in the Irish corps at least, is not confined to the private soldiers.'-Cornwallis Corr., ii. 355. Of the militia he said: "They are ferocious and cruel in the extreme, when any poor wretches, either with or without arms, come within their power: in short, murder appears to be their favourite pastime.'-Ibid., 358. The principal persons of this country, and the members of both Houses of Parliament, are, in general, averse to all acts of clemency. . and would pursue measures that could only terminate in the extirpation of the greater number of the inhabitants, and in the utter destruction of the country.'-Ibid., 358. Again, he deplores 'the numberless murders that are hourly committed by our people without any process or examination whatever.' The conversation of the principal persons of the country tends to encourage this system of blood; and the conversation, even at my table, where you may well suppose I do all I can to prevent it, always turns on hanging, shooting, burning, &c. &c.; and if a priest has been put to death, the greatest joy is expressed by the whole company.'-Ibid., 369. 2 In sending the 100th Regiment and some troops that can be depended upon,' he wrote: The shocking barbarities of our national troops would be more likely to provoke rebellion than to suppress it.'-Ibid., 377. See also his General Order, Aug. 31st, 1798.Ibid., 395. 3 E.g. the murder of Dogherty.-Ibid., 420. See also Lord Holland's Mem., i. 105–114. 6 2 themselves, by that scheme of union which a greater statesman than himself had long since conceived.' Under the old system of government, concessions, conciliation, and justice were impracticable. The only hope of toleration and equity was to be found in the mild and impartial rule of British statesmen, and an united Parliament. In this spirit was the union sought by Mr. Pitt, who'resented and spurned the bigoted fury of Irish Protestants :'3 in this spirit was it promoted by Lord Cornwallis. Selfgovernment had become impossible. If ever there was a country,' said Lord Hutchinson, unfit to govern itself, it is Ireland; a corrupt aristocracy, a ferocious commonalty, a distracted government, a divided people.'5 Imperial considerations, no less paramount, also pointed to the union. Not only had the divisions of the Irish people rendered the difficulties of internal administration insuperable: but they had proved a source of weakness and danger from without. Ireland could no longer be suffered to continue a separate realm: but must be fused and welded into one state, with Great Britain. Difficulties in effecting the But the difficulties of this great scheme were not easily to be overcome. However desirable, and even necessary, for the interests of Ireland herself, an invitation to surrender her independence,-so recently acquired,-deeply affected her national sensibilities. To be merged Union. 1 Cornwallis Corr., ii. 404, 405. 2 Ibid., 414, 415, 416. 3 Wilberforce's Diary, July 16th, 1798. Cornwallis Corr., ii. 418. 419, &c.; Castlereagh Corr., i. 442. 5 Memoir of Sir Ralph Abercromby, 136. in the greater and more powerful kingdom, was to lose her distinct nationality. And how could she be assured against neglect and oppression, when wholly at the mercy of the Parliament of Great Britain, whose sovereignty she had lately renounced? The liberties she had won in 1782, were all to be forfeited and abandoned. At any other time, these national feelings alone would have made an union impossible. But the country, desolated by a war of classes and religions, had not yet recovered the united sentiments of a nation. Objections of the But other difficulties, no less formidable, were to be encountered. The Irish party were invited to yield up the power and patronage ruling of the Castle: the peers to surrender their party. proud position as hereditary councillors, in Parliament: the great families to abandon their boroughs. The compact confederacy of interests and corruption was to be broken up.' But the government, convinced of the necessity of the Union, was prepared to overcome every obstacle. The Parliament of Great Britain recognised the 1 There are two classes of men in Parliament, whom the disasters and sufferings of the country have but very imperfectly awakened to the necessity of a change, viz. the borough proprietors, and the immediate agents of government.'-Lord Cornwallis to Duke of Portiand, Jan. 5th, 1799; Corr., iii. 31. Again: 'There certainly is a very strong disinclination to the measure in many of the borough proprietors, and a not less marked repugnance in many of the official people, particularly in those who have been longest in the habits of the current system.'-Same to same, Jan. 11th, 1799; Ibid., 34. And much later in the struggle, his lordship wrote: 'The nearer the great event approaches, the more are the needy and interested senators alarmed at the effects it may possibly have on their interests, and the provision for their families; and I believe that half of our majority would be at least as much delighted as any of our opponents, if the measure could be defeated.'-Ibid., 228. Means by which the Union was accom Union as a necessary measure of state policy; and the masterly arguments of Mr. Pitt1 admitted of little resistance.2 But the plished. first proposal to the Irish Parliament miscarried; an amendment in favour of maintaining an independent legislature being lost by a single vote.3 It was plain that corrupt interests could only be overcome by corruption. Nomination boroughs must be bought, and their members indemnified, county interests conciliated, officers and expectant lawyers compensated,-opponents bribed. Lord Castlereagh estimated the cost of these expedients at a million and a half; and the price was forthcoming. The purchase of boroughs was no new scheme, having been proposed by Mr. Pitt himself, as the basis of his measure of Parliamentary reform in 1785;5 and now it was systematically carried out in Ireland. The patrons of boroughs received 7,500l. for each seat; and eightyfour boroughs were disfranchised. Lord Down Jan. 23rd and 31st, 1799. 2 In the Commons, his resolutions were carried by 149 votes against 24, and in the Lords without a division.-Plowden's Hist., ii. 896. 3 Jan. 22nd, 1799. Ayes, 106; Noes, 105.-Cornwallis Corr., iii. 40-51. • Castlereagh Corr., ii. 151. His lordship divided the cost as follows:-Boroughs, 756,000l.; county interests, 224,000l.; barristers, 200,000l.; purchasers of seats, 75,000l.; Dublin, 200,000l.: total, 1,433,000l.-Cornwallis Corr., iii. 81; Stanhope's Life of Pitt, iii. 180. Lord Cornwallis wrote, July 1st, 1799: There cannot be a stronger argument for the measure than the overgrown Parliamentary power of five or six of our pampered borough-mongers, who are become most formidable to government, by their long possession of the entire patronage of the crown, in their respective districts.'— Corr., iii. 110. Supra, Vol. I., 400. 5 Of the 34 boroughs retained, nine only were open.-Cornwallis Corr., iii. 234, 324. See list of boroughs disfranchised and sums paid to proprietors.-Ibid., 321-324. The Ponsonbys exercised in Means by which Union was accomplished. 331 shire was paid 52,500l. for seven seats; Lord Ely, 45,000l. for six. The total compensation amounted to 1,260,000l.2 Peers were further compensated for the loss of their privileges in the national council, by profuse promises of English peerages, or promotion in the peerage of Ireland: commoners were conciliated by new honours, and by the largesses of the British government. Places were given or promised, pensions multiplied,-secretservice money exhausted. In vain Lord Cornwallis complained of the 'political jobbing' and 'dirty business' in which he was involved beyond all bearing,' and 'longed to kick those whom his public duty obliged him to court.' In vain he 'despised and hated himself,' while negotiating and jobbing with the most corrupt people under heaven.' British gold was sent for and distri 6 fluence over 22 seats; Lord Downshire and the Beresfords, respectively, over nearly as many. 23 of the 34 boroughs remained close until the Reform Act of 1832.-Ibid., 324. Many of the counties also continued in the hands of the great families.—Ibid.; and see supra, Vol. I. 360. Plowden's Hist., ii. 1018, 1067; Castlereagh Corr., iii. 56-67; Cornwallis Corr., iii. 324; Stanhope's Life of Pitt, iii. 227. 2 Cornwallis Corr., iii. 323. 3 Castlereagh Corr., iii. 330; Cornwallis Corr., iii. 244, 252, 257, 262. 29 Irish peerages were created, of which seven were unconnected with the Union; 20 Irish peers were promoted, and 6 English peerages granted for Irish services.-Ibid., 318. See also Lord Stanhope's Life of Pitt, iii. 180. 4 Cornwallis Corr., iii. 278, 340; Grattan's Life, v. iii. 5 Cornwallis Corr., iii. 102. The luckless viceroy applied to himself the appropriate lines of Swift :— 'So to effect his monarch's ends, |