Ulster unaffected by the Penal Laws—A Determined
Effort to destroy the Woollen Industry—Address to the King on the
Subject—The English promise to encourage and support the Linen Industry
of Ulster—How the Promise was kept—The Case of Ireland, by
Molyneux—Death of James II — Death of William
III—James, Second Duke of Ormonde, Lord-Lieutenant—The Attitude of
Ulster towards Jacobinism—Presbyterians and the Sacramental Test—The
Bishops attack the Nonconformists—Wharton, the Viceroy, supports them—He
is recalled—Death of Queen Anne.
During the later years of William's reign and during
the whole period of Queen Anne's, Ulster, in the language of Wordsworth,
was "as silent as a standing pool", or, to use imagery more exclusively
Hibernian, she may perhaps be more appropriately likened to the famous
Harp of Tara, which after a period of notable activity hung "mute on
Tara's walls", leading those who had delighted in its strains to believe
that the soul of music had for ever fled from its strings.
But if at this period Ulster, like Canning's needy
knife-grinder, had no story to tell, it was because her career, like
his, had become uneventful, not because she was no longer alert in the
cause of freedom. Important matters like the Penal Laws, which greatly
agitated the south and west of Ireland, did not affect the north, which,
being almost wholly Protestant, did not to any great extent suffer from
them. A matter, however, in which Ulster took an intense interest was
referred to at the meeting of the Irish Parliament on the 27th of July,
1697, when the Lords Justices (the Marquis of Winchester, the Earl of
Galway, and Viscount Villiers), addressing the House, said: "All think
the present occasion so favourable for inviting and encouraging
Protestant strangers to settle here, that we cannot omit to put you in
mind of it, especially since that may contribute to the increase of the
linen manufacture, which is the most beneficial trade that can be
encouraged in Ireland".
The manufacturers in England
had long been jealous of the success of the woollen manufactures of
Ireland, and it was resolved to use every influence to make the industry
subordinate to that of England. Some attempts with that view had been
made in Strafford's time, but, notwithstanding these, the trade
flourished; and now, as on that occasion, it was proposed to encourage
the linen trade as a substitute, linen not being a staple commodity in
England; although in this also, at a later period, Irish rivalry excited
English jealousy. In June, 1698, addresses on the subject from the
English Houses of Parliament were presented to the King. In these they
represented that, being "very sensible that the wealth and power of this
kingdom do in a great measure depend on the preserving the woollen
manufacture as much as possible entire to this realm", they thought it
became them like their ancestors to be jealous of the establishment and
the increase thereof elsewhere, and to use their utmost endeavours to
prevent it. They said that they could not without trouble observe that
Ireland, "which is dependent and protected by England in the enjoyment
of all they have, and which is so proper for the linen manufacture, the
establishment and growth of which there would be so enriching to
themselves and so profitable to England, should of late apply itself to
the woollen manufacture, to the great prejudice of the trade of this
kingdom, and so unwillingly promote the linen trade, which would benefit
both nations. The consequence thereof would necessitate His Majesty's
Parliament of England to interpose to prevent this mischief, unless His
Majesty by his authority and great wisdom should find means to secure
the trade of England by making his subjects of Ireland pursue the joint
interest of both kingdoms." They therefore implored His Majesty's
protection and favour in this matter, and expressed the desire "that he
would make it his royal care, and enjoin all those he employed in
Ireland to use their utmost diligence, to hinder the exportation of wool
from Ireland (except to be imported hither), and for the discouraging
the woollen manufactures and encouraging the linen manufactures in
Ireland, to which the Commons of England should always be ready to give
their utmost assistance."
William, in reply, said: "I shall do all that in me
lies to discourage the woollen manufacture in Ireland, and to encourage
the linen trade there; and to promote the trade of England"; and he sent
instructions accordingly to the Lords Justices in Ireland. An Act had
already existed during two years, having been passed by the English
Parliament in 1696, prohibiting the exportation of wool and woollen
manufactures (except to England), under very severe penalties; and this,
confirmed and strengthened by a new Act during this period, had excited
considerable agitation in Ireland, although the Irish Parliament acted
with moderation, under the influence, no doubt, of the Lords Justices.
The latter, when they opened the Parliament at the end of September,
1698, indicated the view which they wished to be taken of the matter.
"Amongst the Bills", said the Lords Justices, "there
is one for the encouragement of the linen and hempen manufactures. At
our first meeting, we recommended to you that matter, and we have now
endeavoured to render this Bill practicable and useful for that effect,
and as such we now recommend it to you. The settlement of this
manufacture will contribute much to people in the country, and will be
found much more advantageous to this Kingdom than the
woollen manufacture, which being the settled staple trade of England,
from whence all foreign markets are supplied, can never be encouraged
here for that purpose; whereas the linen and hempen manufactures will
not only be encouraged as consistent with the trade of England, but will
render the trade of this Kingdom both useful and necessary to England."
In their reply the Irish Commons stated that they
should heartily endeavour to establish the linen industry and to render
it useful to England as well as advantageous to Ireland; and that they
hoped so to regulate their woollen trade that it should not be injurious
to England. In the session of 1689 they passed a law imposing on the
exportation of Irish woollen goods duties which amounted to a
prohibition; and in the same year a law was passed in England
restraining the exportation of Irish woollen manufactures, including
frieze, to any country except England and Wales. The Irish woollen
industry was carried on almost exclusively by Protestants in the north
of Ireland, and large numbers were reduced to poverty by its
destruction. The promises of support from England for the linen trade
proved to be a mockery, for Arthur Young, in his Tour in Ireland,
proves how, in direct breach of the compact, in the reign of George
II, a tax was laid on sailcloth made of Irish
hemp, and how bounties were given to English linens to the exclusion of
Irish, and also how certain Irish fabrics were not admitted into
England.
A matter which affected the entire country was the
publication, in 1698, of The Case of Ireland being bound by Acts of
Parliament in England stated, by William Molyneux, one of the
Members for the University of Dublin. The author of this famous book
with a clumsy title was a friend and disciple of John Locke, whose essay
"On the True Original Extent and End of Civil Government" served as the
basis for his treatise, in which he reviewed the history of the Pale
from
the Anglo-Norman invasion, and from the whole
connection of the two kingdoms drew strong inferences in support of
their reciprocal legislative independence. The English House of Commons
resolved unanimously "that the book published by Mr. Molyneux was of
dangerous tendency to the Crown and people of England, by denying the
authority of the King and Parliament of England to bind the Kingdom and
people of Ireland, and the subordination and dependence that Ireland had
and ought to have upon England as being united and annexed to the
Imperial Crown of England". They also condemned in the strongest terms
the practice of the Irish Parliament to re-enact laws made in England
expressly to bind Ireland; and went in a body to present an address to
the King, to whom the book had been dedicated by the author, praying His
Majesty "to take all necessary care that the laws which directed and
restrained the Parliament of Ireland should not be evaded, but strictly
observed; and that he would discourage all things which might in any
degree lessen the dependence of Ireland upon England".
King James II, after a
tedious illness, died at St. Ger-mains, on the 16th of September, 1701;
upon which the King of France publicly acknowledged his son, the nominal
Prince of Wales, as King of England, to the great indignation of King
William and his loyal subjects. William did not long survive his rival.
He suffered from his old enemies headaches and shivering fits, but as of
old endeavoured to throw them off. He still rode and even hunted, but
his seat in the saddle was no longer what it had been, and his hold on
the bridle was feeble. Riding in Hampton Court Park, on the 20th of
February, 1702, the King, mounted on his favourite horse, Sorrel, was
badly thrown, owing to his steed stumbling on a mole-hill. The King's
collar-bone was broken. To one never robust this was the beginning of
the end. William died on the 8th of March, in the fifty-second year of
his age. "Ever a fighter", he fought to the last, and relinquished life
with regret, for he deemed his work but half finished. He was succeeded
by James's second daughter, Anne.
In 1703 James, the second and last Duke of Ormonde,
was appointed Lord-Lieutenant, and on his arrival the House of Commons
waited on him in a body, with a Bill, "for preventing the further growth
of Popery", praying, says Burnet, with more than ordinary vehemence to
intercede so effectually for them that it might be returned under the
Great Seal of England. This Ormonde undertook to do, and we learn from
the same authority that he fulfilled his promise punctually. To this
Bill was added a clause known as the Sacramental Test, which excluded
from every public trust all who refused the Sacrament according to the
rites of the Established Church, and which, therefore, militated against
Presbyterians and other Protestant dissenters, as well as against Roman
Catholics. The Presbyterians were at first alarmed; but on being assured
that the clause would never be put in force against themselves, and that
it was only the "Papists" who were aimed at, they withdrew their
opposition. The Bill passed without a dissentient voice.
In the year 1708, when the Pretender sailed for
Scotland to raise the standard of rebellion in that country, we have a
curious document showing the extent of disaffection in Ireland, in a
report in French addressed to the wife of the Pretender, who is
addressed as Queen of England. The author of this document was Father
Ambrose O'Connor, the head of the Irish Dominicans, who had been sent to
Ireland as an agent of the Jacobites, to gauge the feelings of the Irish
Catholics. In some things we cannot but come to the conclusion that
Father O'Connor was misinformed with regard to persons with whom he had
not corresponded personally, but his report is singularly interesting on
account of the fact that we possess but little information on the
movements of the Jacobites in Ireland at this period.
O'Connor first visited Connaught, where he visited
"the principal people in the Province", but he does not appear to have
got much satisfaction. He then proceeded to Dublin, where he met Lords
Fingall, Dillon, and Trimblestown, who assured him of their "fidelity";
"but Lords Limerick and Fingall", he says, "gave me to understand that,
it would be useless to talk to them on the subject, since the descent
upon Scotland had failed". He then says: "I tried to discover how those
people were disposed living in the north of Ireland, who were
distinguished by the name of the Scotch residents of the Province of
Ulster or Ultonia, and I learned from persons of credit and distinction,
that they were generally well affected towards the King [i.e. the
Pretender], and when they heard that His Majesty was going to Scotland,
they secretly assembled in retired situations to pray for his success. I
heard this for a certainty from Lord Fingall, who travelled into that
Province last June with Lord Antrim, and I have been assured the same
thing by persons of equal veracity, such as the Bishop of Down and
Colonel Conone-ville, who have great interest in Ulster, and upon whose
fidelity we may rely; they are either related to, or staunch friends of,
many old and attached families in this northern Province, and that is
the reason I made myself known so particularly to these two gentlemen.
As to Lord Granat [Granard], I knew he was as much attached to the King
as any person in Ireland; but Lord Limerick persuaded me not to call
upon him, for fear of exciting suspicion either against him or myself,
his residence being surrounded by Protestants and Presbyterians, who
frequently visited him; but Lord Limerick promised, on the first
opportunity, to deliver to Lord Granat the message with which I had been
entrusted by the King."
The depressed and declining state of trade, and the
emigration of the most energetic and independent of the artisans, many,
indeed most, of whom were at this time Presbyterians, convinced the
Government that the imposition of the Sacramental Test was a blunder;
accordingly the Earl of Pembroke was sent over in the summer of 1707 to
replace Ormonde and endeavour to get rid of the Test; with him came as
secretary George Dodington, whose correspondence throws much light on
the state of things at the time. Ulster was dissatisfied with Pembroke,
so in May, 1709, he was replaced by Thomas, Earl of Wharton, who
endeavoured to bring about a good understanding among all denominations
of Protestants. A Bill to explain and amend an Act entituled "An Act to
prevent the further growth of Popery" was passed without delay. This Act
was heralded by a Proclamation ordering all registered priests to take
the Abjuration Oath before the 25th of March, 1710, under pain of
praemunire.
While the Roman Catholics were the chief objects of
penal legislation, the Presbyterians, who constituted at least
two-thirds of the whole interest in Ulster, suffered from many
disabilities inflicted upon them by their brethren, the dominant
minority of the Established Church. They were hopelessly in the grip of
the Bishops, who put the laws in force against them. The Bishops soon
cleared out the Presbyterian magistrates of Ulster, and put in their
place, "men of little estate, youths, newcomers and clergymen", the sole
qualification being regular attendance at church. Out of the twelve
Aldermen in Londonderry, ten were Presbyterians, and these were deprived
of their offices. The entire Corporation of Belfast were superseded. The
Presbyterian rite most objectionable in the eyes of the Bishops was that
of marriage, which they regarded simply as a licence to sin. It was even
announced that the children of all Protestants, whether Nonconformists
or not, who were not married in the parish church would be regarded as
illegitimate, and some Bishops even went further and prosecuted many
persons of repute who married according to the Presbyterian rites.
The Presbyterians, encouraged by the support of the
Government, roused the anger of the Bishops by addressing " base
persons, coopers, shoemakers, and tailors", who were threatened with the
stocks, and for so doing they were arrested on one occasion at Drogheda,
and were bound over by the Mayor to take their trial at the assizes.
Wharton, the Lord-Lieutenant, ordered a nolle prosequi to be
entered. Swift now entered the field against the Dissenters, arguing
that they were the only real political danger to which Ireland was
exposed. The House of Lords complained to the Queen that the
Presbyterians were the cause of all the disorders in Ireland, and that
the Viceroy supported them. In their defence the Presbyterian General
Assembly charged the Bishops with "having placed an odious mark of
infamy upon at least half the Protestants of Ireland". Wharton was
recalled in 1711, and at the request of the House of Lords the Regium
Donum was withdrawn.
On the 1st of August, 1714, Queen Anne died, and a
few hours later George Augustus, Duke of Cambridge, son of the Elector
of Hanover, was proclaimed King under the title of George I.
