1789.

Marquis of Buckingham's use of govern. ment influence.

a speech of a general nature, without a word of re ference to any of the extraordinary circumstances of the session.

No viceroy ever enjoyed a smaller share of popularity in Ireland, than the Marquis of Buckingham. A determined opposition was the consequence. In spite of his boasted principles of economy, he resorted to the late ruinous system of purchasing votes by retail, in order to break through the formidable opposition to his measures. No bounds, no reserve, no decency, were kept in this new canvass for parliamentary influence: the market was overt, and the prices of boroughs, and of pieces of boroughs, and of votes and titles, and of peerages, were brought to as regular a standard as bullion at the mint. Not at peerage, not an honor, not a place, not a pension was disposed of but immediately by government for parliamentary interest, influence, or engagements, varying by gradation from the price of a close borough to a vote upon a single question. Every place, office, or emolument, that could be resumed by government, was granted upon new terms for future services. The Duke of Leinster, Mr. G. Ponsonby, Mr. Fitzherbert*, and every person holding place, office, or pension at pleasure, were displaced or deprived for having joined in the address to the Prince of Wales. A creation of eight peerages took place, and numerous new appoint

* During a short recess the Hon. Mr. Hobart, (the present Earl of Buckinghamshire) was appointed Secretary in lieu of Mr. Fitzherbert, (afterwards Lord St. Helens), who gave a rare ex ample of sacrificing place to principle.

ments were made. It was objected to the Marquis of 1789. Buckingham's administration, that notwithstanding his professions of economizing he had increased the

pen, sion list by 13,000l. per annum, and by splitting places, reviving dormant employments, and encreasing sala. ries, had burthened the nation with an additional perpetuity of 2800l. per annum. The public thanks. giving for the King's recovery was celebrated by a most superb gala at the castle; but none of those gentlemen were invited to partake of it, who had voted for the address. A marked sign of reprobation was put on their heads: and so strongly was the spirit of party kept up, that in the list of toasts drunk after dinner at the castle, the Prince of Wales, and Duke of York were purposely omitted *. The extraordinary zeal of the attorney-general on the late occasions, in support of government, was rewarded with the great seal of Ireland, which had become vacant by the death of Lord Lifford. He was the first Irish chancellor appointed by England. The Marquis of Buckingham grew daily more and Lord Buck.

1789. experienced that popularity, which had hailed his first

appointment under Lord Shelburne. The spirit of party ran so high, and the chief governor felt so sensibly his want of popularity, that in the month of June he took shipping* for England, and never more returned to Ireland. On the 30th of June, 1789, the new chancellor Fitzgibbon and Mr. Foster the speaker were sworn in lords-justices.

* His excellency took shipping from Mr. Lee's villa at the Black Rock. It was observed by Mr. Charles O'Neale, in a debate, 10 P. D. p. 118, that if he had not taken a back-stairs departure from that kingdom, he would in all probability have been greeted on his retreat in a very different manner from what he had been on his arrival in Ireland. His opponents gave out, that his excellency was secretly conveyed on board a ship. His friends assert, that his health was so impaired by the fatigues of a troublesome government, that he was conveyed in a litter upon men's shoulders to the ship, in which he took his passage. The bad state of his health must have naturally induced him to avoid publicity and bustle in his departure, which his opponents might have misconstrued into conscious privacy and absconding. Whether the character and conduct of Lord Buckingham were not congenial with the then predominant feelings of the Irish people, or that the system of Mr. Pitt's government, which that nobleman 'most zealously supported, was not'acceptable to them; certain it is, that his excellency's departure from Ireland created little regret or sorrow throughout the kingdom,

CHAPTER V.

Administration of the Earl of Westmoreland.

1700.

Westmore

ceeds the

The Earl of Westmoreland succeeded the Marquis Earl of of Buckingham in the government of Ireland. It was land sucobserved by some of the opposition, that the change Marquis of was but a continuance of the former administration, ham.

Bucking under a less'unpopular head: the secretary and most other servants of the crown were continued in office. Strong effects were produced by the establishment of a Whig club in Ireland, in imitation of that of England. It was a frequent theme of panegyric to Mr. Grattan, and of invective to Mr. Fitzgibbon. The heads of most of the great families were members of it, and it contributed not lightly to give popularity to the leading objects of their institution, which it was the uni. form policy of Mr. Pitt's system to counteract. The administration of the Marquis of Buckingham formed an eventful era in the modern history of Ireland. Thence evidently is traced the commencement of those popular workings, which ended in the explosion of 1798, Parties are at issue upon the effects of the system. The Whigs contend, that the people were goaded into rebellion by it's impolicy and atrocity; the friends of Mr. Pitt lay the salvation of the country to it's wisdom and firmness. Facts bespeak their own consequences. When the poor in Munster, from the

1790. failure of Mr. Grattan's motion for their relief, despaired of redress, fresh disturbances broke out, and the military force was consequently encreased. In the north, the Peep-of-Day Boys had acquired an ascendancy over the Defenders. Their enmity was wickedly fomented by the upper orders, for the purpose of breaking up that union of protestants and catholics, which had been effected by their serving together in the volunteer corps. In Armagh, the most protestant county of Ireland, the De fenders were goaded into a more systematic resistance, by the encreasing frequency and atrocity of the domiciliary visits for disarming them, under pretext of the law's disabling catholics from bearing arms: but which these Defenders, who were mostly catholics, now found necessary for self-defence. Government sent down some troops of horse, which secured tranquillity, whilst they remained on the spot. The contests were so serious, that in the absence of the troops, fifty of a side have fallen in a day. The Defenders organized and strengthened themselves. They afterwards became more formidable; but were never aggressors, till they were compelled to emigrate from their own district.

*