clearly made out that so far from any additional vote of credit being needed, the money already voted would be sufficient till Parliament should meet again to answer the whole expense of the estimates. You must now be convinced on what grounds many of the leading interests of this kingdom have hitherto undertaken to carry on his majesty's affairs; and why, when difficulties have arisen, or have been artificially created, Government has generally been defeated by its own strength. . . The most effectual means to restore vigor to the Government would be to keep Ireland under the constant attention of a resident governor in whose hands should be placed the absolute disposal of the several offices of revenue. The commissioners exercise great weight over the officers under them, for whose conduct on this occasion I cannot otherwise account. As this will operate but slowly, however, I should wish to know whether, in the different branches of his majesty's service, some persons ought not to be immediately marked as particular objects of displeasure. Many distinguished persons have supported us through the session without hinting at any consideration: though their judgment was against pressing the Augmentation Bill, they yet hazarded their elections in supporting it. I am not without hope that when it shall be observed that his majesty's disapprobation is strongly shown to the principal opposers of so salutary a measure, the tide of popular resentment will turn against those who have endeavored to direct it against Government." 1

The country was already preparing for a general election. "Every county and borough was a scene of dissipation and animosity." Candidates were flying

1 "Townshend to Shelburne, May 10, 1768."

to and fro, bribing, treating, and spouting pat and Ireland's rights. French-Irish priests, off the Irish Brigade, apostles of anarchy of all sor scenting the approaching battle, coming over guise, and "feeling the pulses of the community all grounds it was desirable to shorten the dar period.1 The Viceroy demanded and obtaine mission to bring it to an immediate end. T already passed through committee received the assent. Parliament was dissolved, and writs instantly issued for a new election. Five serv members of the late House were recommend peerages and obtained them.2 Lord Kingston res an earldom, the Viceroy insisting that strikin dence of this kind was necessary to show th King meant to proportion his rewards to publ sert.

The Doneraile title was extinct. Two collateral St. Legers were applying for it, both of whom were likely to be elected members of the House of Commons. They were put on their good behavior for the next session: whichever of them served the Government best should receive the prize.

"This is now the crisis of Irish Government," wrote Townshend. "If a system is at this time wisely formed and steadily pursued, his majesty's affairs may hereafter be carried on with ease, dignity, and safety; but if only a few changes are made here and there, and this particular man is to be raised and another depressed, probably to be restored again in a few months, as in 1755,3 with double powers and

1 "Townshend to Shelburne, May 17, 1768."

2 Thomas Dawson was created Lord Dartry; W. H. Dawson, of Queen's County, Lord Portarlington; Abraham Chrichton Lord Erne; John Eyre, of Eyre Court, Lord Eyre; and Mr. Corby, of Stradbally, Lord Corby. 8 When Lord Shannon got his peerage.

weight, it will only add fuel to the fire; and at last bring the King's authority in Ireland, low as it is, into still greater contempt. If the plan which I have proposed shall be adopted, and the King and his servants have that confidence in me as to think I am a fit person to carry it into execution, his majesty will, I hope, allow me by degrees and on proper occasions to submit to him such changes as shall appear to me necessary."

"1

1"Townshend to Shelburne, May 31, 1768."

SECTION II.

NOTWITHSTANDING the dissoluteness of the Dublin workmen, the factiousness of the patriots, and the social disorders which had assumed so menacing an appearance, the material prosperity of Ireland had for twenty years been slowly increasing. The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was the turning point at which, in parts at least of the island, the people began to lay aside their dreams and turn to industry. Even the Whiteboy movement, caused as it had been by the increase of cattle and the rise of rents, was a result and symptom of the upward tendency. The linen manufacture was growing in Ulster. Intelligent country gentlemen were building houses, planting, draining, and raising green crops. Arthur Young, who travelled through the country in 1771, found universally the term of twenty years defined as that at which the upward movement had commenced which was still in progress. The year which followed the dissolution of 1768 was the most productive which had been known for a century; and had the state of public opinion permitted England to recognize that a Parliament was at all times a curse to Ireland and not a blessing; could she have perceived at the same time, without waiting to be taught by calamity, the folly and iniquity of her trade laws, the permanent regeneration of Ireland might have dated from that period.

It was not to be. A new Parliament was elected, but it was not called together before the usual period, in the autumn of the following year. The Viceroy used the interval to impress the lesson which he desired Irish politicians to lay to heart. He hoped, though he was far from sanguine, that by straightforward open measures, by the suppression of jobs, by honest administration on the principles which had been laid down by the King, he might find sufficient backing when the legislature reassembled to carry on the business of the state without reverting to the old methods. For a vigorous policy, however, he required the assistance of the Home Government, and the Home Government, as usual, wavered. "You are to have all the support," Lord Weymouth wrote to him in the summer of 1769, "that your known zeal entitles you to, and your own ideas shall be adopted as to the mode of that support, if there is a moral certainty that you will be successful in procuring a majority. Your sketches of the principal characters in this country are drawn with too much coolness and impartiality, and with too genuine an air of truth, to permit us to doubt their correctness. His majesty arms you with full powers to act as you shall think

desirable." 1

The Viceroy's "ideas" had been to make a clean sweep of the dishonest members of the Council, and to fill their places with others of whose conscientiousness he had better expectations. To certainty of success he admitted frankly that he could not pretend. He could not confer confidentially with individual members; he could not canvass for support; he could only repeat his opinion, that if the disas1 "Weymouth to Townshend, June 9, 1769. Most secret."