The Irish standard., 1908-12-26
4 BATTLE FOR Parliamentary INDEPENDENCE
King George Ill. of odou. sterny Opposed to
Any Change in the avs That Bound Erin to-
the British :<.::

sion into other channels after the VOL
unteers had ceased to exist as a great
National army drove SO many great
and upright men into. conspiracy and
rebellion. =
The desire Of constitutional liberty
having once seized upon the, people
several means Of obtaining that object
were adopted. In Parliament short
Nutiny Bill became a, favorite meas
u1e. !. The evils of a standing army.
the dangers to frI!dom inseparable
from the existence within the realm Of
q large force of armed men, having
from it's very organization: NO sympa-
t.,ies. with the people. were eloquently
dwelt upon by the leading patriots in
the. House: magistrates refused to bill
let. soldiers under ,Mutiny Act, to.
which they: objected on. two grounds
first, that it was an English Act OF
Parliament andt secondly, that it. was
perpetual, ana Grated an. an. s.iar armed ire
sponsible authority within the State.
The Irisit. Mutiny .Actehad only EXTEND
ed to six months-it had been returned
from England with change render
ing it perpetual; thus the legislation
might Well be called English, and the
principle despotic., The: Act' was re-
sisted, and it would have remained a
dead letter. but that the ultimate de-
cision Of the matter rested with the
Judges, and it was not thought advisa-
BILE. to resort to their tribunals.
But the time had arrived when Hem
ry Grattan. commenced, in grave and
noble earnest, the great quarrel of
Parliamentary liberty. And never was
a man more, fitted by nature for
great work than he was. Swift had
written of Irish politics with masterly
power-Molyneux with. considerable
learning-and Lucas with honaely Wig
or and honest zeal: but in Henry Grat-
tan all the qualities Of greatness were
combined. He was man, Of a pure
spirit and a noble, genius. He. was an
accomplished scholar, and a poet; but
lis scholarship and his poetry .gave
way to a grand, peculiar, and electric
oratory, unsurpassed, probably i'm
equaled by the greatest speakers of
any age or nation.,It was argumenta-
tive and logical in the highest Degree.
but IT was also imaginative. and pic
turesque: It's figures were bold and
new-its striking peculiar:tX consisted
in the total; absence Of tile usual or
the vulgar. In its noble flights, in the
utter abandonment Of genius, there,
was a grandeur. and elegant propor-
tion, profound WISDOM and "a start
ling vehemence which contributed to
give to the orator all the weight Of
inspirations. s. -
He did. indeed, speak with. the. au-
thority of an oracle; not, however, OBJ:
scurely, or with the vague wisdom If
ancient vatieination, but With profound
estimate Of the character of cur great
countryman, by a. late writer, three at
tributes are assigned to Grattan.. He
was the first 1rishman who treated of
Irish politics on a grand scale, with
breadth Of view and liberal judgment
he was the first 1rishman who minis
tered intellectually 10 the national
character. Of his country-he was not
only a national patriot. he was also a
herald of civilization. Other great
Irishn1en there had been in abund-
ance; others whose sympathies were
imperial, who with great and brilliant
qualities had transferred themselves
and their glory to other theatres than
Ireland. and who, like Edmund Burke.
succeeded so. far in eradicatinz natural
feelings as to exult in the greatness Of
England as Of their better and adopt
ed country" But 'Grattan's fame i.
not imperial-it is Irish. His genius
was ~ the growth Of Ireland. an ex-
auisite rsalisation Of those iiSh quali-