Ireland

by Vincent McDonnell

  He had left Ireland believing that he had gained freedom and rights for his people. But he had hardly left when the Treaty of Limerick was broken. It is said that it was broken ‘before the ink with which it was writ was dry’. With the breaking of the treaty, Ireland now entered one of the darkest periods in all of her history. In the coming centuries the old Gaelic, Catholic Ireland was utterly destroyed and replaced by a Protestant-dominated Ireland. The Irish parliament, made up of Protestant English and Scottish settlers was determined that the Irish Catholic population would never again threaten their power. Now they passed laws, known as the Penal Laws, which were the most anti-Irish, and anti-Catholic laws ever enacted in Ireland. They ensured that for almost 150 years the Protestants would have complete domination in Ireland, a period that is known as the Protestant Ascendancy.

  19

  Ireland’s Darkest Time

  At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Irish Catholic population was demoralised. By now, Catholics owned only 15 per cent of all the land in Ireland and this caused great hardship as they struggled to survive. But worse was to come when the Protestant parliament passed the Penal Laws. More severe than the Statutes of Kilkenny, they were the harshest laws ever enacted against the native population. There were a great number of these Penal Laws, but the most important were:

  Catholics could not buy land.

  Catholics could not be educated.

  Catholics were restricted in practising their religion.

  Catholics could not sit in parliament, or even vote in an election.

  Catholics could not become barristers, judges, or sit on a jury.

  Catholics could not hold public office.

  Catholics could not live in certain towns.

  A Catholic could not own a horse worth more than £5.

  A Catholic could not carry arms, or join the English army.

  Under the severity of these laws, Protestant control of the country became almost complete. But though unable to fight for their freedom, the Irish did not give in. They founded hedge schools where children were taught by travelling teachers, usually in the open air, using a hedge for shelter. Priests, who were hunted like wild animals and murdered if they were caught, said Mass in the open, using a flat rock for an altar. Today, Mass rocks can still be seen dotted about the Irish countryside.

  Yet the Irish Catholics remained a subdued population in their own country. English landlords charged high rents, and when a tenant farmer was unable to pay, he and his family were evicted. It was at this time that some Irish Catholics emigrated, a trend that would increase to a veritable flood in the next century, when hundreds of thousands fled the Great Famine of 1845–1847.

  Some Catholics founded secret societies and attacked landlords and their agents. The best known of these societies were the Defenders and the Whiteboys. The latter were so named because its members wore white shirts, or smocks, when they went out at night to destroy crops, or maim cattle, or attack people. This society was most active in Munster, and was led by men with fictitious names like Captain Moonlight. The Defenders were most active in Ulster, and here the Protestants formed their own societies to counteract them. The best known of these Protestant societies was the Peep o’ Day Boys.

  There was much conflict between these two groups and both were responsible for terrible atrocities. On 21 September 1795, the two groups fought each other near Loughgall, County Armagh, at a place known as The Diamond. It was a small fight, but its aftermath led to a significant moment in Irish history. After the fight, the Peep o’ Day Boys entered Loughgall where James Sloan, Daniel Winter and James Wilson founded the Orange Order. It was to be one of the most important Protestant societies ever founded in Ireland. It encouraged hatred of Catholics and this led to much strife, bloodshed and death in the years to come.

  But not all Protestants hated Catholics. A Protestant, Henry Grattan, believed that Irish Catholics were treated harshly and wanted to repeal the Penal Laws. He was partially successful and some Penal Laws, relating to land ownership and inheritance rights, were repealed. Yet Catholics still suffered greatly and seemed without hope until two events, which occurred outside Ireland, gave them fresh optimism. The first was the American War of Independence in which the American people won their independence from Britain. Some Irishmen began to believe that if the Americans could win independence, then the Irish people could do so too.

  The second event was a much more important one than the American War of Independence. This was the French Revolution of 1789. At this time, France was ruled by a king, Louis XVI, and his wife, Marie Antoinette. The royal family lived in great luxury in their many palaces. One of these palaces at Versailles, outside Paris, was one of the most magnificent palaces in the whole world.

  The French nobles owned large estates, and they, too, lived in magnificent palaces. They were able to do this because they exploited the ordinary French people, who were forced to work for little money and lived in abject poverty. The king needed vast sums of money to pay for all his fine palaces, and his life of luxury, and so was constantly in debt. To obtain more money, he raised taxes until the people could no longer pay. They were so poor that they could not even afford to buy bread, and the poorer families were starving. Marie Antoinette, on being told of this, asked why they didn’t eat cake, which was a luxury then. She was so sheltered in her palaces that she wasn’t aware of the suffering of the ordinary people, and did not know that they couldn’t afford to buy bread.

  This suffering led to great unrest among the population and the angry people of Paris stormed the Bastille prison on 14 July 1789. It was the first action in a revolution that sought to gain for the people of France liberty, equality and fraternity. Louis XVI and his young queen, Marie Antoinette, were arrested. When they tried to escape they were recaptured and beheaded. During the revolution, over 40,000 French men and women were executed by being beheaded. At first, an axe or sword was used, but later a Doctor Guillotin invented an instrument of execution, the guillotine, which is named after him.

  The revolution ended the monarchy and weakened the power of the French nobles. Now the French people held the power. The revolution frightened other monarchs and noblemen in Europe, who now feared revolution in their own countries. They were terrified that they might not only lose their thrones and palaces and lands, but even their very lives. But though the revolution struck terror in the monarchs and the nobles, it gave hope to ordinary people.

  In Ireland, the French Revolution led to the formation of the United Irishmen in 1791. This organisation’s aim was to break the ties between Britain and Ireland. If that were achieved, Ireland could govern itself to the betterment of its entire people, Catholic and Protestant alike.

  The most important founder member of the United Irishmen was a Protestant, Theobald Wolfe Tone. He was influenced by the French Revolution and believed that Ireland should be a republic in which all people were equal. Fearful of a revolution, the Irish parliament reluctantly reformed some Penal Laws. But this did not satisfy the United Irishmen. They concluded that there would have to be a revolution in order to achieve their aims.

  The authorities reacted by forming Protestant militias to suppress such a revolution. These militias ruthlessly pursued the United Irishmen and their supporters, who were usually identified by their short-cropped hair from which they earned the nickname ‘Croppies’. In France, the nobles as well as the king had worn their hair long, and so long hair was seen as a sign of power and privilege. During the French Revolution the revolutionaries cut their hair short to distinguish themselves from the nobles and the monarchy. The United Irishmen also cut their hair short as a sign of their support for the French revolutionaries.

  The United Irishmen, as often happened before in Irish history, were betrayed by an informer. Many of the leaders were arrested, including Lord Edward Fitzgerald, a member of the Norman family of Kildare. He was injured during his arrest and later died in prison from his wounds. Wolfe Tone escaped
arrest and fled to America from where he made his way to France. He asked for help from the French revolutionaries to support a revolution in Ireland, and the French agreed to help. On 15 December 1796, a fleet of forty-three ships, one of which carried Wolfe Tone, set sail from France with 15,000 men.

  Unfortunately, as had happened with the Spanish Armadas, a storm blew up and the ships were scattered. Only sixteen reached Bantry Bay, County Cork, where bad weather prevented them from landing. On 28 December they were forced to return to France. Wolfe Tone was bitterly disappointed but on arriving back in France he sought further help.

  In Ireland, the militias continued their brutality against anyone they considered an enemy. The authorities, rather than taking action to stop this, actively encouraged it. This made the United Irishmen more determined than ever to rebel. However, just when rebellion was planned, the leaders in Dublin were arrested. Despite this, the United Irishmen rose in Leinster on 23 May 1798, but were quickly defeated. In Ulster, the rebels, under the leadership of Henry Joy McCracken and Henry Munro, were also defeated. The only rising, which had some success, took place in Wexford.

  When his church at Boolavogue, near Enniscorthy, was burned, the priest, Father John Murphy, urged the people to rebel. He told them that it would be better to die fighting than to suffer continual brutality. Thousands of men rallied around him. Some had guns, but most were armed only with farm implements and pikes. These were spears with a hooked blade and were made by local blacksmiths. Despite being so poorly armed, the rebels captured Enniscorthy, Wexford and Gorey. They also captured New Ross, but were forced to retreat from there.

  General Lake, who was in charge of the English forces, marched south from Dublin with reinforcements and artillery. The two armies met at Vinegar Hill on 21 June 1798. After fierce, bloody fighting, the Wexfordmen were defeated. Father Murphy and the other leaders were executed, with the priest’s body being burned. All the captured towns were retaken and Lake’s soldiers wreaked vengeance on the local population, killing innocent men, women and children.

  When it seemed as if all hope had gone with the defeat of the Wexford rebels, another French expedition arrived at Killala Bay, County Mayo, in August. It was led by General Humbert, who now marched through Mayo. Locals joined his forces and they marched to Castlebar. The local garrison, on seeing the enemy approach, ran away, an event known as ‘The Races of Castlebar’.

  Humbert marched east and reached Ballinamuck, County Longford, where he encountered a large English army under Lake and Cornwallis. In the ensuing battle, he was defeated with heavy losses. The French were allowed to return home, but the Irish were not treated so lightly. Hundreds of the rebels were hanged, and again the English soldiers acted against the Irish population with great brutality.

  The end of the 1798 rebellion came a few days afterwards when yet another French expedition arrived in Lough Swilly, off the coast of Derry. Wolfe Tone was on board the Hoche, the largest ship in the fleet. After fierce fighting, the fleet was captured and Wolfe Tone was arrested. He was tried and convicted of treason, and sentenced to be hanged. As a French officer, he demanded to be shot like a soldier, but the authorities refused. They intended to hang him like a common criminal.

  On the night before his execution, he was found in his cell with injuries to his throat and he died from these injuries on 19 November 1798. No one knows how he obtained his injuries, but it is suspected that he may have inflicted them on himself. With his death, all hope that Ireland might gain her freedom ended.

  The 1798 rebellion greatly alarmed the English parliament and king, who still feared revolution in England. They also feared that the French might again attempt to free Ireland, and use the country as a base from which they could attack England. The Prime Minister, William Pitt, realised that he could not hold Ireland by military force alone. He now decided to abolish the Irish parliament in Dublin and unite Ireland and England under a single parliament in London.

  This proposal was placed before the Irish parliament but was rejected. One of its strongest opponents was Henry Grattan. The English now bribed many of the Irish members, offering them money and honours. When the proposal was again voted on, it was passed. On 1 January 1801, the Act of Union, uniting Ireland with England became law, and the Irish parliament was abolished. From now on, those elected in Ireland would sit in parliament at Westminster in London. There they would be in the minority and would have little influence. The English parliament could now pass laws to further suppress the Catholic population of Ireland, and try to ensure that there would be no further rebellions.

  But the English were soon to be reminded that they could not suppress the Irish people. They could enact whatever severe laws they wished, but the people would not submit. The Irish were still a proud Celtic race that had endured for nearly 2,500 years. For the last 600 years they had been suppressed, massacred, starved and had their land stolen. Some of the finest Irish men and women had been driven from the country. Yet the Irish had never willingly submitted to the tyrant’s yoke, or given up the faith of their fathers, in the words of a famous hymn written at this time, ‘in spite of dungeon, fire and sword’. They would not give up now and soon one of the greatest Irishmen of all time, Daniel O’Connell, would begin a peaceful fight for their rights and freedom.

  20

  Daniel O’Connell

  Before Daniel O’Connell began his peaceful campaign on behalf of the Irish people, yet another rebellion was being planned in Dublin. It was led by a young Protestant, Robert Emmet, who came from a wealthy family. He had been left a large sum of money by his father and used this money to buy arms.

  Because of his fear of informers, Emmet kept most of the plans for the rising to himself. This meant that the rising was badly organised and was doomed to fail. A further disaster struck on 16 July 1803 when one of Emmet’s stores of gunpowder exploded, warning the authorities that a rising was imminent.

  Fearful that the government would arrest him, Emmet decided to go ahead with his plan. On the evening of 23 July 1803, he, with around 100 men, marched towards Dublin Castle. He was joined by locals, who saw an opportunity for looting. When the group met a judge named Kilwarden, they murdered him along with a young man who was with him. Emmet realised that there was little hope of a rising succeeding, and he and his followers dispersed.

  On 24 August Emmet was arrested. He was tried for treason, convicted and sentenced to be hanged. After being sentenced, he made a famous speech from the dock in which he stated: ‘When my country takes its place among the nations of the earth, then, and not till then, let my epitaph be written.’ On 20 September 1803 he was executed. He was then just twenty-five years of age.

  Rebellion had yet again failed. It seemed that there was no longer any hope for the Catholic population. But while rebellion had failed, peaceful means were now to be more successful in gaining some freedom for the Irish people. The man responsible for this was Daniel O’Connell, one of the most famous Irishmen of all time.

  O’Connell was born at Derrynane, near Cahersiveen, County Kerry, in 1775. His people were wealthy landowners. O’Connell was first educated in Ireland, later studied in France and became a lawyer. Though well off, he was acutely aware of the suffering of the Irish people, who regularly endured famine and disease. He realised that if the people were to be helped, the Penal Laws would have to be repealed, along with other changes.

  As a young man, O’Connell had witnessed mob violence in Paris during the French Revolution. Afterwards, he abhorred all violence and wished to achieve his aims through peaceful means. With this in mind, in 1823 he and Richard Lalor Shiel formed the Catholic Association. It had two main aims: repeal of the Penal Laws and an improvement in conditions for tenant farmers. They were at the mercy of landlords who charged such exorbitant rents that the farmers could barely afford to feed their families. This led to unrest in the country, with the Whiteboys and other such organisations continuing to attack landlords and their agents. O’Connell believ
ed that if he could improve the conditions for farmers, the violence would cease.

  In order to raise money for the association, one penny per week was collected from its supporters. The English government tried every means possible to ban the organisation, but O’Connell was a brilliant lawyer. Each time the organisation was suppressed, he simply set it up again under a different name.

  To further their aims, the Catholic Association put forward candidates for election to the English parliament. They were successful, and O’Connell himself was elected in County Clare. This alarmed the government and the Prime Minister, Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington. He feared that more of O’Connell’s candidates might be elected. If this happened, it would lead to more demands, and perhaps even to another rebellion if the demands were not granted.

  Wellesley was born in Ireland, but did not regard himself as an Irishman. He once declared that ‘being born in a stable did not make a man a horse’. He was responsible for the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815, and so popularised the wearing of rubber boots that wellington boots are named after him. He concluded that to prevent rebellion in Ireland, the English parliament would have to grant rights to Irish Catholics. His government drew up a Catholic Relief Bill, which became law in April 1829. This granted Catholic Emancipation and abolished most of the Penal Laws. Only the highest positions in government were denied to Catholics. But the bill had a sting in the tail. The poorer farmers, O’Connell’s strongest supporters, were denied the right to vote. Now it became almost impossible for members of the Catholic Association to be elected to parliament, greatly undermining O’Connell’s power base.