The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-07-07
Chs Ssntfnel.
TUESDAY, JULY
Hame RuIe.

readers take the pains 70 ulSentangle lIS con
tradictions and Commissions. It began with
an invasion by Norman Adventures in the
twelfth century, and its completion involved
a struggle several hundred years in duration
The mobiles of Henry III and their success
ors brought to Ireland the English system
of government and English law, but the
sphere of their influence was confined, at
frst,t a narrow section of the island, and to
men of English race. These, while acknowl-
edging allegiance to the king of England, had
their own parliament, assembled at Dublin,
the chief city of what was called the Pale,
and their own courts of justice. There came
a time, however, when the Norman mobiles
of Ireland grew into such fellowship with
the people among whom they had conquered
homes, that the king of England found it
advisable to assume complete control OF the
Irish parliament. This was done by means
OF the celebrated Poynings act passed in
1895, when Sir Edward Poynings was lord
deputy of the island. This law provided,
not merely that the statutes of the Eng
lish parliament should have binding force
in Ireland, but also that parliament should
not be held in the latter country without
the permission OF the King of England
and on the reco nmendatiOu of the lord
deputy and his council in Ireland. This act
made the parliament a mere council
for executing the will of the ruler, and was
perhaps natural result of the victory of
of the crown over the mobiles in the English
civil wars. This usurpation of course af.
fected merely the English settlers in Ire
land, and not the Irish people themselves.
As the conquest proceeded, however, the
effect of the Poyning's act became
more important, but it was not until
the reign of James the First, that
any body assembled in Ireland, assuming to
be a parliament which represented the
whole island. This parliament was a pre-
tense in two respects. ] he 9 were many
localities not represented at all, and many
OF the boroughs were merely pocket or rotten
boroughs. Moreover the question OF race
had resolved itself into the question of re-
ligion, and the catholic inhabitants of the
island were entirely DISTINGUISHED, and of
course unrepresented. Passing over the
confusion of the great rebellion of l64l the
restoration of Charles the Second, and the
revolution of16Ss, and il may be fairly asserted
that the Irish parliament of the eighteenth
century took shape as a body of gentlemen.
portion of whom represented small mi
nority of the people Of Ireland who were
enfranchised, while another portion con-
sisted of the creatures of the government
and the nobility. It's powers were limited |
and a foreign legislative body held the au- |
thority to pass laws over its head. a series 1
of oppressive enactments issuing from the |
English parliament, and intended TO de- !
stroy the growing trade and manufactures +
of Ireland, first brought on a conflict
of authority between the two parlia-
ments. The leader of public opinion /
who took the first aggressive steps in the
interest of Ireland was one of the greatest |
among the men who have made English |
literature the richest in the modern world,
Jonathan Swift. The leader of the struggle |
in the Irish House of Commons was Henry
Grattan, man strangely endowed, COM
bing the eloquence of Demosthenes with the |
purity Of Phocion. The time when Grattan !
chose to make his celebrated effort for the
independence of the Irish legislature was
oDies were in revolt and England. while en-
deavoring to snbdue them, was en-
gagged in a life and death struggle |
with France and Spain. The people /
of Ireland in order to repel threatened in
vasion by France had formed disciplined /
body OF citizen soldiery $4,000 strong called |
volunteers, and, backed by their arms, the |
demand was made for free trade and an un-
trammeled legislature. The required con-
cession was made in 1872 and included the |
OF any legislative authority in the
Kings council, the abrogation of all claim /
on the part of England to make laws tor
Ireland, and the surrender of all control |
over the army in Ireland into the hands of
the I,ish parliament. This procedure es-
tablished in effect two Kingdoms under one |
King,and its result was soon felt in the re-
fusal of Ireland to take part in the American |
war and threats of making separate peace |
with France. Under native government the
condition of Ireland grew rapidly prosperous,
but the lack of consolidation in the power of
the empire led Pitt to form the scheme
of legislative union. The act of union |
was passed by unparalleled frauds at the |
beginning OF the century, and merged the |
Irish parliament into that of Great Britain, |
allowing due proportion OF representatives
in the two houses-Lords and Commons
which sat at London. The Catholic popula- !
ton of Ireland favored such union
because they were without voice i'm !
the native parliament, and were
suffering under severe penal enactmepts
on account of their religion, which restrict
ions Pitt promised to remove. Catholic
emancipation, granted after years of hard
struggle, set all the people of Ireland on
equal footing, and al, the same time wrought
a change in the attitude of the different
classes Protestants desired, under such cir