GKA
Government on condition of a temporiz- ing policy. Grattan afterwards said: "I was young and poor ; I had scarcely oCsoo a year. Lord Charlemont was as poor as any peer, and T as any commoner. We were, however, determined to refuse office ; and our opinion, and a just one, too, was that office in Ireland was different from office in England ; it was not a situation held for Ire- land, but held for an English government, often in collision with, and frequently hos- tile to, Ireland." Parliament met by ad- journment on 1 6th April 1 782. The streets were lined with the Volunteers. An ad- dress in favour of Grattan's Declaration of Eights was carried enthusiastically. He concluded his speech on the occasion with the memorable words: "I found Ireland on her knees ; I watched over her with an eternal solicitude ; I have traced her pro- gress from injuries to arms, and from arms to liberty. Spirit of Swift ! spirit of Moly- neux ! your genius has prevailed ! Ireland is now a nation ! In that new character I hail her ! and, bowing in her august pre- sence, I say, Esto perpetua" On the 27th May the Viceroy announced the concur- rence of the British legislature in the Irish resolutions, and Bills were immediately passed embodying the Declaration of Eights, a Mutiny Act, and the repeal of of Poyning's Act, securing to the Irish House of Lords final judicature, and estab- lishing freedom of election and the indepen- dence of the judges. Grattan thereupon moved a grant of £100,000 and 20,000 men to the British navy, as an earnest of that good will and indissoluble connexion that he desired should subsist between the coun- tries. Congratulations poured in on all sides, and £100,000 was voted by a grateful country to Grattan for his services. With difficulty he was prevailed upon to accept half this amount. In the course of the summer of 1782 Grattan married Hen- rietta Fi+~Gerald, a descendant of the Desmond family. She was considered a great beauty, and the marriage proved a very happy one. Although her health was often infirm, she worthily sustained him and stood by him in all the difficulties of life. With the parliamentary grant he bought an estate in the Queen's County, at Moyanna, near Stradbally, while he fixed his permanent residence at Tinne- hinch, near the Dargle, in the County of Wicklow, a spot to which he had been always passionately attached. Grattan had indeed gained much for Ireland ; but the seeds of future disaster lay in a cor- rupt system and an inadequate repre- sentation, by which Ministers still held control over the country. The Catho- 226
GEA
lies, who formed four-fifths of the people of Ireland, were wholly unrepresented — likewise the Nonconformists, half the re- mainder of the population. Parliament in fact represented only the members of the Established Church, who formed but a small part of the nation. Out of the 300 members, 2 1 6 were returned for boroughs or manors. According to Mr. Lecky, 200 were elected by constituencies numbering but 100, and 50 by constituencies of only 10 voters each. Four noblemen virtually returned 46 members. The pension list was actually greater than that of Eng- land: in 1793 it amounted to £124,000 per annum. In the autumn of 1 782 Grat- tan came into collision with Flood and the body of the Volunteers on the question of " simple repeal." He contended that it was ungenerous and distrustful not to be satis- fied with the simple repeal of the statutes which had bound Ireland; while Flood held that Ireland's liberties were inse- cure until a declaratory Act was passed by the British legislature, renouncing all control over Ireland in internal matters. This controversy, followed up by Flood's efforts to reduce the Irish contingent of the army, led to a rupture between the friends. A night in October 1783 was made memorable by an explosion between them in the House of Commons, and a duel was happily interrupted. [See Flood, Henry.] In the will made by Grattan before the meeting, he left back to the nation the £50,000 it had granted him, charged only with an annuity of £800 to his wife. Next month Grattan voted in favour of Flood's Eeform BiU brought up from the Eotunda Convention ; he also supported that brought forward by Flood in March 1784. He was, however, on the whole opposed to Flood's policy of agitation outside the doors of Parliament, and for a time a coolness existed between him and Lord Charlemont, who inclined to support Flood. Grattan put forth his powers in the session of 1784 chiefly in opposition to Orde's commercial propositions, under which Ireland would have been in some matters necessarily subordinate to Great Britain. His prognostications as to the prosperity of the country in consequence of the reforms he had helped to bring about were amply justified. Dublin increased rapidly in population and importance, and most of the great public buildings which adorn it were erected during the few years of parliamentary independence. The session of 1786 passed over without any specially important measures. In consequence of disturbances in the south, Grattan made an ineffectual effort in the session of 1 787
