suffered by the English colonies
in America were trifling compared with those endured by that other
English colony in Ireland. If ever there was a time to press upon
England the necessity for loosening their shackles it was now, when
their battle was being fought across the sea. Every argument in
support of the independence of America applied with equal force to the
legislative independence of Ireland. It was Grattan who at this
momentous time guided the course of events. A Protestant, yet
possessing the entire confidence of the Catholics; {233} an
uncompromising patriot, yet commanding the respect and admiration of
the English Government; inflexibly opposed to Catholic exclusion and
the ascendancy of a Protestant minority, and as inflexibly opposed to
any act of violence, he was determined to obtain redress--but to obtain
it only by means of the strictest constitutional methods. It was upon
the _constitutionality_ of their claims that he threw all the energy of
the movement growing out of the American war. His personal sympathies
were with the struggling colonists; yet he voted for men and money to
sustain the English cause. Equal rights bestowed upon Catholics, who
were in large majority, would transfer to them the power; yet he, a
Protestant, passionately advocated a removal of the disabilities of
four-fifths of the people. It was in this spirit of wise moderation
and even-handed justice that Grattan took the tangled web of the Irish
cause out of the hands of the more impetuous Flood; his eloquence and
his moving appeals keeping two objects steadily in view--the
independence of the Irish Parliament, and the removal of the fetters
from Irish trade.

{234}

Times had changed since Molyneux's gentle remonstrance, when Grattan's
famous Declaration of Rights was being supported by eighteen counties,
and still more changed when at last, in 1782, an Irish House of Commons
marched in a body to present to the Lord Lieutenant their address
demanding freedom of commerce and manufacture.

An unlooked-for train of events had given new weight to this demand.
England had realized the necessity of protecting Ireland from a
possible invasion growing out of the American war. So it was
determined that a body of militia should be levied, in which only
Protestants should be enrolled. The attempt to raise the men or the
money in Ireland was a failure, and while defenceless, the country was
thrown into a panic by the descent