Society of United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was founded as a liberal political organisation in eighteenth century Ireland that initially sought Parliamentary reform. However, it evolved into a revolutionary republican organisation, inspired by the American Revolution and allied with Revolutionary France. It launched the Irish Rebellion of 1798 with the objective of ending British monarchical rule over Ireland and founding a sovereign, independent Irish republic. PART 1 Background During the 1780s, a few liberal members of the ruling Protestant Ascendancy, organised as the Irish Patriot Party led by Henry Grattan, campaigned for: reform of the Irish parliament; a lessening of British interference in Irelands affairs; and expanding the rights and voting franchise for Catholics and Presbyterians. Backing them up was the Irish Volunteers movement, which had widespread Protestant support. Whilst they had limited success such as the establishment of Grattans Parliament and the repeal of some of the discriminatory Penal Laws, they fell short of many of their aims. When the parliamentary reform movement collapsed in 1784, it left radicals without a political cause. By the mid-1780s, radicalism in Ireland was taking a new, bolder form, typified by the letters penned by William Drennan which were published in the Belfast Newsletter and in pamphlets. In them he hit out at leaders of the Volunteers such as Grattan and Charlemont for their conservatism and restraint, and at the political establishment for preventing the reform of the Irish parliament. Most notably was his appeal for all Anglicans, Dissenters, and Roman Catholics to unite together as one indifferent association, however he accepted that this would only appeal to the minority within each denomination. Inspiring and increasing the radicalisation of Irish reformists was the French Revolution which had started in 1789, and had so far remained largely bloodless, with the French king forced to concede effective power to a National Assembly. Also in 1789 the Whig party was founded in Ireland and soon it became an alliance of radicals, reform-minded parliamentarians, and dissident representatives of the governing class. By 1791 this alliance however was already fracturing, and several rival Whig clubs were set up by people such as Napper Tandy in Dublin and Belfast. Another grouping was a shadowy organisation of eleven people headed by Samuel Neilson, that sought to move the recently revived Volunteer movement in as far a radical direction as possible. Foundation The enthusiasm for the French Revolution saw great Irish interest in Thomas Paines The Rights of Man released in May 1791, which defended it and saw around 20,000 cheap copies printed for digest in Ireland. A couple of months later the Belfast Volunteer company gathered to celebrate the second anniversary of the fall of the Bastille. It was intended that a new radical society was to be announced during the celebrations with William Drennan, who was to give a declaration, asked to add in resolutions. Drennan refused due to the short notice of the request and suggested that a Theobald Wolfe Tone be asked. Tones reformist radicalism had advanced beyond that of the Whigs, and he proposed three resolutions for the new society, which he named the Society of United Irishmen] The first resolution was for the denouncing of the continuing interference of the British establishment in Irish affairs. The second was for the full reform of the Irish parliament and its representation. The last resolution called for a union of religious faiths in Ireland to abolish the differences that had long divided Irishmen and sought to give Catholics political rights. This last proposal however was quietly dropped by the Belfast Volunteers to ensure unanimity for the proposals amongst the people. This seemed to delay the launch of the new society and by August 1791, Tone in response to the rebuff of his third resolution, published the popular and robust An Argument on Behalf of the Catholics of Ireland, which argued why they should be included in attempts at reform. That October, Tone was invited to a debate on the creation of a new society by a group of people including Neilson. Here he found that his resolutions were now found a few months later to be too tame. A new set of resolutions were drafted and agreed to on 14 October, which the Belfast branch of the Society of United Irishmen adopted on 18 October, and the Dublin branch on 9 November. The main problem they identified for Ireland was the issue of national sovereignty: “ We have no national government; we are ruled by Englishmen, and thus servants of Englishmen, whose object is the interest of another country, whose instrument is corruption; whose strength is the weakness of Ireland. ” All attendees at the first meeting of the Belfast branch were Protestant. Two (Theobald Wolfe Tone and Thomas Russell) were Anglicans and the rest Presbyterian; most of whom were involved in the linen trade in Belfast. Along with Tone and Russell, the men involved were: William Sinclair, Henry Joy McCracken, Samuel Neilson, Henry Haslett, Gilbert McIlveen, William Simms, Robert Simms, Thomas McCabe and Thomas Pearce. Movement spreads Masthead of the Northern Star As 1791 drew to a close there were references to other lesser branches of the United Irishmen in a number of places such as: Armagh, Clonmel, Limerick, and Lisburn, yet Belfast and Dublin retained their primacy. The popularity of the society continued to grow throughout Ulster especially amongst the Presbyterians. In 1795 the United Irishmen linked up with the Defenders, a Catholic agrarian secret society. The movement quickly developed a strategy of spreading its ideals by means of pamphlets, leaflets, newspapers, ballads, catechisms and travelling emissaries. Whilst the Belfast Newsletter was a liberal newspaper, the society sought for the publication of a more radical one in Belfast, resulting in the Northern Star. It was especially successful, both commercially and politically and had a wide readership until its suppression in 1797. The spread of the society was watched with growing alarm by the authorities and it was banned in 1793 following the declaration of war by France.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 18:40:08 +0000
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