This irreducible minimum will be demanded by a numerous and compact Irish party in the next Parliament; and it is important, therefore, to know what was the constitution, what were the powers of that Parliament whose restitution is to be asked for. It is strange that, practically, no work exists which gives a concise and succinct account of it. Mr. Lecky brings the history of the Irish Parliament only as far as 1782; Mr. Froude's history of it is intermingled with the narrative of other Irish affairs; whilst the late Chief Justice Whiteside's lectures on the subject by no means go sufficiently deep to satisfy the requirements of the political student. The constitution of the Parliament of 1782, or, as Mr. Parnell calls it, "Grattan's Parliament," cannot be satisfactorily understood without an acquaintance with the previous history of the Irish Parlia ment. According to Sir John Davies-probably the greatest authority on the subject the first time and occasion for instituting the High Court of Parliament in Ireland was in the reign of Edward the First. England then, torn by internal dissensions, and threatened with Scotch incursions, was unable to look after her subjects who had migrated to and settled in Ireland; and they, left to their own resources, obtained authority from England, and held a Parliament among themselves. This privilege of separate legislative power, once gained, was not surrendered. That it was not a satisfactory form of connection between the two countries, however, is proved by the fact that Henry the Seventh most materially modified it. In fact, he annihilated the independence of the Irish Parliament and made the government of Ireland directly dependent on the sovereign's own will and pleasure. Sir Edward Poyning was selected to give effect to the king's determination, and was sent to Ireland as deputy. On his arrival there, in 1494, he convened a Parliament; and a most important and far-reaching act, known throughout Irish history as Poyning's Act, was passed. It enacted that no Parliament be holden hereafter in the said land but at such season as the King's Lieutenant and Council there first do certify the King under the Great Seal of that land the causes and consideration, and all such Acts as them seemeth should pass in the same Parliament. and until the king and his English council had signified their approval of the same under the great seal of England. Thus by a single act Henry made the Irish Parliament absolutely dependent on the Encenturies afterwards that one act ruled all glish government, and for nearly three Irish legislation. In the next reign the identity and inseparability of the crowns of the two counsovereigns had only been "lords" of Iretries were enacted. Hitherto the English land, but in 1542 it was enacted by the Irish Parliament that the King's Highness, his heirs and successors, kings of England, be always kings of this land of Ireland, and should hold and enjoy all prerogatives, dignities, etc., forever as united and knit to the imperial Crown of the realm of England. Thenceforward the union of the crowns was an accomplished and recognized fact, and the chief executive power in both countries was vested in the same person; but as the sovereign could not himself reside in Ireland or personally conduct the government of that country, a great part of his authority was delegated to a deputy, or viceroy, or lord lieutenant, with whom a council was associated. This Irish Council consisted of some twenty or thirty members the lord chancellor of Ireland and some of the judges, the Archbishop of Dublin, a bishop or two, and some nobles. Practically it was a third chamber of the legislature, as all Irish bills had to receive its approval be. fore going before the English Privy Council, and before submission to the Irish Parliament. Such was the constitution of Ireland at the beginning of the seventeenth century; such, too, was it at the end of that century, for we may pass over the brief interruptions in this form of government: one when Cromwell, with the gifted foresight of a great statesman, united the Irish and English Parliaments, and established complete free trade between the two countries; and one when James the Second, driven from England, sought to make a stand in Ireland, and convoked a Parlia ment there. After each of these brief interruptions the country reverted to its constitution under Poyning's Act. In the early part of the eighteenth century an important event occurred which still further reduced the value of the Irish | privileges which their brethren in England constitution. had gained by the Revolution, many concessions affecting the constitution and powers of Parliament were secured. Before detailing them, the constitution of both Houses of Parliament and the electorate must be described; and it is to be borne in mind that, with one exception hereafter to be stated, the description now given is that also of the constitution and electorate of Grattan's Parliament. A dispute arose as to the relative au thority of the Irish House of Lords and the House of Lords of Great Britain. In a certain legal case it is unnecessary to go into details-an appeal from the decision of the law courts was made to the Irish House of Lords. The appeal was further carried to the English House of Lords, which set aside the decision of the Irish Lords. The latter protested strenuously against the English Lords assuming a superior authority, and presented a petition to the king, in which they urged that, if the power of the judicature may, by a vote of the British Lords, be taken away from the Parliament of Ireland, no reason can be given why the same may not, in like manner, deprive us of the benefit of our whole Constitution. The answer given to this petition was the celebrated Declaratory Act (6 George 1.), which enacted that the Kingdom of Ireland hath been, is, and of right ought to be subordinate unto, and dependent upon, the imperial Crown of Great Britain, as being inseparably united and annexed thereunto; and that the King, with the consent of the Lords and Commons of Great Britain in Parliament assembled, hath power to make laws of sufficient force to bind the Kingdom and people of Ireland; and that the House of Lords of Ireland have not, nor ought of right to have, any jurisdiction to judge of, or affirm, or reverse any decree made in any court within the said Kingdom, and that all proceedings before the said House of Lords upon any such judgment or decrees are void. It may here be remarked that up to this time Parliament was by no means so indispensable an institution that prolonged periods could not elapse without it. From 1585 to 1612 (twenty-seven years) there was no Parliament; and again from 1615 to 1634 (nineteen years) and from 1666 to 1692 (twenty-six years) no Parliaments were held. By the close of George the Second's reign, however, it used to meet every second year. Another matter which must be mentioned is, that there was no limitation of time for the existence of a Parliament, except the life of the sovereign. Some Parliaments lasted for many years - that of George the Second was actually in existence for thirty-three. Of the House of Lords little need be said. It consisted of about one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy temporal peers, a large number of whom were absentees, and of twenty-two spiritual peers. A few had titles of some antiquity, but the bulk of them had received their peerages in recent times as a reward for services to the government. Most of the temporal peers were large landed proprietors; hence the landed interest was predominant in the upper House. Many of them were proprietors of the Parlia mentary close boroughs, and could send their nominees to the House of Commons, so they exercised large influence also in the lower chamber. It is stated that in the later half of the century fifty-three peers nominated one hundred and twentythree members of the House of Commons. The Duke of Leinster, Lord Shannon, and Lord Ely were the three largest of the borough owners, and they controlled no less than thirty-five votes in the House of Commons. The House of Commons consisted of three hundred members. In the beginning of the seventeenth century it had been a little over two hundred, but it was somewhat gradually raised as the requirements of the Stuart sovereigns necessitated their securing a majority of government supporters, or, in other words, "packing Parliament." James the First created about forty boroughs, all with so small a number of electors that they were mere nominee boroughs. "I have made forty boroughs," said James when remonstrated with; " suppose I had made four hundred? The more, the merrier." Of the three hundred members, two were returned from each of the thirty-two counties; two by Dublin University, and the remaining two hundred and thirtyfour, from one hundred and seventeen The Irish constitution remained in this cities, towns, and boroughs, each of powerless and inert form down to the end which returned two members. Only memof George the Second's reign; then, un-bers of the Protestant Established Church der the awakening feeling of the Protes of Ireland could sit in the House. Pertants of Ireland, who had long been suf- sons of other religious professions were fering under a denial of nearly all the excluded. The electorate was Protestant, and mainly of members of the Established Church; for though Nonconformists were not specifically excluded, the test clause shut them out from the corporations by which a large proportion of the members were elected. Roman Catholics, who constituted the bulk of the population of the country, did not possess the franchise, and consequently had no voice in the legislature. The House of Commons was therefore purely a Protestant Church of Ireland body, elected by a part only of the Protestant inhabitants of Ireland. The franchise was a forty-shilling free hold. Popular representation, such as exists in the present day, can scarcely be said to have existed. In the counties, and in a few of the larger cities and boroughs, the voice of the electors made itself to some extent felt. In the smaller boroughs there were either few inhabitants or the most absolute system of nomination by the borough proprietor. Grattan, in a speech in 1793, described the state of Irish representation so late as that year: Of three hundred members [he said] above two hundred are returned by individuals; from Heads of Bills arising in either House first passed to the Irish Privy Council, which might either suppress them altogether or alter them as it pleased. If this body thought fit to throw them into the form of a Bill, it at once transmitted that Bill to England, where it was submitted to the examination of a Committee of the English Privy Council, assisted by the English Attorney-General, and this body, like the Irish Privy Council, had an unlimited power of suppressing or altering it. If the Bill passed through this second ordeal, it was returned with such changes, additions, and diminutions as the two Privy Councils had made to the House of Parliament in which it took its rise, and it then passed for the first time to the other House. Neither House, however, had now the power of altering it, and they were therefore reduced to the alternative of rejecting it altogether or accepting it in the exact form in which it had been returned from England.* realizes how little claim at this period the As one summarizes these facts, one forty to fifty are returned by ten persons; sev- Irish Parliament had even to the name of eral of the boroughs have no resident electora Parliament. The suffrage restricted to at all; some of them have but one; and, on the whole, two-thirds of the representatives in the House of Commons are returned by less than one hundred persons. What shall we say that we have been doing when we go back to our representatives? I ask pardon, I forgot. A majority of this House never go back to their representatives. They do not know them; they do not live among them; many of them never saw them; no, nor even the places they represent. What a mockery is this of representation! Next to the constitution of the Parliament, its powers must be considered. Those powers were very limited. There was no Mutiny Act. The army in Ireland, which consisted of twelve thousand men, had been created by an English act of Parliament in the reign of William the Third, and was paid out of the hereditary revenue which was settled in perpetuity; and out of the control of Parliament. The House of Commons did not possess the power of originating bills. Bills orig a section of a section of the people of Ireland, the House composed mainly of nominees and but little of representatives, coming seldom in contact with the limit was supposed to derive its authority, ited section of the people from whom direct bribery, destitute almost of the controlled by the crown by open and power of originating legislation, all its acts subject to the revision of the Irish Privy Council, which was often hostile to it, and to the English Privy Council, which was still more hostile to it, it was but the shadow, the mere phantom of a Parliament. Over and above all this was the humiliating fact that the British Parlia ment not alone claimed the right to, but actually did legislate for Ireland, regardless of the Irish Parliament. Had England treated her loyal subjects and those of her own race in Ireland with justice, and extended to them the liberties she herself enjoyed, the outburst of feeling which led to the independence of the Irish Parliament might not have occurred. But even those of her own blood she treated in a manner too harsh to be submitted to. Vol. iv., p. 351. Associations for self-defence were formed by the Irish gentry, who enrolled their Protestant tenants. Thus sprang into being those Irish volunteers who during the next few years were to take so important a part in the history of their country. They increased rapidly in num The Habeas Corpus Act had not been on her strength, led to her inability at a extended to Ireland. The judges were critical moment to protect Ireland from dependent on the will of the sovereign. threatened invasion by France. Financial The taxes of the country were charged difficulties prevented an increase of the with pensions to kings' mistresses or fa- Irish army, and Ireland took measures to vorites. But, over and above all, Irish defend herself. industry of every description was crushed out of existence, and the country pauper ized and ruined under the blasting and withering operation of the commercial laws of the British Parliament. A blank hopelessness of improvement hung over the whole country. It is not to be wondered at that even the Protestants of Ire-bers and improved in discipline, and land, those who were directly descended from the English settlers, and who had the most to gain by allegiance to the British government, should chafe under such a state of thraldom. Gradually there arose amongst them a national party. In the Parliament rendered necessary by the accession of George the Third the spirit of opposition became more defined. In the counties and in the larger or more open boroughs, not alone was considerable interest taken in the elections, but strin gent tests were imposed on candidates.* quickly became a formidable element in Irish affairs. First among the results of the new circumstances thus developed was the remission by England of many of the commercial restrictions placed upon Ireland, and the grant of permission to trade with the British colonies; next was the relief of the Dissenters from the sac ramental test. The cry for legislative independence, however, grew higher. In 1780 Grattan introduced into the Irish House of Commons a declaration of Parliamentary independence, on which occasion the govern ment with difficulty succeeded in having the debate adjourned. A modification of Poyning's Act, which was also sought for, was defeated by the government. The Protestant Volunteers became discontented with the slow progress of events, and in February, 1782, a great meeting of delegates from the Ulster Volunteers was held at Dungannon. Mr. Lecky says of them: The first object of the National party was to secure some control over the constitution of the Parliament, and great efforts were made to limit the duration of Parliaments to seven years as in England. For some years the struggle was carried on, and would probably have been much longer resisted, had not the necessities of England required additional troops. As an inducement to the Irish Parliament to supply an additional force of about three thousand men, the concession of octennial Elected by a popular constituency of 25,000 Parliaments was granted, and in 1768 an armed men, free from the borough influence octennial act was allowed to pass. This and from the corruption which tainted the act laid the foundation of the strength of Parliament in Dublin, animated with a conthe Irish National party, and other meas-sciousness of great services performed, and ures were soon striven for. The inadequacy of the hereditary revenue to meet the constantly increasing expenditure of the British crown, and the fact that further revenue could only be raised in Ireland by the Irish Parliament, afforded fresh occasions for the Irish Parliament to secure further concessions from England. But there arose among the Irish Protestants the conviction that legislative independence could alone secure them all that they wanted. Events favored them in their aspirations. The desperate complications in which England was involved, and the constantly increasing demands Lecky's History of England in the Eighteenth Century. with a sincere and ardent patriotism, they were undoubtedly the most faithful representatives then sitting of the opinions and wishes of the Irish Protestants. They passed a series of resolutions, the most important being that a claim of any body of men other than the king, Lords, and Commons of Ireland, to make laws to bind this kingdom, is unconstitutional, illegal, and a grievance. It soon became evident that the government could not much longer resist. The crushing disasters to the English arms in America, and the desperate straits in which England found herself, rendered it impossi ble for her to oppose the Irish demands. Catholics were not yet enrolled, but they subscribed liberally towards the expense. Lord North's government fell, and the The new government was forced to deal at once with Irish demands. The Duke of Portland, the new lord lieutenant, in his speech to the Irish House of Commons, in April, 1782, said: — This treaty was the subject of correspondence and consideration for some time; but the idea was found impracti cable, and with many matters of the gravest and utmost consequence left unarrranged, with many obvious and impor tant contingencies unprovided for, the Irish Parliament started on its new caHe had it in command to inform them that reer. Such, then, is a concise, and I bethe King, being concerned to find that discon-lieve an accurate, account of the earlier tents and jealousies are prevailing among his history of the Irish Parliament; and so loyal subjects in Ireland, upon matters of great we come to the independent Parliament weight and importance, recommended the of 1782, or, as Mr. Parnell calls it, "GratHouse to take the same into their most serious tan's Parliament." consideration, in order to such a final adjustment as might give mutual satisfaction to his kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. Hereupon Grattan moved an address to the king declaring that "the crown of Ireland is an imperial crown inseparably annexed to the crown of Great Britain," "the kingdom of Ireland is a distinct kingdom, with a Parliament of her own, the sole legislature thereof; and there is no body of men competent to make laws to bind this nation except the king, Lords, and Commons of Ireland;" and he then set forth the demands of the Irish Parlia ment. One was the repeal of the Declaratory Act of George the First, and the consequent restoration of the appellate juris diction of the Irish House of Lords; the next was the repeal of the provision in Poyning's Act that Irish legislation should receive the sanction of the Privy Councils of Ireland and England; and the third was the alteration of the perpetual Irish Mutiny Act into a temporary act. In May resolutions were passed in the English Parliament pledging the legisla ture to these concessions, and immediately afterwards they were formally made. It was recognized at the time that these measures were anything but a complete settlement of the relationship between the two countries. It was intended that fur ther ones should be adopted to determine definitely and finally the exact limits of the independence of Ireland. In an address to the king the Irish House of Commons asked that the King would be pleased, either by communications made to his confidential servants, or through the medium of the Chief Governor of Ireland, or by Commissioners, to set on foot a treaty between the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, to settle the precise limits of the independence required, the consideration to be given for the protection expected, and the proportion which it would be proper for Ireland to contribute towards the general support of the Empire. The constitution of the now independent Parliament was not affected by the changes I have detailed. There were still three hundred members elected or nominated in the manner already described, all Protestants; there was still a purely Protestant electorate. But its powers were immensely enlarged, and its movements no longer encumbered by the Privy Councils of Ireland and England. In all internal Irish affairs the Parliament had now exclusive control. It had power over its own constitution and over the franchise. The annual Mu tiny Act gave it power over the Irish army, and it could increase or diminish the forces as it thought necessary, and thus could regulate the "consideration to be given" (to Great Britain) "for the protection expected, and the proportion which it would be proper to contribute towards the general support of the empire." It had control over taxation, it regulated the duties on imports for the purposes of revenue or for the protection of native industries, it fixed the bounties for the encouragement of Irish manufactures. It had absolute control over land-ownership and the tenure of land; over education; over the measures for the main. tenance of order and the preservation of the public peace. All these, and the hundreds of other matters relating to the internal condition of the country, were within its exclusive control subject, of course, to the royal assent as signified under the great seal of England. One sees at once how large and comprehensive, therefore, was the power of the Parliament in all Irish affairs; but the purely Protestant constitution of the House was The views of the English Ministry on the situation are set forth in a letter of Lord Shelburne to the lord lieutenant: "No matter who has the merit (of the treaty), let the two kingdoms be one, which can only be by Ireland now acknowledging the superintending power and su premacy to be where nature has placed it in precise and unambiguous terms." |