The Irish standard., 1909-07-10

America aroused the ministers to the
necessity of connecting something to
Irish demands. and on November. 4,
1878. a bill was passed enabling Catho-
lies to take leases for lives or years
concurrent, ana to- hold land for nine
hundred and ninety nine years, or any
number of years determinable on
lives not exceeding i've.
This. measure met Grattan's warmest
approval. The country was then in
the most miserable cendition-its trade
fettered and the government almost
in a state Of bankruptcy In December,
1873, an Act was passed in the British
Parliament permitting Ireland to ex-
port glass and wooden goods and to
trade with America, Africa and the
West Indies. There We're general i'll
Limitations through ireland, and the
government hoped the storm was over.
while Grattan- and his friends pushed
on to further measures. All through the
country resolutions were passed claim
ing that Ireland should be bound only
by her own laws, and demanding a
modification of PoSning's Act, and a
repeal of 6 George l., which declared
the: dependence of Ireland upon Eng
land. -. ...
Early in 1880 Grattan gave notice OF
his intention to move a Declaration of
Rights, embodyng these demands, and
on April 10 introduced the resolution:
That the king, by and with the con-
sent Of the lords and commons of Ire
land, are the. only power competent to
enact laws to bind Ireland; That the
crown of Ireland is and ought to be in
separately annexed: to the crown of
Great Britain; That Great Britain and
Ireland are inseparably united under
one sovereign, under the common and
indissoluble ties of interest, loyalty and
freedom" Although. the decision upon
them was postponed the debate diff
fused: a hopeful spirit through the
country. %:.::.:r -.
Now came the convention of Graf
tan's volunteers at Dunagannon,. and
their series of resolutions. On May
81, 1882, the Duke of Portland announc-
ed the concurrence of the British legis-
lature in the Irish resolutions, and
bills were immediately passed ernbody-
ing the Declaration of Rights. Mutt
my Act and the repeal of Poyning's
Act, securing to the Irish House of
Lords final judicature and establishing
freedom Of election. and the independ-
ence of the judges. Finding that his
exertions were no longer Of any avail,
he retired from Parliament, declining
to stand at the general election of 1897.
The rising Of 1898 has ended. and
though the country was overawed by
nearly two hundred thousand troops,
yet twenty eight counties petitioned
against the Union; eight. principal
towing '! i,, numerous explanations and all
the mercantile. manufacturing and
trading interests of the kingdom. Only
seven thousand 'petitioneds in favor,
while one hundred and ten thousand
freehoders and more than seven hun
dred thousand signed against it. In this
state of affairs. at the end of 1899, Graf
tan returned to. Ireland, broken in
health and spirits, and entered Parlia-
ment from. Wicklow On january 16,
1900, as a speaker was actually re-
ferring to the charter of 1882, the an
thor of it entered the door, feeble,
helpless and apparently almost in his
last moments, to defend or to. fall with
his country. But, notwithstanding a
most exhaustive. apd convincing speech
on the subject, the government carried
the measure. After the Union, Grattan
retired from Parliament, but in 1906
represented Dublin, which seat he con-
tinued a member until his death in
1920. ~': -" .'s .'''