IN OLD COLLEGE GREEN

New Zealand Tablet, 6 March 1913, Page 17

IN OLD COLLEGE GREEN

HOW PATRIOTS FOUGHT FOR THE LIFE OF A NATION. On January 15, 1800, the Irish Parliament met for the last time. It had been prorogued from June 1 of the previous year, and in that long interval of eight months the two great parties, the Unionists and the antiUnionists, were incessantly employed through the press, in social intercourse, in the grand jury room, in county and city meetings, by correspondence, petitions, addresses, each pushing forward its own views with all the

zeal and warmth of men who felt that on one side they were laboring for the country, on the other for the Union (writes * Juverna' in the Irish News). Two incidents of this interval were deeply felt in the patriotic ranks— death at an advanced age of the venerable Charlemont, the best member of his order Ireland had ever known, and the return to the kingdom and to public life of Lord Charlemont's early friend and protege, Henry Grattan. He had spent above a year in England, chiefly in ales and the Isle of Wight. His health all this time had been wretched; his spirits low and despondent, and serious fears were at some moments /"' entertained for his life. He had been forbidden to read J i or write, or to hear the exciting news of the day. Soothed and cheered by that admirable woman whom Providence had given him, he passed- the crisis; but he returned to breathe his native air, greatly enfeebled in body, and sorely afflicted in mind. When the Irish Parliament met thus for the last time On January 15, 1800, the position of the Union question stood thus: 27 new Peers had been added to the House of Lords, where the Castle might therefore reckon with safety on a majority

of three to one. Of the Lords spiritual, only Dr. Marlay, of Waterford, and Dr. Dixon, of Down and Connor, had the courage to side with their country against their order. In the Commons there was an infusion of some 50 new borough members, many of them general officers, such as Needham and Pakenham, all of them nominees of the Castle, except Mr. Saurin, returned for Blessington, and Mr. Grattan, at the last moment for Wicklow. The great constitutional body of the Bar had, at a general meeting the previous December, declared against the measure by 162 to 33. Another powerful body, the bankers, had petitioned against it in the interests of the public credit. The Viceroy did not attend, and his message was read by the Chief Secretary. It did not directly refer to the basis laid down in England, nor to the subject matter itself; but the leaders of the Castle party in both Houses took care to supply the deficiency. In the Lords, proxies included, Lord Clare had 75 to 26 for his Union address; in the Commons, Lord Castlereagh congratulated the country on the improvement which had taken place in public opinion since the former session. He briefly sketched his plan of Union, which, while embracing the main propositions of Mr. Pitt, secured the Church establishment, bid high for the

commercial interests, hinted darkly at emancipation to the Catholics, and gave the proprietors of boroughs to understand that their interest in those convenient constituencies would be capitalised, and a good round sum given to buy out their perpetual patronage. \n an amendment to the address, Sir Lawrence Parsons moved, seconded by Mr. Savage, of Down, that the House would maintain intact the Constitution of 'B2, and the debate proceeded on the motion. Ponsonby replied to Castlereagh; Plunkett and Bushe were answered by the future judge's, St. George Daly and Luke Fox; Toler contributed his farce, and Dr. Duigenan his fanaticism. Through the long hours of the winter's night The Eloquent War Was Vigorously Maintained.One who was himself a distinguished actor in tho struggle (Sir Jonah Barrington) has thus described it ' Every mind was at its stretch, every talent was in its vigor ; it was a momentous trial; and never was so general and so deep a sensation felt in any country. Numerous British noblemen and Commoners were present at that and the succeeding debate, and they expressed opinions of Irish eloquence which they had

never before conceived, nor ever after had an opportunity of appreciating. Every man on that night seemed to be inspired by the subject. Speeches more replete with talent and energy, on both sides, never were heard in the Irish Senate; it was a vital subject. The sublime, the eloquent, the figurative orator, the plain, the connected, the metaphysical reasoner, the classical, the learned, and the solemn declaimer, in a succession of speeches so full of energy and enthusiasm, so interesting in their nature, so important in their consequence, created a variety of sensations even in the bosom of a stranger, and could scarcely fail of exciting some sympathy with a nation which was doomed to close for ever that school of eloquence which had so long given character and celebrity to Irish talent.' At the early dawn, a special messenger from Wicklow, just arrived in town, roused Henry Grattan from his bed. He had been elected the previous night for the borough of Wicklow (which cost him £2400 sterling) and this was the bearer of the returning officer's certificate. Weak and feeble as he was, his friends wished him to go down to the House, and his heroic wife seconded their appeals. It was seven o'clock in the morning of the 16th .When He Reached College Green, the scene of his first triumphs of twenty years before. Mr. Egan, one of the staunchest of anti-Unionists, was at the moment, on some rumor, probably, of his approach, apostrophising warmly the father of the Constitution of 'B2, when that striking apparition appeared at the bar. Worn and emaciated beyond description, he appeared leaning on two of his friends, Arthur Moore and W. P. Ponsonby. He wore his Volunteer uniform, blue with red facings, and advanced to the table, where he removed his cocked hat, bowed to the Speaker, and took the oath. After Mr. Egan had concluded, he begged permission from his seat beside Plunkett, to address the House sitting, which was granted, and then in a discourse of two hours' duration, full of his ancient fire and vigor, he asserted once again, by the divine right of intellect, his title to be considered the first Commoner of Ireland. Gifted men were not rare in that assembly; but the inspiration of the heart, the uncontrollable utterance of a supreme spirit, not less than the extraordinary faculty of condensation, in which, perhaps, he has never had a superior in our language, gave the Grattan of 1800 the same preeminence among his contemporaries that was conceded

to the Grattan of 1782. After eighteen hours' discussion the division was taken, when the result of the long recess was clearly seen. For the amendment there appeared 96 ; for the address, 138 members. The Union majority, therefore, was 43. It, was apparent from that moment that the representation of the people inParliament had been effectually corrupted: that the Assembly was no longer the safeguard of the liberties of the people. The Final Scene. On the 7th of June the final passage of the Act of Union was effected. The closing scene has been often described, but never so graphically as by the pen of Sir Jonah Barrington. When the ill-fated Castlereagh had moved his motion in words ' unvaried, tame, coldblooded,' then, according to Barrington, ' confused murmurs ran through the House. It was visibly affected. Every character, in a moment, seemed involuntarily rushing to its indexsome pale, some flushed, some agitated, there were few countenances to which the heart did not despatch some messenger. Several members withdrew before the question could be repeated, and an awful, momentary silence succeeded their departure. The Speaker rose slowly from that chair which had been the proud source of his honors and of his high character. For a moment he resumed his seat, but the strength of his mind sustained him in his duty, though his struggle was. apparent. With that dignity which never failed to signalise his official actions, he held up the Bill for a moment in silence. He looked steadily around him on the last agony of tho expiring Parliament. He at length repeated in emphatic tones, "As many as are of opinion that this Bill do pass, say aye." The affirmative was languid, but indisputable. Another momentary pause ensued. Again his lips seemed to decline their office. At length, with an eye averted from the object he hated, he proclaimed, with a subdued voice, The Ayes have it.". The fatal sentence was now pronounced. For an instant he stood statue-like, then indignantly and with disgust, flung the Bill upon the table, and sank into his chair with an exhausted spirit. An independent country was degraded into a province. Ireland, as a nation, was extinguished.' The last session of the Irish Parliament was opened on January 15, 1800. The Third Beading of the Third Home Rule Bill was carried in the English House of Commons on January 16, 1913. ' The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small/