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sequent excesses, Grattau withdrew from the mounted corps to which he belonged. He thus wrote to Lord Monck, the com- mander : " It gives me great concern that the late determination of Government with respect to the people of Ireland should have been against measures of conciliation, and for measures of coercion and force. Such a determination makes it impossible for me to hold any military situation, however insignificant, under a government so disposed. If ever I am sent into actual service, it shall never be against my country." Then " finding that his exertions were no longer of any avail — that he could not support the measures of Government consistently with his duties or his feelings, nor oppose them with any hope of success ; and unwilling by further opposition to countenance the United party, whose principles he entirely dis- approved, he retired from Parliament alto- gether, declining to stand at the general election of 1797." Writing twenty years afterwards of this time, he said: "Our error was in not having seceded sooner ; for the opposition, I fear, encouraged the United men by their speeches against the Government. The Government were so abominable, their measures were so violent, that no man would sanction them. There was high treason certainly, but these were measures that no high treason, that no crimes could warrant. Nothing could ex- cuse the torture, the whippings, the half- hanging ; it was impossible to act with them ; and in such cases it is always better that a neutral party shovdd retire. We could do no good — we could not join the disaffected party, and we could not sup- port the Grovemment. We woxild not tor- ture, we would not hold the lash, we would not flagellate. . . They did not treat the people as if they were Christians, they treated them not like rebel Christians, but like rebel dogs ; and afterwards when these men who had thus acted came to be tried at the Union, they sold themselves and their country ; it was infamous. The question men should have asked was not, ' Why was Mr. Sheares upon the gallows?' but * Why was not Lord Clai-e along with him?'" At a meeting of the Bar held about this time, a series of resolutions were passed, condemning the conduct of Government, and declaring that an ade- quate reform would satisfy the country. It was signed by seventy- six gentlemen, amongst whom were Bageual Harvey, Henry Sheares, T. A. Emmet, and several who were afterwards, by the course of events, hurried into the rebellion. There can be no greater proof of the implacable
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character of the government opposition to reform of any kind than the fact that Grat- tan's name was then struck from the list of Privy Councillors, without any evidence to connect him even in sympathy with the designs of the revolutionary party. (His name was restored to the roll in 1806.) Grattan, broken down in health and spirits, now retired to the country, and was induced by the entreaties of Mrs. Grattan and the advice of his physicians to spend most of the summer of 1798 in the south and west of England. During his absence his resi- dence at Tinnehinch suffered severely at the hands of the yeomanry and troops. The means by which the Union was pressed on after the Insun-ection of 1798, until Grattan's return to Parliament, belong more properly to the notices of Lord Clare, Lord Castlereagh, Lord Cornwallis, and to general history. The following may be given from Grattan's Life, by his son : " All that could be accomplished by gold or by iron, by bribes or by threats, or by promises, was set in motion ; every effort was strained to bring round those who were disinclined, to seduce those who were hos- tile but necessitous, to terrify the timid, and bear down the fearless and those who had at heart the interest and independence of their country. The doors of the Treasury were opened, and a deluge of corruption covered the land. The bench of bishops, the bench of judges, the bar, the revenue, the army, the navy, civil offices, military and naval establishments, places, pensions, and titles, were defiled and prostituted for the purpose of carrying the great govern- ment object— this ill-omened Union," The country was overawed by 137,590 troops, yet 28 counties petitioned against the mea- sure, 8 principal towns, 12 municipal cor- porations, Dublin and all the mercantile, manufacturing, and trading interests of the kingdom. Only 7,000 individuals peti- tioned in favovir of a union, while 1 10,000 freeholders and 707,000 others signed against it. The Catholics of Ireland gene- rally were kept quiet by hints that a union would result in their speedy emancipa,tion ; while the Protestants were told that if the Union was not carried the English Parlia- ment might leave them to be annihilated by the Catholic majority. Able pamph- lets teemed on both sides of the question. Duelling clubs for challenging opponents were established by both parties ; and an effort was even made by Grattan's friends to raise a fund for outbribing the Govern- ment. In this state of affairs, at the end of 1 799, Grattan returned to Tinnehinch, from the Isle of Wight, abnost broken- hearted, not only hopeless but helpless— 229
