Ireland - Subject Cards N-P 

Penal Laws

Penal Laws Before Relief Act of 1792 [1793?]

Education:

1. If a Catholic kept a school, or taught any person, Protestant or Catholic, any species of literature or science, he was punishable by banishment, and if he returned, he was subject to be hanged as a felon.

2. If a Catholic, child or adult, attended a school kept by a Catholic, or was privately instructed by a Catholic, although a child in earliest infancy, incurred forfeiture of all its property, present or future.

3. If a Catholic child, however young, was sent to a foreign country for education, he incurred a similar penalty.

4. If any person in Ireland made any remittance of money or goods for the maintenance of an Irish child educated in a foreign land - a similar penalty.

Religion:

1. To teach the Catholic religion was a transportable[1] felony; to convert a Protestant was a capital offense, punishable as treason.

2. To be a Catholic Archbishop or Bishop, or t[o] exercise any ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the Cath. Church in Ireland, punishable by transportation. To return from such transportation - punishable by being hanged, disemboweled alive, & quartered.

Property:

Any Protestant could take away from any Catholic - without any payment:

1. Any estate purchased

2. Any estate acquired by marriage, or by the will of a relative or friend

3. Any estate leased as a tenant for [a] longer term than 31 years

4. Any estate leased for less than 31 years, if by his labor & industry he raised the value

of the land so as to yield a profit of 1/3 of the rent

- Sherlock, The Case for Ireland, p. 130-32

Penal Laws:

- Commentary on

Edmund Burke:[2] "The wit of man never devised a machine to disgrace a realm or destroy a kingdom so perfect as this."

Montesquieu (French jurist-philosopher, author of the epoch-making Spirit of the Laws): It must have been contrived by devils; it ought to have been written in blood; the only place to register it is in Hell."

- Joseph Dunn & P. J. Lennox, The Glories of Ireland (1914), p. 147 (Wab. Lib.)[3]

Penal Laws Instituted by William After 1691

1. Changed inheritance laws - forbad primogeniture unless a son would turn apostate, in

which case he got the whole property & maintenance suitable to his rank.

2. Forbade Papists to purchase or lease land, except for short tenancies.

3. Forbade Papists to teach.

4. Forbade Papists to have arms.

5. Forbade Papists to have a horse worth more than 5 pounds.

6. An act of 1704 permitted Catholic clergy their freedom if they registered.

7. All Catholic prelates ordered into exile (hoping ordination of new priests would cease).

- Inglis, Story of Ire., p. 175-76

Penal laws relaxed in 1774, modified still further in 1778, and abandoned in 1782 (Ibid., p. 182).

1. Catholics barred from Army, Navy, law, commerce, & every civic activity.

2. No Catholic could vote or hold office.

3. Primogeniture outlawed unless eldest son became Protestant.

4. Catholics could not attend or keep schools, nor send their children to be educated abroad.

5. The practice of the Catholic faith proscribed; informing was "an honorable service," &

priest-hunting a sport.

The material damage suffered through the Penal Laws was great; ruin was widespread, old families disappeared, old estates were broken up; but the most disastrous effects were moral. The upper classes were able to leave the country & the middle classes contrived with guile, to survive, but the Catholic peasant bore the full hardship. His religion made him an outlaw; in the Irish House of Commons he was called "the common enemy." Whatever was inflicted on him he must bear, for where could he look for redress? To his landlord? Almost invariably an alien conqueror. To the Law? Not when every person connected with the law from the jailer to the judge was a Protestant who regarded him as the common enemy. Under these conditions suspicion of the law & of all established authority worked into the very nerves & blood of the Irish peasant. He set up his own law - Oak Boys, White Boys, Ribbon men dispensed a people's justice in the terrible form of revenge.

Nor were lawlessness, cruelty, & revenge the only consequences. During the long Penal period, dissimulation became a moral necessity & evasion of the law the duty of every god-fearing Catholic. To worship according to his faith the Catholic must attend illegal meetings; to protect his priest he must be secret, cunning, & a concealer of the truth.

- C. Woodham-Smith, Hunger, p. 27-284

"Whosoever person of the Popish religion shall publicly teach at a school, or shall instruct youth in learning in any private house within this realm, or shall be entertained to instruct youth in learning, as usher or assistant by any Protestant master, be esteemed or taken to be a Popish regular clergyman, and shall be prosecuted as such, and incur such pains, penalties, & forfeitures, as any Popish convict is liable to by the laws & statutes of this realm." A reward of 10 pounds was given to any person "discovering a Popish schoolmaster."

- The Halls, Vol. II, p. 359

Relief Act of 1792

Passed by Irish Parl[iament] - admitted Catholics to the professions & to the army & navy; gave legal recognition to Catholic worship; & legal sanction, with some limitations, to mix[ed] marriages. The franchise was withheld.

Repeal of

Because the Catholic Irish were (at long last) completely indifferent to the fate of the Pretender Stuart's uprising in Scotland in 1745, the Lord Lieutenant, Chesterfield, of the famous letters, relaxed the enforcement of the religious clauses (of the Penal Laws) and, as a concession (the English needed manpower), the Catholics were allowed to join the English army... The independent Irish Legislature, established in 1782, repealed the remnants of the Penal Laws - with one major exception: Catholics could not hold seats in Parliament, though they could vote, hold land, sit on the grand jury, and enjoy other civil rights.

- Geo. Potter, To the Golden Door, p. 31 & 32

In 1823 O'Connell established the Catholic Association, pledged to work for Catholic Emancipation. O'Connell formed an alliance with the Catholic Church in an organization that, for practical & political skill and efficiency, stands even today as a masterpiece in party management. The surest way to reach the last peasant in the most remote parts of Ireland was through the Catholic parishes. O'Connell's organization was based on the parish, with the priests & local worthies as its agents. The messages, speeches, & propaganda of the Catholic Association reached the people from the priests on the altar or in the gatherings outside the church after mass.

The people were asked to finance the Association; membership was taken by the better circumstanced at an annual fee of 2 guineas; the peasants at 1 penny each month, collected by the local priest or workers. The inclusion of the peasant's penny was a touch of political genius; it gave him a personal interest, often at a sacrifice, which he would not have had were he but a spectator; he felt that he was a part of a great national movement & that he was important to it...

In 1829 the Catholic Irish were freed of the last shackles of the Penal Laws. (Ibid., p. 108-09)

1 Punishment by "transportation" to the British penal colony in Australia.

2 Edmund Burke ( 1729- 1797), Anglo-Irish statesman and political philosopher.

3 Joseph Dunn and P. J. Lennox, eds., The Glories of Ireland. Washington , DC : Phoenix, Limited, 1914.

4 Cecil Blanche Fitz Gerald Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger: Ireland 1845-1849 . New York: Harper & Row, 1962.

Pirates and Smuggling

An author called Knight, writing in 1834, stated that 20,000 pounds ($100,000) worth of smuggled goods were annually landed on the shores of Erris (the peninsula south of Donegal & north of Achill Island).

Place Names

Many of these have been lost, particularly where Irish has ceased to be spoken; many left are hard to understand, owing to the English surveyors' attempts to write down a language they did not understand. In some cases the map error has passed into ordinary use.

Muine Sceilp = money scalp (the shrubbery of the chasm)

Fidh na gcaer = Vinegar Hill (woods of the berries)

Shabh - ordinary word for hill

Cnoc (English knock) - a high, craggy top

Beann (English ben) - mountain

Boreens - rough lane

Killybegs (na cealla beaga) - the little churches

Kilcar (Cill Chartha) - St. Carthach's church

Carrick (an Charring) - the rock

- D. D. C. Pochin Mould, The Mountains of Ireland, p. 27 (Mil. Lib.)

Poets

The honor of a nobleman or even a King was threatened by the satire of a poet, & this was greatly feared. Refusal of a poet's request or failure to reward him adequately for a poem might bring satire upon one, & in the sagas a poet's satire might even disfigure a man. The demands of the poets, & the willingness of others to concede to them, whatever the cost, is a recurring theme.

- Myles Dillon & Nora Chadwick, The Celtic Realms, p. 106

Political History

[Oliver] Cromwell

Effect on Ireland

By 1652 all Ireland was crushed. By then 616,000 persons, 1/3 the population, had died in the wars, plague, & famine of the preceding 10 years. There followed a ravishment of unprecedented severity. Cromwell parceled out 2/3 of the land to his soldiers & adherents. Several thousand Irish were sent in chains to the West Indies & sold as slaves on the plantations. Others roamed the country as vagabonds. The great majority remained to work the land for the conquerors.

- Wm. V. Shannon, The Am. Irish, p.

Preserved in Language

Sayings - "The remembrance of which (the visit of Cromwell) is still freshly preserved in the expressive execration so common in the mouths of the Irish peasantry - 'The curse of Cromwell be upon you!'"

- Halls, Vol. II, p. 424

"to Hell or Connaught"

French Expedition of 1798 I

Humbert landed at Killala with 1,030 private soldiers & 70 officers, from 3 frigates, 2 of 54 & 1 of 38 guns, which had sailed from Rochelle on the 4 th of the same month. The intention was to land in the County of Donegal, but they were frustrated by contrary winds. The garrison of Killala, consisting of only 50 men (of whom 30 were yeomen, the rest fencible soldiers of the Prince of Wales regiment), after a vain attempt to oppose the entrance of the French vanguard, fled with precipitation, leaving 2 of their number dead & their 2 officers prisoners, together with 19 privates. To compensate as far as possible by the vigor of his operations for the smallness of his numbers, seems to have been the great object of the French general. He sent on the next morning a detachment towards Ballina, which, retreating from some picquet guards or reconnoitering parties of loyalists, led them to a bridge under which lay concealed a sergeant's guard of French soldiers. By a volley from these, a clergyman who had volunteered for the occasion, and two carabineers were wounded, the first mortally. This clergyman was the Rev. George Fortescue, rector of Ballina. The French, advancing to this town, took possession of it in the night, the garrison retreating to Foxford, leaving one prisoner, a yeoman, in the hands of the enemy. From Ballina, Humbert pushed out to Castlebar, where he obtained a victory over the royalist troups, but he was arrested in his further progress by Lord Cornwallis, who, in a battle at Ballinamuck, completely destroyed or took prisoner the whole French force."

- J. Stirling Coyne & N. P. Willis, etc.., Scenery & Antiquities of Ireland, Vol. II, p. 45[1]

French Expedition of 1798 II

On the 22 nd of August, 1798, 3 French frigates appeared in Killala Bay. The collector of the port boarded the ships (they had hoisted English colors), but did not return. The troops, amounting in number to above 1000, commanded by General Humbert, landed without opposition, & after a slight skirmish with some yeomanry, took possession of the town of Killala. There first step was to arm & equip "the natives" for whom they had brought clothing, arms, & ammunition. Bulletins were at once issued, headed " Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, Union," & ending, "The Irish Republic: such is our shout! Let us march! Our hearts are devoted to you! Your glory is our happiness!" Proceeding southward they reached Castlebar on the 27 th, & here met by the English generals, Lake & Hutchinson, who had possession of the town, a much larger force & more ammunition than their enemies. The relative strength of the two armies was 1,000 to 1,500. France was aided by a mob dressed in French uniforms; the English was composed chiefly of militia, who deserted by whole companies. The English generals made a miserable fight & fled in confusion to Athlone (65 mi.), leaving behind their cannon, above 100 dead & wounded, & 300 missing, the majority of whom were deserters. Humbert appointed Castlebar s the capital of the Republic of Ireland. He made no effort to pursue the enemy, but wheeled off to the north (to join Hoche, who was supposed to land 5,000 men at Lough Swilly, Donegal). The Marquis of Cornwallis with 27,000 men pursued & overtook Humbert at Ballinamuck. When Humbert surrendered on the 8 th of Sept., his army consisted of 96 officers & 748 men.

- Halls, Vol. III, p. 379-81 

Limerick - Broken Treaty

William had returned to England in Sept. 1691, after failing to take Limerick. Ginckle (the general he left) made another try.

Sept. 23 rd hostilities ceased. Oct. 3 rd - treaty signed. The 9 th article provided - "The Roman Catholics of this kingdom shall enjoy such privileges in the exercise of their religion as are consistent with the laws of Ireland, or as they enjoyed in the reign of Charles II...& their majesties will permit them to summon a parliament in this Kingdom (Ireland), will endeavor to procure the said Roman Catholics such further security as may preserve them from any disturbance upon the account of their said religion."

The treaty further stipulated for the surrender of Limerick, and "other fortresses now in the hands of the Irish," and provided that the garrisons should be marched out with the full honors of war, & be supplied with shipping by the British government (cost paid by British) to take them to France, or elsewhere.

At Limerick on Oct. 6 th, the Irish troops to the number of 14,000 were drawn up. It had been agreed that they should be marched past a flag where those who were to enlist for England should file off, while those for France should proceed onward.

"Sarsfield (Irish commander) gave the order, 'March.' Profound silence reigned; not a sound was heard except the steady tramp of the Irish soldiers as they advanced, until the solemnity of the scene was broken by the shouts of the multitude assembled within sight, when the royal regiment of guards 14,000 strong, reached the flag, & all - excepting seven - passed it by. Of the whole army, only 3,000 joined the English, or obtained means to carry them home; the remainder were subsequently embarked for France, & laid the foundation of the 'Irish Brigades' which occupy positions so prominent & so honorable in the after wars of Europe."

- The Halls, p. 332-33 & 335-36

This was "the Flight of the Wild Geese." Many from Limerick deserted as they marched to Cork for embarkation to France & made their way home.

[James] Napper Tandy[2] - Chronology

1782 - "The colonel of the Phoenix Park Artillery Corps (of the volunteers) was a Dublin

ironmonger named Napper Tandy, who pushed himself into notoriety as the bullying

demagogue of the corporation; small, ugly, ill-shaped, with no talent except for speech;

a coward in action, a noisy fool in council."

- Froude, Vol. II, p. 356

1783 - When the Volunteer Convention opened in Dublin (to influence the Irish House of

Commons then meeting) it was opened by a parade - "In the rear came Napper Tandy,

with the Dublin Artillery, the guns decked out in ribbons." (Ibid., p. 382)

1784 - Dublin in turmoil, many out of work. "The corporation was governed by Napper Tandy,

who continued at the head of the Volunteers and possessed the guns. The magistrates

were cowardly, or themselves sympathized with the agitators." (Ibid., p. 409)

1784 - French officers came over in disguise to foment trouble. "Napper Tandy & his friends

were in the habit of holding secret meetings with French emissaries... At one of these

meetings was a singular scene. Ten years later the Irish patriots were red republicans,

anxious only to advance the principles of Tom Paine. On this occasion Napper & his

party "drank the health of Louis XVI on their knees." Their acknowledged object was

separation from England & the establishment in Ireland of the Roman Catholic religion."

(Ibid., p. 412)

1784 - Report to Loudon by Irish gov. on the arrival in Dublin of two men to find out what the

plans were of the discontents. "Parker can scrape acquaintance with the leaders of

sedition, particularly Napper Tandy, and perhaps dive to the bottom of his secrets."

(Ibid., p. 415)

1789 - From a speech by Lord Clare, speaking of the formation of Mr. Grattan's Whig Club -

"Under this banner was ranged such a motley collection of congenial characters as

never before were assembled for the reformation of a state. Mr. Napper Tandy was

received by acclamation as a statesman too important & illustrious to be committed to

the hazard of a ballot." (Ibid., p. 520)

1791 - United Irishmen was launched at Belfast; in Dublin a sister lodge was founded. Simion

Butler, younger brother of Lord Mountgarret, was the first chairman. Napper Tandy,

"'with the frenzy-rolling eye' volunteered as Secretary." (Ibid., Vol. III, p. 21)

"Napper Tandy, the noisiest of demagogues, was its secretary."

1791 - Lord Westmoreland, in a letter against granting the Catholics the franchise, "Why

sacrifice an old & established policy to the intimidation of Napper Tandy & his

associates at the head of the lower ranks of the Catholics in Dublin, unconnected with

the nobility, landed gentry, or clergy of their communion?" (Ibid., p. 38)

1792 - The object of Napper Tandy & the Committee was to prevent moderate concessions, to

keep up the ferment. (Ibid., p. 43)

1792 - The Irish House of Commons session closed the middle of April. "Before the curtain fell

there was a mock-heroic passage at arms with the United Irishmen. Napper Tandy, not

liking the language in which the Society & himself had been spoken of, sent Toler, the

Solicitor-General, a challenge. The Irish laws of honor allowed a gentleman to refuse

such an invitation from a tradesman. Toler brought the letter before the House and an

officer was sent to arrest the offender & bring him to the bar for breach of privilege.

Napper slipped through a window & escaped... As the session neared its end Napper

appeared to challenge martyrdom when it would be inattended by inconvenience. On the

last day he was seen strutting through the streets toward College Green, intending to

present himself to the House. He was encountered by the Sergeant-at-Arms, & was

brought to the Bar, Tone sitting conspicuous in the uniform of the Whig Club in the front

of the gallery. At the motion of the Atty-Gen., Napper was committed to Newgate, to

which he was escorted by an adoring crowd. His imprisonment lasted but an hour or

two. On his release he commenced a prosecution against the Viceroy, by which Dublin

was entertained & excited for the remainder of the year. (Ibid., p. 55-57)

1795 - When Tone got to Philadelphia at the end of the summer, he found Napper Tandy

already there. (Froude, Vo. III, p. 195)

1796 - "Napper Tandy had fled" (when the leaders of the United Irishmen were arrested).

(Ibid., p. 184)

1797 - In Paris: "Napper Tandy, from America, giving out that he was some great one. Wolfe

Tone & the Lewines were civilians; Napper, who had commanded the Dublin Volunteer

Artillery, presented himself as an experienced officer. He had money. His sons still

carried on business in Dublin. He declared that when he set foot in Ireland it would be

the reappearance of Achilles; 30,000 soldiers would spring to his side."

(Ibid., p. 272)

1798 - "Napper Tandy, Lewines, and others of the Irish party in Paris, hearing that Humbert had

sailed [he landed on the N. coast of Co. Mayo, 22 nd of August, 1798, with 1,100 French;

with little support from the Irish, they were beaten by Lord Cornwallis & surrendered

Sept. 8 th at Ballinanuck], had followed in a separate vessel, hoping to be in time for the

revolution they expected would follow. At Rathlin Island [ Rutland] they learnt that all

was over, & they made their way out of reach of danger to Hamburgh."[3] (Ibid., p. 492)

(Tone was with Hardy & Bompart on the "Hoche," which sailed from Brest on

Sept. 20 th. They were captured in the Lough Swilly on Oct. 10 th, after an

unsuccessful naval battle. Tone tried Nov. 10 & died a week later.)

1798 - Napper Tandy was arrested at Hamburgh at the instance of the English minister, sent to

Ireland and tried, but was spared as too contemptible to be worth punishing."

(Ibid., p. 496 

[James] Napper Tandy - and French Expedition to Ireland

Another version -

"He persuaded the Directory that he owned vast estates in Ireland & that 30,000 of the peasantry would rise the minute he set foot upon the island. He was given command of a corvette & landed on a small island off the coast of Donegal. The few fishermen who resided in the area immediately took to their boats in terror, but Tandy hoisted the Irish flag & issued a proclamation to a non-existent population urging all Irishmen "to strike from the blood-cemented thrones the murderer of their friends." Eight hours later he was carried back on board in a state of complete intoxication and the corvette sailed to Bergen. From Bergen Tandy sought to reach Paris by land, and on the evening of Nov. 22 he reached Hamburg in a snow storm & proceeded to the American arms. He was there arrested by Sir James Crawford and a posse of Hamburg police & put in irons. Sir James then persuaded the Hamburg Senate to deliver over Tandy's person & embark him upon a British man-of-war. Bonaparte, when he became First Consul, claimed that this was a violation of International Law & fined the Hamburg Senate the sum of four & a half million francs. The British government, feeling that they were on uncertain ground, first condemned Tandy to death and then released him. He returned to France as a hero & a martyr & died of dysentery at Bordeaux.

- Harold Nicolson, The Desire to Please, p. 173-74[4]

Daniel O'Connell - Intro & Overview

(see [also] cards under Penal Laws & Johann Georg Kohl)

O'Connell, the founder of Irish nationalism, is the outstanding figure of the period. ...by the force of his personality, his great energy & enthusiasm, his power of organization, and his oratorical gifts, together with his great sympathy with the people, to whom, although a landed proprietor, he really belonged, he gained an enormous power over them. By playing on their emotions and arousing their ambitions, he welded them together & made them feel their importance... It was he who founded the Catholic Association, whose operations extended all over the country. It was he who built up a strong central fund by levying a "Catholic Rent." It was he who gained the cooperation of the Catholic priesthood. Eleven years after Catholic Emancipation had been secured in 1829 by an act that admitted Roman Catholics to Parliament, he founded his Association for the Repeal of the Union. The Protestant landlords still held the land & control of the police and magistracy; if the English support were withdrawn from them, the people were led to believe that they would regain their lands & succeed to their privileges. But Repeal was to them a mere catchword, for they were absorbed with their immediate grievances. Evictions had increased, & so had agrarian outrages...

O'Connell was the hero of the Irish people for having secured Catholic Emancipation, but his work for Repeal, despite his enormous mass meetings, & the large sums he collected, was not much of a success, for he was beginning to lose his influence. Since he was the first Catholic to be returned for an Irish constituency, he had been immensely popular at the time of the Clare elections (1828), a popularity which he tried to maintain by becoming Lord Mayor of Dublin, Nov. 8, 1840; but he suffered a severe setback when he called off a mass meeting set for Oct. 3, 1843 which was opposed by the government... The Repeal movement reached its zenith in 1843, when the Repeal Rent reached over €600 a week (3,000), but O'Connell soon fell out with the Young Ireland Party because of his timidity. In Feb. 1847 his health began to fail. He died in Genoa, en route to Rome, May 15, 1847.

...Carlyle, hearing him speak in London in 1846 called him "the chief quack of the world," & the "Demosthenes of Blarney."

- Constantia Maxwell, The Stranger in Ireland, p. 214-15 (Mil. Lib.)

Daniel O'Connell - Chronology

Balzac called him "the incarnation of a people."

"His unique gift to his own people was that he brought them hope & courage when they had

lost faith in themselves during the centuries of relentless religious persecution."

- p. 13 [Dunlop? see below]

1793 - Maurice O'Connell became Deputy-Governor of County Kerry after the Relief Act of

1793

1794 - Entered as a student at Lincoln's Inn. By Act of '93 a Catholic could be admitted to

the Bar, but was barred from the inner Bar, or any judicial appointment.

1796 - went to Dublin & studied

1798 - April: called to the Bar; in Kerry during uprising & ____. Returned to Dublin after it

was over.

1823 - Catholic Assoc. formed in Dublin; ___ all over Ireland - rent coll.

1825 - his uncle died, leaving him Derrynane & income of about $5000 [pounds?] a year.

1825 - Parliament passes law suppressing illegal societies in Ireland; new assoc. formed which evaded law.

1828 - Sunday, Jan. 21: in 1500 Catholic churches meetings were held to support petition to

Parliament - estimated 1,500,000 men - later in each parish 2 churchwardens were set

up to collect the rent.

June: O'Connell elected to Parliament from Co. Clare.

1829 - Feb. 12 th: Assoc. dissolved itself under pressure; the government had voted to suppress

it; suppression to be followed by Catholic relief (Emancipation).

April 10 th: Emancipation Bill passed; included disenfranchisement of the 40-shilling

freeholders.

May: he was refused his seat in Commons because he refused to take the oath prescribed

before the Emancipation Act just passed (he was elected before the act).

July: he was returned unopposed.

1830 - Feb.: took his seat.

Summer: began agitation for Repeal; 2 societies formed suppressed.

1832-1835 - Question of tithes; Whiteboy outrages, result: Coercion Law passed in '35.

O'Connell dropped active work on Repeal as inopportune & was criticized at home.

1835 - T____ , "scum condensed of Irish bog!"

"Ruffian - coward - demagogue!"

"Spout thy filth - effuse thy slime;

slander is in the_ no crime."

1836 - his wife died

1837 - [Queen] Victoria - O'Connell enthusiastic about her; Melbourne passed a tithe law that

was unsatisfactory, as was the Poor Law passed.

1840 - April 18 th: founded the Repeal Assoc. in a public meeting Easter week. Meeting poorly

attended. Bulk of members paid 1 penny a month. Progress slow.

Oct. 5 th: meeting at Cork great success - Limerick - Ennis - Dublin

Oct. 14 th: Kilkenny 80,000, etc..

"He vowed before the captives' God to break the captives' chain,

To bind the broken heart & set the bondsman free again.

And fit was he our chief to be, in triumph or in need,

Who never wronged his deadliest foe, in thought, or word, or deed."

1841 - defeated for MP in Dublin (elected in Cork)

Nov. 1 st: elected Lord Mayor of Dublin (first R. Cath. so elected in the 150 years since

Battle of Boyne. In his address to the crowd after the election he pointed out that a

great victory had been won without riot, tumult, or bloodshed. Could not Repeal be

won the same way? During mayoralty agitation suspended - 1 st was Meath, Mar. 19 th -

30,000.

1843 - Announced the holding of a public meeting in every county. Apr., West Meath -

100,000; May, Cork - 500,000; Aug. 15th, Tara - 1,000,000.

Oct. 8 th: Clontarf scheduled, people gathering when the afternoon of 7 th the government

announced (without warning) that they would prevent it by armed force. O'Connell

immediately called it off, sending messengers to Clontarf. A week later he & colleagues

arrested on charges of conspiracy to create disaffection. Bail accepted; trial set for Jan.15th, 1844.

1844 - trial; every R. Catholic struck off the jury; Feb. 12th - guilty; May 30th - judgement

passed: imprisonment for 12 months, fine $10,000. Imprisoned in Richmond Bridwell

& given every privilege. Appealed to House of Lords who reversed the decision.

Release sparked ovations.

1845 - Famine; wheat crop good & O'Connell urged the gov. to close the ports to exportation of

wheat; ignored.

1846 - Jan.: in Parliament O'Connell pleaded for help for Ireland.

Mar. 30: Coercion Act introduced in response to agrarian outrages. Failed to pass. Tory

gov. fell & Whigs came to power - O'Connell cooperated, thinking they would give

help. Young Ireland Party disapproved, insisting on physical force.

1847 - Jan.: left Ireland for last time. In Parliament made one last plea for Ireland & help for

the starving - a shadow of his former self (72).

April 15th: died in Genoa on way to Rome.

Early in his career (1812) he said, "Incessant repetition is required to impress political truths upon the public mind. Men by always hearing the same things, insensibly associate them with received truisms. They find the facts at last reposing in a corner of their minds, and no more think of doubting them than if they formed part of their religious belief."

Catholic Assoc. - Beginning in the towns...little by little the organization spread to the neighboring parishes, & thence into the remotest parts of the country. A hundred associations sprang into existence...each forming & leading public opinion in the district in which it was located. Thus a means of communication was established between the leaders of the movement in Dublin & the peasantry scattered over the country. A spirit of inquiry was awakened in the masses of the people & a passion created in them for political discussion... The clergy too, animated by a few of their dignitaries, notably Bishop Doyle of Kildare, threw themselves, after a little hesitation, into the movement, thereby giving it a moral sanction of infinite value."

- Dunlop, p. 141-42

Daniel O'Connell - Clontarf Meeting

Greenville wrote, "The conduct of the government was certainly most extraordinary. Instead of "proclaiming" the meeting at once (when O'Connell announced it), nothing was done until the eleventh hour on the Saturday afternoon before the Sunday. Then the guns of the fort commanding Dublin Bay were trained on Clontarf, warships entered the Bay, & troops occupied the approaches to the meeting place.

- The Great Hunger, p. 17

Daniel O'Connell - Election

"When the polling began, they were led to the booths by their priests in disciplined bands. Here is a newspaper report:

Eight o'clock - Between 300 & 400 of John Ormsby Vandeleur's freeholders are now passing up the street to the courthouse, preceded by colors, every man with a green leaf in his hand, & amidst the loudest cheers of the townspeople. They are brought in by their clergy to vote for O'Connell.

Ten o'clock - Mr. M'Inerney, the priest of Feakle, just passed in at the head of a number of freeholders from that parish, carrying green boughs, & music before them.

Eleven o'clock - Another large body of men passed in, preceded by a green silk flag, Shamrocks wreathed in gold.

Mr. O'Connell has been chaired to the Court House and at the door implored the people to be true to their religion & their country.

Twelve o'clock - Rev. Mr. Murphy of Corofin is come in with Mr. Staunton Cahill, at the head of at least 500 men, decorated with green branches & walking in ranks."

The organizing skill of the Catholic Association had its inevitable affect. The gentry & the big farmers stood by Fitzgerald, but the small farmers deserted him almost en masse. O'Connell was elected by 2,057 votes against 982.

- J. H. Whyte, in The Course of Irish His., edited by Moody & Martin, p. 253-54 (Wab. Lib.)

Daniel O'Connell - Family Home

"In the vicinity of Cahirciveen is "Derrynane," the seat & birthplace of the late D. O'Connell, Esq., M.P.. It was originally a farmhouse; & has been added to from time to time, according to the increase of the property, or family, of its possessor. To determine the order of architecture to which it belongs would be, consequently, difficult. It is beautifully situated; & in its immediate neighborhood are the picturesque ruins of an abbey, founded in the 7 th cent. by the monks of St. Finbar.

- Halls, Vol. I, p. 269

Daniel O'Connell - Popular Perception

His place in history will never be estimated, for few have been so loved or so hated, or for stronger reasons. Never did a tribune rising to power lift his people to such sudden hope & success. Never did a champion leave his followers at his death & decline to a more terrible despair. Friend & foe admit his immensity. He was the greatest Irishman that ever lived, or seemingly could live. In his own person he contained the whole genius of the Celt... What he said in Parliament one day, Ireland re-echoed the next. To her he was all in all, her hero & her prophet, her Messiah & her strong deliverer.

The finest pen-sketch of O'Connell is by Mitchell, who says, "besides superhuman & subterhuman passions, yet withal, a boundless fund of masterly affectation & consummate histrionism, hating & loving heartily, outrageous in his merriment & passionate in his lamentation, he had the power to make other men hate or love, laugh or weep, at his good pleasure.

- Shane Leslie, in The Glories of Ireland, p. 157

Daniel O'Connell - Support of Priests

Sean O'Faolain has described this scene in his biography of O'Connell, based on an eyewitness account by Richard Lalor Sheil:

"Across the cropped fields the old priest waited for his flock. With a voice like subterranean thunder (says Sheil), he silenced the moving balls of tatters that called themselves men & women, 'the looped & windowed raggedness' of emerging Ireland. Then he drew to the simple altar, as rough-hewn as the chapel itself, recited Mass & spoke to them. He spoke in Irish, now gently as the wind, now wildly, now with a cold, impassioned sarcasm for some renegade wretch who had abandoned faith & country, now raising shouts of laughter from his congregation, but all the time growing more & more inflamed until the sweat shone on his skull and his eye burned. At last, rising to his height, he laid one hand on the altar, lifted the other to the roof tree, & in a voice of prophetic admonition bade them, by their land & their God, to vote for O'Connell. The shouts that answered told Sheil that 300 free-men had been born.

- Wm. V. Shannon, The Am. Irish, p. 20

Sir Robert Peel

1812-1818 - Peel appointed Chief Sec. (residence in Dublin); firmly opposed to any political

rights for Catholics.

1814 - Established an efficient police force (Peelers).

1816 - Wrote to Wm. Gregory, "I believe an honest despotic government would be by far the

fittest government for Ireland."

1841 - The conservatives returned to power with Peel as prime minister. O'Connell launched

the Repeal agitation, though he had organized the Loyal Nat. Repeal Association in 1840.

Peel irrevocably opposed to Repeal (speech before Clontarf), Course of Irish His., p. 260[5]

Quote

(before Clontarf)

On May 9, 1843, Peel said,

"There is no influence, no power, no authority which the prerogatives of the crown & the

exisiting law give the government, which shall not be exercised for the purpose of

maintaining the Union."

- J. H. Whyte, in The Course of Irish His., edited by Moore & Martin,

p. 260 (Wab. Lib.)

(Clontarf scheduled Oct. 8, 1843)

Political Subdivisions

1. Bede divided Ireland into North & South Scotia.

2. Early however it was divided into 5 divisions - in the reign of Henry II they were called

Connaught, Ulster, Leinster, N. & S. Munster.

3. These provinces in the reign of John were divided into counties. The reign of John saw the

division of Leinster & Munster. The division of the rest (2/3rds) were not completed until

300 years later, in the reigns of Elizabeth & Mary. The division into counties was in order

to hold as____s & appoint sherrif[s] to execute the King's writs, etc.., according to the laws

of England.

4. The counties were subdivided into baronies, in its original meaning being the honor & dignity

which gives title to a baron.

In short, the political subdivisions were an effort to superimpose English feudal law on unfeudal Ireland.

The division into baronies & half-baronies is at present (1840) of great practical value - the organization of the constabulary, the levying of taxes, etc...

- Halls, Vol. I, p. 159 note

The ancient political divisions obliterated now:

4 provinces - Leinster, Ulster, Munster, & Connaught

These subdivided into 32 counties (except exempt jurisdictions of Dublin, Cork,

Limerick, Kilkenny, Waterford, Galway, Carrickfergus, & Drogheda).

The counties are divided with 316 baronies.

The baronies are divided with 2,422 parishes.

The smallest political divisions are called townlands or ploughlands.

Donegal - baronies: 6; parishes: 51; acreable extent: 1,193,443

Mayo - baronies: 9; parishes: 73; acreable extent: 1,363,882

- Case of Ireland Stated, Sherlock, p. 15-18[6]

Repeal [of political Union with Great Britain] - Non-violence

When [Daniel O'Connell] launched his Repeal agitation -

"The actual mode of carrying the repeal must be to augment the numbers of the Repeal Assoc. until it comprises four fifths of the inhabitants of Ireland... Such a combination was never yet resisted by any government, and never can [be]. We have arrived at a stage of society in which the peaceable combination of a people can easily render its wishes omnipotent."

- J. H. Whyte in The Course of Irish History, edited by Moore & Martin, p. 258 (Wab. Lib.)

Repeal - Johann Georg Kohl Commentary, 1842

He was immensely impressed by the poverty of the Irish peasant, & was not surprised at the disturbed state of the country... "Ruin, decay, rags, & misery are to be seen all through Ireland - not merely in the wild districts of Clare, Donegal, Mayo, & Kerry - where in truth, they present themselves in the greatest & most appalling forms - but equally throughout the most beautiful & fertile plains," & again he writes, "To him who has seen Ireland, no mode of life in any other part of Europe, however wretched, will seem pitiable."

- The Stranger in Ireland, Constantia Maxwell (1954), p. 290 (Mil. Lib.)

At Limerick he had seen posted up on every gate notices of a meeting to be held by the Liberator - "Repeal! Repeal! Repeal! Up, citizens of Limerick, & all Irishmen! Up for a separation from England!" To travel in Ireland & to remain ignorant of O'Connell, he remarks, "is next to impossible," and now he was to see the great man himself. [He] went to one of his big repeal meetings in the hall of the Corn Exchange in Dublin, on the walls of which was inscribed the motto, "Repeal is Erin's right & God's decree," & he found the place crowded to suffocation with people mainly in "rags." When O'Connell, who was driven through the streets in a magnificent carriage drawn by 2 dapple-grey horses, entered, he was greeted with terrific applause. His theme, as reported by Kohl, was that of all the political discourses of his life - the oppression of Ireland by the Saxon... "for forty years I have wished for but one thing, striven but for one cause - to obtain justice for Ireland, & to shake off the tyranny of England...There is but one means for the complete rescue of Ireland, and that is Repeal; but one thing on which the welfare of all depends - Repeal! With Repeal you will be happy, with Repeal you will become rich, with Repeal you will obtain all that you desire and strive for..." Kohl duly noted the thunderous applause with which the speech was received, as also the fact that the orator was so affected by his own eloquence that he was reduced to tears. O'Connell had sacrificed a large income at the Irish Bar when he had left it to become a professional agitator, & both to compensate himself & to pay the expenses connected with his campaign, raised from the people what he called his "rent," a sum which is said to have averaged at one time as much as 13,000 pounds a year. Kohl did not approve of the money box in which he collected his tribute so prominently displayed at the meeting.

- Ibid., p. 86-87

[Theobald] Wolfe Tone

The French Revolution sparked in Ireland the ideal of an Irish republic established by physical force... A young Protestant lawyer, Wolfe Tone, embodied their ideal. Theobald Wolfe Tone, descendant of Cromwellian stock, came the closest in rebellious spirit to the old Gaelic chieftans, & this character attracted to him in his day, & in later generations to his memory & ideal, the unreconstructed Gael in every land... He always kept before his eyes a plan for a united Ireland, not a Catholic Ireland or a Protestant Ireland. As an individual he was the unusual revolutionary; he had a merry sense of humor & a bright gaiety.

Wolfe Tone is very important in any study of the Catholic Irish in America. His was the name invoked by that segment which repudiated peaceful agitation as an approach to Irish freedom and stood for revolution & physical force. He was the godfather of the secret brotherhoods, republican organizations, & in short, the Fenian ideal. He was the direct ancestor of Republican Ireland.

- Geo. Patton, To the G. Door, p. 33

Young Ireland Movement

Inception - Oct. 1842, by the foundation of the "Nation." Essentially a literary movement. Threw in with Repeal [Movement]. Hero was [Wolf] Tone. For O'Connell a certain amount of respect, mixed with contempt.  

1 J. Stirling Coyne, Nathaniel Parker Willis, and W. H. Bartlett, The Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland, Vol. IandII.London: J. S. Virtue, 1842.

2 James Napper Tandy (1740-1803); Irish nationalist leader. He was on Arranmore Island in September of 1798.

3 Brackets in this paragraph appear in original.

4 Sir Harold George Nicolson, The Desire to Please: The Story of Hamilton Rowan and the United Irishmen. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1943.

5 This may be T. W. Moody and F. X. Martin, eds., The Course of Irish History. New York: Weybright and Talley, 1967.

6 Peter T. Sherlock, The Case of Ireland Stated Historically, From the Earliest Times to the Present; Together with a Gazetteer, Geographical, Descriptive, and Statistical . Chicago, IL: P. T. Sherlock, 1880.

Population

Population - Statistics

1700 - 1,250,000

1800 - 4,500,000

1841 - 8,175,124

1851 - 6,552,000 (should have been expected to be 8,500,000)

In 1800 ([total] 4,500,000):

Catholic - 3,150,000

Protestant - 450,000

Presbyterian (Scots-Irish) - 900,000

Sprinking of Methodists & other dissenters

Population - Relationship to Poverty

(from the Union to the Great Famine)

The root of the unsatisfactory conditions was the evil land system. There was still no security of tenure, or compensation for improvements, rents were high, agricultural wages low, and the people overcrowded on the land were living on the verge of starvation. All through the period the condition of the peasantry seems to have worsened...since in the interests of the provision trade more attention was given to livestock than to tillage. The extraordinary growth of population was, however, the greatest danger Ireland had to fear. About 4 1/2 million in 1790, it actually rose to nearly 8 million just before the famine. Ireland was more densely populated than any other country of Europe, despite the fact that in this period nearly 1 million people emigrated to America, & that there was also much emigration to England & Scotland. ...All strangers to the island in this half-century were immensely struck by the poverty of the peasantry.

- Constantia Maxwell, The Stranger in Ireland, p. 211 (Mil. Lib.)[1]

For poverty, see "Thackery" & "Johan George Kohl" (travelers)

1 Constantia Elizabeth Maxwell, The Stranger in Ireland: From the Reign of Elizabeth to the Great Famine. London : Cape, 1954.

Potatoes

During the last 15 years of the 16 th cent. there entered into Ireland, how is not definitely known, the potato, which was revolutionary in its impact. By 1657, according to Geo. O'Brien, the Irish economist, the potato was the staple food for the poor, the index of a low living standard.

- Geo. Potter, To the Golden Door, 1960, p. 29 ( Ind. State Lib.)

During the famine the Irish looked back on the good old days. "Och, we sure had everything we wanted in the potato, God bless it; we had only to throw a few of them in the hot ashes, & then turn them, & we had our supper" (Irish Farmer's Gazette, May 27, 1848). The Irish appetite, trained over a pot of potatoes, had little yearning for bread & meat. In the steerage sick children cried for potatoes.

A writer in Dublin Penny Journal (Aug. 1832): "On winter nights when the storm is sweeping over the hills, & the rain is pattering furiously against the door, how happy, how truly felicitous to sit in a circle all round the fire, to hear the pot boiling, to see the beautiful roots bursting their coats, & show their fair faces, to hold the herring on the point of a fork till it sizzles into an eating condition, to see the milk pouring out into all the jugs, and to see the happy faces and listen to the loud laughter of the children - Oh! Give me a winter night, a turf fire, a rasher of bacon, and a mealy potato!"

- Marcus Hansen, The Atlantic Mig., p. 202-03

(No wonder they soon planted it on B.I.. - HC)

Poverty

The poor-law commission of 1839 reported that two million, three-hundred thousand of the agricultural laborers of Ireland were "paupers;" that those immediately above the lowest rank were "the worst-clad, worst-fed, & worst-lodged" peasantry in Europe.

- Thebaud, The Irish Race, p. 426-27

Houses

There are exceptions where there is a resident landlord careful of the interests of his tenantry & anxious to promote their welfare; these dwellings become raised from miserable huts into comparatively decent cottages, but generally throughout the country, their condition is so wretched as to become almost revolting. ...the rich persuade themselves that the tenant requires nothing more than the mere means of sustaining annual existence. ...A few months ago we examined one [a peasant dwelling]. Seven persons were housed there; we measured it; it was exactly 10 feet long by 7 feet broad and 5 feet in height; built on the edge of a turf bog. Within, a raised embankment of dried turf formed a bed & besides the clothing of the more-than-half-naked childen, a solitary ragged blanket was the only covering it contained. The family had lived there for 2 years. Close to this hovel were two others, scarcely superior; & indeed every cottage in the district was almost as miserable. We write of the Island of Achill [ County Mayo].

Let us now picture one of the comfortable Irish cottages, for such are occasionally to be met with. ...A few months ago we sought shelter from a passing shower in one. It is in the Co. of Galway. There was no upper story but there was a room branching to the right and anther to the left of the "kitchen, parlor, hall" - the sleeping rooms of the family, decently furnished. This cottage contained nearly every article of furniture in use in such dwellings of the humbler classes. ...The first object that attracted attention was a singular chair, very commonly used throughout Connaught [province]. It is roughly made of elm. There is evidence that this piece of furniture has undergone little change in the last 8 to 10 centuries. The inhabitants of the cottage consisted of the father, mother, grandmother, and seven children, a dog, & a cat, & a half a dozen laying hens. Unusual care, however, had been given to the livestock; there was a small cupboard in the wall converted into a hen-roost, with a door to open & shut. The pig had a dwelling to himself outside...

Their dislike to ventilation...predisposes them to fever...one woman gave us her opinion, "If I had a warm linsey-woolsey petticoat & a stuff gown, please your honor, & flannel instead of flitters (rags) for the children, its proud we'd be of air and the light of heaven in our little place. Sure the only reason we put up with the blinding smoke, is because of the heat that's in it."

- Halls, Vol. III, p. 289

[Ed. note: here Mrs. Collar has reproduced a small drawing of the chair mentioned above, probably shown in the original source.]

Poorhouses & Poor Law

The act entitled "An Act for the More Effectual Relief of the Destitute Poor in Ireland" received the Royal assent on 31 st July, 1838. The office began operation in Sept. 1838 & the erection of the workhouses began in June, 1839.

There were 10 districts with the following towns as centers - Galway, Limerick, Cork, Waterford, Donegal, Belfast, Derry, Longford, & Dublin.

In Ireland the houses (workhouses) vary in size, those for 800-1000 people being the commonest. However they are 800, 1200, 1600, & 2000 people accommodated.

It is by no means the least of the advantages incident to the system that every boy & girl, from the earliest age at which it is capable of receiving it, obtains education. The plan adopted is that of the "National Board," under whose superintendence this department of the establishment has been placed.

- Halls, Vol. III, p. 337-44

Relationship Between Poverty & Land Laws/Tenure

Mrs. Nicholson: Roundstone - Connemara - Galway

"Two miles from the town a decently-clad farmer accosted me. He had been to attend a lawsuit, a case of ejection. 'I have worked,' he said, 'on a farm since a boy; my father died & left it to me 3 years ago. I had made a comfortable house for myself and family, & been preparing manure all winter to put in a greater crop of potatoes and corn. The agent came around, saw the improvements, & told me I should not sow any seed, but must quit the premises.' And he was actually ejected... 'I must take my little all,' added the man, '& leave my father's bones & seek a home in America.' Hard is the lot of the poor man in Ireland. If he is industrious, his industry will not secure him a home & its comforts; these he must lose so soon as this home is above the abode of the ox or the ass.

'Why don't you,' said I to a widow who had an acre of ground, 'make things about your cabin look a little more tidy? You have a pretty patch of land, well kept, & might look very comfortable.' 'But, lady, I have but one little slip of a boy of 15 years of age, & he toils the long day to rair a bit of vegetable to carry to market, and he helped me put up this little cabin, & if I make it look nice outside the agent will put a pound more rent on me, or turn me out & my little things; & I wouldn't pay the pound.' These are facts all over Ireland. If the poor tenant improves the premises, he must be turned out or pay more. If he do not improve it, he is a lazy, dirty Irishman & must be put out for that."

- Irelands W. to a Stranger, p. 399 (Mil. Lib.)

Relief - Need for

The Irish Poor Inquiry Commissioners in 1836 reckon the number of persons simultaneously requiring relief in Ireland during 30 weeks of the year at not less than 2,385,000, of whom 585,000 were out of work & the rest dependent on them.

- Geo. Patton, To the Golden Door (1960), p. 50 ( Ind. Lib.)

Workhouses

"the diet varies in particular workhouses, chiefly dependent on the condition of the poor in that area, the object being not to give a diet superior to the local laborer. The most common diet:

A daily allowance -

B[rea]k[fast] - adults 7 oz. oatmeal made into a "stirabout;" children (5-14) - 3 1/2 oz.

oatmeal; 1 pint buttermilk; 1/2 pint new milk

Dinner - adults 3 1/2 pds. potatoes, 1 qt. buttermilk; children - 2 pds. potatoes, supper

6 oz. bread, 1 pt. new milk

Only 2 meals a day, except in a few districts where the labor[er] has three meals. Children given three meals. Meat not given (a luxury rarely tasted by a peasant out of the workhouse).

- The Halls, Vol. III, p. 242

Census of 1851 showed 250,611 paupers in Irish workhouses & 47,019 persons in hospitals, of whom 4,545 were not workhouse inmates (makes 293,085 paupers - one person out of 22 in pop. of 6,574,278).

1861 - 50,010 in workhouses (1 in 116)

1871 - 48,989 in workhouses (1 in 110)

- Sherlock, Case of Ireland, p. 25

Protestant (Established) Church

Tithes The peasantry banded together to resist tithes. "Wallstown Massacre" in 1832 only one of pitch[ed?] battles, 4 men killed & many wounded. 1838 - passed an act converting tithes into a rent charge payable by the landlords at 75% of former tithe rate. The clergy found it easier to collect, the landlords collected 100%; all the tenants got was the knowledge that they were paying for heresy second-hand. - Inglis, St. of Ire ., p. 188     Tithes - Collecting Shortly before the tithes were commuted it was stated officially that in a single parish in Carlow the sum owed by 222 defaulters was 1 farthing each, and that a very large proportion of the defaulters throughout the country were for sums not exceeding 1 shilling. Under these circumstances, the clergy farmed out their interests to tithe-proctors, who often exercised extreme harshness and became more hated than any other class in the country. - The Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland, W. E. H. Lecky (1876)[1]

1838 - Land Tax substituted for tithe

Collection was generally in the hands of tithe proctors who acted agents of the clergy, or tithe farmers, who bought the right of collection & made what profit they could. Both classes were noted for their extortionate methods, against which the cotter or small farmer could do little to protect himself; and his sense of injustice was increased when he saw the wide pasture lands of the grazier go free (since the tithe of adjustment had been abandoned), while his own potato garden & patch of corn had still to bear the burden.

- J. C. Beckett, The Making of Modern Ireland, p. 177

In theory the tithe was a permanent charge upon the land, which should have been taken into account in the assessment of an equitable rent; in practice, most Irish landlords exacted the utmost that the land would bear and, so far as the tenant was concerned, the tithe was an unjust additional burden... Resistance was common in most parts of the country but it was not until the 1830s that it was organized as a regular campaign on an almost nationwide scale.

- Ibid., p. 294-95

A concerted & determined refusal to pay the tithe, beginning in Leinster in 1830, spread rapidly over a great part of the country. The normal legal processes by which a defaulter could be compelled to pay were almost useless in the face of united opposition, even when that opposition was passive; when there was a threat of violence large forces of police & military were called in any many areas were plunged into the "Tithe War."

- Ibid., p. 309

It was not until 1838 that the Tithe Act was at length passed, & it was concerned only with the method of assessment & collection. Tithe was to be converted into a fixed rent-charge, calculated at 75% of the nominal value of the tithe, and responsibility for payment was to be transferred from tenant to landlord. The consequent elimination of the tithe-proctor & the tithe-farmer made an enormous improvement in the situation, & it ceased to be a popular grievance.

- Ibid., p. 318-19

1 William Edward Hartpole Lecky, The Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland. London : Saunders, Otley, 1861 (editions exist for various years).

Protestant (Established) Church

1838 - Land Tax substituted for tithe

Collection was generally in the hands of tithe proctors who acted agents of the clergy, or tithe farmers, who bought the right of collection & made what profit they could. Both classes were noted for their extortionate methods, against which the cotter or small farmer could do little to protect himself; and his sense of injustice was increased when he saw the wide pasture lands of the grazier go free (since the tithe of adjustment had been abandoned), while his own potato garden & patch of corn had still to bear the burden.

- J. C. Beckett, The Making of Modern Ireland, p. 177

In theory the tithe was a permanent charge upon the land, which should have been taken into account in the assessment of an equitable rent; in practice, most Irish landlords exacted the utmost that the land would bear and, so far as the tenant was concerned, the tithe was an unjust additional burden... Resistance was common in most parts of the country but it was not until the 1830s that it was organized as a regular campaign on an almost nationwide scale.

- Ibid., p. 294-95

A concerted & determined refusal to pay the tithe, beginning in Leinster in 1830, spread rapidly over a great part of the country. The normal legal processes by which a defaulter could be compelled to pay were almost useless in the face of united opposition, even when that opposition was passive; when there was a threat of violence large forces of police & military were called in any many areas were plunged into the "Tithe War."

- Ibid., p. 309

It was not until 1838 that the Tithe Act was at length passed, & it was concerned only with the method of assessment & collection. Tithe was to be converted into a fixed rent-charge, calculated at 75% of the nominal value of the tithe, and responsibility for payment was to be transferred from tenant to landlord. The consequent elimination of the tithe-proctor & the tithe-farmer made an enormous improvement in the situation, & it ceased to be a popular grievance.

- Ibid., p. 318-19

1 William Edward Hartpole Lecky, The Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland. London : Saunders, Otley, 1861 (editions exist for various years).

Rutland