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Home History of Ireland, 1689-1815 1689-1815; Part 2 |
1689-1815; Part 2Quite apart from the exclusion of the Roman Catholics from any share in the government of their country, the political condition of Ireland stood in great need of reform. All laws passed in the Irish Parliament had still, under Poyning's Act of 1495, to receive the assent of the privy council in England, whilst the Parliament in England, in the reign of George I, arrogated to itself the right of passing laws binding upon Ireland. It must be remembered also that the Irish Parliament had practically no control over the officials who governed Ireland, these being appointed and supervised by the Government in England, and it was an additional grievance that the highest of these officials were almost invariably Englishmen. The viceroys were Englishmen, often spending four-fifths of their time in England; the Protestant bishops were nearly all Englishmen, and some of them never came to Ireland at all (One divine held the bishopric of Down for twenty years; he never went near it during the whole of that time, but lived at Hammersmith. Of two bishops appointed at the same time in the eighteenth century, it is said that one sent down to his diocese twenty-two cartloads of books and one hogshead of wine; the other, however, was content with one load of books, but dispatched to his palace twenty-two hogsheads of wine); and only one Irishman in the whole course of the eighteenth century was made lord chancellor.The Irish Parliament itself needed drastic reformation; half the members of its House of Lords were Protestant bishops, whilst over two-thirds of the members of its House of Commons were nominated by individuals, no less than sixty seats belonging to three families; and, as has already been pointed out, no Roman Catholic could vote at an election or sit in either House of Parliament. Moreover, till past the middle of the eighteenth century, there was no fixed term for the duration of a parliament. Consequently a parliament lasted for an indefinite period, and one existed in the eighteenth century for over thirty years. Even worse perhaps than the political was the economic condition of Ireland. That island is naturally a great pasturing country; its cattle and its wool were at one time the best in Europe. It might have become a great manufacturing country as well. But the selfishness of English farmers and manufacturers stifled its enterprise. The English Parliament had already, in Charles II's reign, forbidden the importation into England of cattle, sheep, and swine, alive or dead. |
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