THE UNITED IRISHMEN.

41

the Irish Parliament was made independent, and one of the first acts of the enfranchised House was to appoint a committee to inquire into the state of the manufactures of the kingdom. There was a revival in the nation, population increased, thousands of workmen found full employment, new official buildings were erected in Dublin, and everywhere there seemed to be the symptoms of renewed national life. It was but for a time, however: the evils were too deeply seated, the Catholics were still oppressed, and the influence of the ruling power too great to admit of much amelioration.

In 1798, the United Irishmen were in open rebellion, and there ensued scenes of horror which we cannot now describe in detail. A provisional government, styling itself the Executive Directory of the Irish People, was formed in Wexford. There was fighting at Tara, at Vinegar Hill, near Wexford, at Wicklow, at Ross, at Dublin, and at Antrim. Finally, the English troops subdued the revolt, and then followed executions and expatriations. On both sides outrages and cruelties had been conspicuous; women and children had been slaughtered, prisoners tortured, houses burned, and the terrified inmates forced back at the point of the bayonet. A French contingent, commanded by General Humbert, soon surrendered themselves prisoners of war, leaving their Irish associates to endure almost unheard-of barbarities.

Early in 1799 the project of Union which Mr. Pitt and other English politicians had long contemplated was announced. The Protestants were conciliated by the promise that the maintenance of the Protestant Established Church should be a fundamental article of the Union; and the Catholics were assured that their claims would be liberally considered. What promises and fair speeches could not effect, bribery did; and on the 13th of January, 1800, the Irish Parliament met for the last time. The third reading of the Bill for the Legislative Union between Great Britain and Ireland was moved by Lord Castlereagh, and carried. The Royal assent was given on the 2nd of August, and the Irish Parliament was as dead as the old laws of the Brehons.

So was tied the knot that held loosely together so many old

animosities, so many remembrances of past wrongs, so many wild passions and national hatreds. England and Ireland were linked together, not blended into one. Many of the discordant elements in Ireland were merged in one great detestation of English domination ; and thenceforth, though Catholics and Protestants might quarrel, the predominant feeling throughout Ireland has been to hate England and despise her gifts. Catholic emancipation, disestablishment of an alien Church, liberal and wise legislation, have done little to reconcile the Irish to the Union of the two countries.

CHAPTER III.

THE ACT OF UNION-ITS RESPONSIBILITIES.

HE Act of Union, dated the 2nd of July, 1800, is entitled "An

THE

Act for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland." The preamble is remarkable as acknowledging that prior to that date the countries were "two kingdoms," and the motive for the Act is declared to be to consolidate the connection between such two kingdoms by uniting them into one kingdom, on and after January 1, 1801, for ever; and the change is declared to be by the agreement and resolve of the two Houses of the Parliament of Great Britain and the two Houses of the Parliament of Ireland.

It is expressly provided that the Peers and Commons representatives shall sit in one Parliament.

Irish status in the House of Lords is secured by the provision that four lords spiritual of Ireland shall have seats there, and also twentyeight lords temporal, as representative peers, elected for life by the whole body of Irish peers, peers who are not so elected as representatives being eligible for election to the House of Commons.

Representation in the House of Commons is conceded by assigning to Ireland one hundred seats, that is, two for each county, two for the city of Dublin, two for the city of Cork, one for the University of Trinity College, and one for each of the thirty-one "most considerable cities, towns, and boroughs," the list being subsequently determined by the expiring Irish Parliament as follows: Waterford, Limerick, Belfast, Drogheda, Carrickfergus, Newry, Kilkenny, Londonderry, Galway, Clonmel, Wexford, Youghal, Bandon-Bridge, Armaglı, Dundalk, Kinsale, Lisburne, Sligo, Catherlough, Ennis, Dungarvan,

Downpatrick, Coleraine, Mallow, Athlone, New Ross, Tralee, Cashel, Dungannon, Portarlington, and Enniskillen.

Provision is made for the creation of new peers, and for the calling of Parliaments, the same rules applying in both countries.

The Churches of England and Ireland, acknowledged to be previously two distinct churches, are declared to be henceforth one Church, with the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government the same as by law established for the Church of England, the two Churches being styled "The United Church of England and Ireland,” and it is declared that "the continuance and preservation of the said United Church as the established Church of England and Ireland shall be deemed and taken to be an essential and fundamental part of the Union; but the separate existence of the Church of Scotland is expressly reserved. According to the strict letter of that declaration, the union of the two kingdoms was therefore essentially and funda'mentally dissolved by the disestablishment of the Irish Church as hereafter detailed.

The subjects of Great Britain and Ireland are declared to be on the same footing in respect of trade and navigation, and in all treaties with foreign powers.

Prohibitions and bounties on the export of articles the growth, produce, or manufacture of either country to the other are recognized as previously existing, but are totally abolished. Import duties upon goods passing from one country to the other are expressly retained.

Calicos, muslins, cotton yarn and twist, on importation into either country from the other, are subjected to special provisions. Calicos and muslins to be liable to duties then current until January 5, 1808, then to be reduced annually, so as to be at ten per cent. from January 1816 to January 5, 1821. Cotton yarn and twist to be liable to duties then current until January 5, 1808, then to be annually reduced so as to cease on January 5, 1816.

Import duties, other than the above, were authorized upon importation into Great Britain from Ireland, including beer, bricks and tiles, candles, chocolate, cordage, cider and perry, glass, hops, leather, mead

PROVISIONS OF THE ACT.

45

or metheglin, paper, printed goods, salt, silk and silk goods, soap, spirits, starch, sugar, sweets, tobacco and snuff, verjuice, vinegar, and wire. Upon importation into Ireland from Great Britain, import duties were authorized upon beer, glass bottles, but not other glass, leather of all kinds, vellum and parchment, paper, stained paper, cards, dice, wrought plate, silk manufactures not including raw silk, spirits, sugar, sweets, tobacco and snuff. Specific duties, varying as between the two countries, were made chargeable upon the foregoing, but upon import into either country from the other ten per cent. import duty was made chargeable upon apparel, brass (wrought), cabinet ware, coaches and other carriages, copper (wrought), cottons other than calicos and muslins, glass of sorts not previously enumerated, haberdashery, hats, tin plates, wrought iron and hardware, gold and silver lace, gold and silver thread, bullion for láce, pearl, and spangles, millinery, paper of sorts not previously enumerated, pottery, saddlery and other manufactured leather, silk manufacture, stockings. Of course all these duties have since been abolished, except upon exciseable articles in certain cases; hence the particulars are given as wholly historical.

Taxation was made in due proportion for twenty years-that is, fifteen parts to be borne by England and two parts by Ireland; after which liberty was given to Parliament to make alterations at pleasure, subject to some general rules laid down at length, but practically abandoned now.

The laws of either country were made current in each respectively for the time being, except in so far as they were any of them inconsistent with the Act of Union. But the revision or repeal of all laws, and the making of new ones, was left to the discretion of the United Parliament, all Irish appeals being to the United House of Lords.

Such was the Act that legalized the Union, which, though thus dating only as far back as the commencement of the nineteenth century, is regarded by living English statesmen as essential to the integrity of the empire. It is remarkable that though the English government, when the proposal was first seriously made, discountenanced and opposed it, a subsequent English government should