THE FRENCH REVOLUTION  & THE UNION

INTRODUCTION.  French Revolution; Society of United Irishmen; Theobald Wolfe Tone ==> Bodenstown Churchyard outside Dublin.  The Rising of '98.

I.  THE FRENCH REVOLUTION & IRELAND.  Edmund Burke.  Repeal of Penal Laws (1792-95).  Maynooth Seminary.  Society of United Irishmen (est. Belfast 1791).  Rural agitation:  Catholic "Defenders"; Protestant "Peep o'day boys".  Lord Edward Fitzgerald (1763-1798), twelfth child of the duke of Leinster and MP for Kildare = "Lord Edward".  Capture of H.M.S. Drake by U.S.S. Ranger in Belfast Lough, April 1778; John Paul = John Paul Jones.

A.  THE ULSTER MILITIA (VOLUNTEERS).  Est. mid-1770s; numbered more than 34,000 in Ulster by 1781.   Lord Charlemont. Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

B)  RADICAL IDEAS.  Unitarianism; Scottish Enlightenment.  Frances Hutcheson (1694-1746) of Co. Down; utilitarianism ("the greatest good for the greatest number").  "True Whigs."

C.  FREEMASONRY.  Irish delegation to King Louis XVI of France, Dec. 1779.

II.  THE YEAR OF LIBERTY, 1798.

A.  THE FATE OF WOLFE TONE (1763-1798).  Born 20 June 1763; educated at Trinity College; admitted to the Irish Bar in 1789.  Secretary to the Catholic Association; co-founder 1791 of Society of United Irishman; published 1791 An Argument on Behalf of the Catholics of Ireland:  "to break the connection with England".  Failed expedition of 1796; expedition of May 1798 at Lough Swilly (Ulster).

B.  THE '98.  Lord Cornwallis.  Co. Antrim: Henry Joy McCracken (1767-1798).  Co. Wexford: Father John Murphy (ca. 1753-1798) of Boolavogue (Vinegar Hill).  Co. Mayo: Gen. Humbert's French force at Killala Bay; "Races of Castlebar"; Battle of Ballinamuck, Co. Longford, late summer 1798.

III.  THE ACT OF UNION.  Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger.  End of the Irish Parliament, 22 January 1800; Irish Act of Union, 1 January 1801.  Effect:  32 Irish seats in the British House of Lords, 100 Irish seats in the British House of Commons.  Irish parliamentary seats bought @ £15,000 per seat.

CONCLUSION – THE LEGACY OF WOLFE TONE.  Robert Emmet (1778-1803), "Speech from the Dock."