1798 Uprising – origins, events and outcome

Origins of the 1798 uprising – why did it happen? 1 Discontent with rule from London; Lord Lieutenant in Dublin Castle and Westminster veto over Irish Parliament 2 Inspired by revolutionary writings of theorists like Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson 3 Inspired by revolutions in USA and France – big Irish family and emigration connections with 13 Colonies and colonists 4 Britain was vulnerable/weak due to humiliating loss in American revolution and major military commitments to the Revolutionary wars against France/Napoleon ************************************************************************************************** Irish Volunteers = The Volunteers (also known as the Irish Volunteers) were local militias raised by local initiative in Ireland in 1778. Their original purpose was to guard against invasion and to preserve law and order at a time when British soldiers were withdrawn from Ireland to fight abroad during the American Revolutionary War and the government failed to organise its own militia. Taking advantage of Britain's preoccupation with its rebelling American colonies, the Volunteers were able to pressure Westminster into conceding legislative independence to the Dublin parliament. Members of the Belfast 1st Volunteer Company laid the foundations for the establishment of the United Irishmen organisation. The majority of Volunteer members however were inclined towards the yeomanry, which fought and helped defeat the United Irishmen in the Irish rebellion of 1798. United Irishmen = The prospect of reform inspired a small group of Protestant liberals in Belfast to found the Society of United Irishmen in 1791. The organisation crossed the religious divide with a membership comprising Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, other Protestant "dissenters" groups, and some from the Protestant Ascendancy. The Society openly put forward policies of further democratic reforms and Catholic emancipation, reforms which the Irish Parliament had little intention of granting. The outbreak of war with France earlier in 1793, following the execution of Louis XVI, forced the Society underground and toward armed insurrection with French aid. The avowed intent of the United Irishmen was to "break the connection with England"; the organisation spread throughout Ireland and had at least 200,000 members by 1797. It linked up with Catholic agrarian resistance groups, known as the Defenders, who had started raiding houses for arms in early 1793.

1. Discontent with rule from London; Lord Lieutenant in Dublin Castle and Westminster veto over Irish Parliament The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland effectively oversaw the governance of Ireland while based in Dublin Castle (a symbol of British over- lordship since the Middle Ages). The British Parliament in Westminster had the right of veto over the Irish Parliament and its law making from 1719 with Declaratory Act. The 13 Colonies and their Assemblies (Parliaments) prior to the American Revolution had more freedoms and power than the Irish Parliament in Dublin.

2. Inspired by revolutionary writings of theorists like Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson – he wrote the ‘Declaration of Independence’ for the 13 Colonies in their struggle for Independence against the UK – it became a binding mission statement for all the revolutionaries. Focused on the right of peoples to strive for freedom from tyranny and to protect the right of the individual (human rights). Theory/philosophy behind Republicanism which was shortly followed up by the French Revolution 1789 against the Bourbon Monarch King Louis XVI. ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’ Thomas Paine – this English radical and philosopher wrote about the rights of the individual in his famous articles including ‘Common Sense’ & ‘American Crisis’ about 13 Colonies and ‘The Rights of Man’ about the French Revolution. He is considered by many to be the founding father of the American Revolution and was passionately Republican and Deist. ‘These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.’

3 Inspired by revolutions in USA and France – big Irish family and emigration connections with 13 Colonies and colonists Significant Irish Protestant as well as Catholic family & emigration links to the 13 Colonies. Revolutionary attitudes towards British rule was manifesting itself on both sides of the Atlantic. Theobald Wolfe Tone (United Irishmen) spent time in Philadelphia, USA before moving to France to seek support for a United Irishmen rising. 4 Britain was vulnerable/weak due to humiliating loss in American revolution and major military commitments to the Revolutionary wars against France/Napoleon Enemies of the crown within the UK and empire realised that this was a great time to strike for freedom due to the massive double blow-commitment of losing the American War of independence closely followed by fighting France in the revolutionary wars. Interestingly the same logic was applied to the timing of the ill-fated easter Rising of 1916 in the middle of WW1 and a particularly bad year for the British Government and Army with heavy losses on the Western Front. To the British in both cases this attitude was highly treasonable and was dealt with ferociously within the context of both eras.

British reprisals and punishments

United Irishmen Commander - Theobald Wolfe Tone United Irishmen Commander - Theobald Wolfe Tone. Republican Protestant gentleman. After the 1798 failure, Ireland joined the UK in Jan 1801. Lord Cornwallis – Lord Lieutenant and Commander of Crown Forces in 1798 Uprising. N.B. He had surrendered to the Americans at Yorktown in 1883 and was not going to let this happen twice!

Legacy - Professor Thomas Bartlett The 1798 rebellion, and its aftermath, shattered existing relationships within Ireland, awakened ancient fears and evoked memories of the bloody rebellion of 1641. The very fact that a rebellion had occurred at all also called into question the future of the Irish political structure. Marquis Cornwallis had been charged in June 1798 not only with crushing the rebellion, but also with seizing the opportunity the crisis offered to put through a legislative union between Ireland and England. The Irish parliament was to be another casualty of the 1798 rebellion, while Union was represented as the perfect answer to those separatists who had sought to pull Ireland and Britain apart. Union was duly accomplished in January 1801. The decade that began with the founding of the United Irishmen, with high hopes for an international 'brotherhood of affection' and for the inauguration of an Irish 'fellowship of freedom', was to close with increased sectarian bitterness. It also saw the end of the Irish parliament, and Ireland and England drawn ever closer together. The rebellion would cast a long shadow before it, bequeathing to subsequent generations a legacy of republican separatism, of insurrection with assistance from abroad, of heroic sacrifice, of murderous government reprisals and of sectarian cruelty. The memory of 1798 would be both a proud inspiration for some and a dire warning to others. The commemoration of the rebellion in historical writing, popular literature, and ballads was to prove equally contentious: some 200 years on, the 1798 rebellion continues to fascinate, to inspire and to appal.