The "Glorious Revolution"
(so-called) was above all a constitutional innovation which disbarred Catholics
from ever ascending the throne. It also copper-fastened a parliamentary Bill of
Rights which ensured no re-occurrence of absolutist monarchy, associated in
English minds at least with the Catholic reign of James II. Well to do Irish
Catholics received their education abroad during this time and many served as
soldiers in Catholic French armies fighting wars coloured by Reformation
fault-lines.
The dispossessed native Gaelic and Old English aristocracy threw their resources behind a Stuart resurgence (i.e. Jacobitism) and Gaelic bardic poetry of the period is peppered with references to the "rí thar caladh" or "king from overseas" who would return and restore to them their civil and religious liberties. Even the Vatican conceded the right of the exiled Stuart court to appoint vacant catholic bishoprics. It was a pan-European struggle and as French Protestants and Irish Catholics suffered, diplomatic pressure would be brought to bear on English/French policy-makers to relax or strengthen laws stifling freedom of religious expression in their respective realms - see here in this regard Louis XIV's revocation of the Edict of Nantes which persecuted French Protestants.
The international situation where England would be at war with France almost continuously over the next hundred years certainly didn't improve matters for 'titled' Irish Catholics who consciously aligned themselves with French policy in order to reclaim lands wrested from them in Cromwellian and Williamite wars. The difference in Ireland was that unlike the rest of Europe where religious discrimination likewise flourished was that it was the majority faith of the island which was being excluded in the context of a contested colonialism. The Pope, incidentally, only legitimised the Hanoverian succession at the death of the Stuart 'Pretender' in 1766 - no coincidence either that it was around this time that a Catholic Committee was formed to agitate for the lifting of the penal code via parliamentary reform. The "Great (Jacobite)War" of legitimacy (largely fought underground in the Irish context) was finally over.
Just to say that Pitt didn't "give" Ireland a parliament (as is occasionally heard); it was already in place & long established but was the exclusive preserve of a minority 'Protestant Ascendency'. The parliament which had been 'given' (in 1782 and known as Grattan's Parliament) came on foot of Volunteer-led agitation combined with a separatist protestant 'colonial nationalism' which, having achieved almost full spectrum dominance over the political and economic life of the country (to the detriment of the catholic majority) sought to widen its powers by curtailing Westminster's ability to interfere in domestic Irish affairs.
This was largely a Dublin Whig project, many of whom, including Grattan, were sympathetic to Catholics having a larger franchise and a seat in parliament. When Pitt's war-time coalition was formed with the Portland Whigs the expected quid pro quo was the appointment of the Irish Whig Fitzwilliam (a known sympathiser to Catholic emancipation) which raised unduly the hopes of Catholics. The subsequent crisis over his dismissal played a large role in precipitating revolt as this threw many dedicated to exclusively political channels into the arms of the United Irishmen (who had been earlier driven underground) and their radical programme of complete separation and the establishment of a republic.
Grattan was a monarchist who wished to retain the link with the Crown and abhorred the import of French 'Jacobinism' but was perfectly willing to consort with radical United Irish elements (and indeed create the conditions of revolt) in order to maximise his leverage with the Crown and the conservative hub in Dublin Castle who were horrified at the prospect of losing their privileges via egalitarian legislation. It was one of these protestant conservatives, Beresford, who was dismissed by Fitzwilliam on his arrival in Dublin, and ultimately, it was his contacts with George III and other influential Tories within Pitt's cabinet which, in return, led to Fitzwilliam's recall. Grattan, meanwhile, shortly after, in an act many interpret to be 'self-consciously revolutionary' led his Whigs out of the Dublin parliament thereby questioning its very legitimacy at a time when United Irish links with France and cross-country armed organisation had reached its zenith.
The Irish did rise, unsuccessfully, but the radical elements within Protestant Irish Whiggery fusing with both Presbyterian dissenter and reformist Catholics could no longer be trusted so the entire native Irish Parliament was shipped overseas lock, stock and barrel in the midst of record-breaking bribes and inducements. Meanwhile, catholic emancipation was put on the back-burner indefinitely on account of George III's "constitutional scruples".
The dispossessed native Gaelic and Old English aristocracy threw their resources behind a Stuart resurgence (i.e. Jacobitism) and Gaelic bardic poetry of the period is peppered with references to the "rí thar caladh" or "king from overseas" who would return and restore to them their civil and religious liberties. Even the Vatican conceded the right of the exiled Stuart court to appoint vacant catholic bishoprics. It was a pan-European struggle and as French Protestants and Irish Catholics suffered, diplomatic pressure would be brought to bear on English/French policy-makers to relax or strengthen laws stifling freedom of religious expression in their respective realms - see here in this regard Louis XIV's revocation of the Edict of Nantes which persecuted French Protestants.
The international situation where England would be at war with France almost continuously over the next hundred years certainly didn't improve matters for 'titled' Irish Catholics who consciously aligned themselves with French policy in order to reclaim lands wrested from them in Cromwellian and Williamite wars. The difference in Ireland was that unlike the rest of Europe where religious discrimination likewise flourished was that it was the majority faith of the island which was being excluded in the context of a contested colonialism. The Pope, incidentally, only legitimised the Hanoverian succession at the death of the Stuart 'Pretender' in 1766 - no coincidence either that it was around this time that a Catholic Committee was formed to agitate for the lifting of the penal code via parliamentary reform. The "Great (Jacobite)War" of legitimacy (largely fought underground in the Irish context) was finally over.
Just to say that Pitt didn't "give" Ireland a parliament (as is occasionally heard); it was already in place & long established but was the exclusive preserve of a minority 'Protestant Ascendency'. The parliament which had been 'given' (in 1782 and known as Grattan's Parliament) came on foot of Volunteer-led agitation combined with a separatist protestant 'colonial nationalism' which, having achieved almost full spectrum dominance over the political and economic life of the country (to the detriment of the catholic majority) sought to widen its powers by curtailing Westminster's ability to interfere in domestic Irish affairs.
This was largely a Dublin Whig project, many of whom, including Grattan, were sympathetic to Catholics having a larger franchise and a seat in parliament. When Pitt's war-time coalition was formed with the Portland Whigs the expected quid pro quo was the appointment of the Irish Whig Fitzwilliam (a known sympathiser to Catholic emancipation) which raised unduly the hopes of Catholics. The subsequent crisis over his dismissal played a large role in precipitating revolt as this threw many dedicated to exclusively political channels into the arms of the United Irishmen (who had been earlier driven underground) and their radical programme of complete separation and the establishment of a republic.
Grattan was a monarchist who wished to retain the link with the Crown and abhorred the import of French 'Jacobinism' but was perfectly willing to consort with radical United Irish elements (and indeed create the conditions of revolt) in order to maximise his leverage with the Crown and the conservative hub in Dublin Castle who were horrified at the prospect of losing their privileges via egalitarian legislation. It was one of these protestant conservatives, Beresford, who was dismissed by Fitzwilliam on his arrival in Dublin, and ultimately, it was his contacts with George III and other influential Tories within Pitt's cabinet which, in return, led to Fitzwilliam's recall. Grattan, meanwhile, shortly after, in an act many interpret to be 'self-consciously revolutionary' led his Whigs out of the Dublin parliament thereby questioning its very legitimacy at a time when United Irish links with France and cross-country armed organisation had reached its zenith.
The Irish did rise, unsuccessfully, but the radical elements within Protestant Irish Whiggery fusing with both Presbyterian dissenter and reformist Catholics could no longer be trusted so the entire native Irish Parliament was shipped overseas lock, stock and barrel in the midst of record-breaking bribes and inducements. Meanwhile, catholic emancipation was put on the back-burner indefinitely on account of George III's "constitutional scruples".
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