The Making of Modern Ireland 1603-1923 by J.C. Beckett

Author:J.C. Beckett [J. C. Beckett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571280896
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2011-04-11T04:00:00+00:00

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The policy of military repression, first systematically applied in Ulster, was soon extended to the rest of the country, and especially to Leinster and Munster, where the Defenders were becoming increasingly active. They were now closely linked with the United Irishmen, and were definitely committed to rebellion. They seized arms wherever they could find them; they engaged almost openly in military manœuvres; and their intimidation of witnesses and jurors made the law quite powerless to restrain them.

Some historians have argued that the severities practised by the troops were deliberately designed to provoke an insurrection. General Lake, who took a soldier’s view of the situation, would certainly have preferred an open fight, and said so; but the object of government was to prevent an insurrection, not to provoke it. In the long run, perhaps, the efficiency of the government’s spy system, and the thoroughness of its military preparations, put the United Irish leaders in a position where they must either act at once or give up any hope of acting at all; but this is a very different thing from deliberately provoking a rebellion. It is, however, true that neither government nor parliament would make any attempt to conciliate potential rebels by offering concessions, as Grattan urged them to do. In May 1797 a last effort to introduce a parliamentary reform bill was overwhelmingly defeated; and Grattan, following the example of Fox at Westminster, thereafter withdrew from the house of commons. It is indicative of the state of the country that a general election in the summer of 1797 passed without excitement: moderate reformers were in despair, and extremists now regarded parliamentary activity as irrelevant.

By the end of the year, Ireland seemed to be drifting into chaos. Ulster was outwardly quiet; but in Munster and Leinster the brutal conduct of the troops did not immediately check the activity of the United Irishmen, who continued their raids for arms and their attacks on those whom they suspected of co-operating with the government; and peaceful citizens were caught between two rival terrors. The expectation of a French invasion remained high, despite Duncan’s victory at Camperdown in October; and, with this hope to encourage them, the United Irish leaders pressed on with their plans for rebellion. According to their own reckoning (which is borne out by the information of government spies) they could count on 110,000 armed men in Ulster, 100,000 in Munster, and 68,000 in Leinster. But they believed that foreign help was necessary to ensure success, and a minority that favoured an immediate rising was overruled.

In face of this situation, the government seemed to have no policy but to intensify repression; and it strenuously resisted every proposal that its measures should be modified. When Sir Ralph Abercromby, who had been appointed commander-in-chief in November 1797, tried to restore the discipline of the troops and to confine their activities within the normal constitutional limits, he was virtually compelled to resign by the furious opposition of the Castle. Lake, who succeeded him in April

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