Author Description

The later decades of the eighteenth century were for Ireland an era of momentous political developments. This book surveys the social, economic, and intellectual background; indicates the links between Ireland and Great Britain and the rest of the empire; examines the machinery of central and local government; and describes the course of politics at a time when political activity greatly accelerated and was strongly influenced by external forces. Symptoms of discontent with the established order in Ireland are discernible from early in the reign of George III. The more politically energetic Catholics were beginning to press for the removal of Catholic disabilities, the methods by which the connection with Great Britain was maintained were being stridently criticized, and from the time of the American War of Independence the demand for parliamentary reform was being loudly voiced. With the beginning of the French Revolution political activity developed with redoubled force. The author surveys in detail the political agitation and agrarian discontent of the seventeen nineties, and the threats which they posed both to national defence and the maintenance of law and order. He concludes with and examination of the insurrection of 1798, and the British government's attempt to solve the Irish question by the union of Ireland with Great Britain.