outpost on his right, and the farm buildings of La Haye Sainte on his centre. The road to Wavre, along the ridge, enabled him easily to move his forces, and the slight dip in the ground behind it hid these movements from Napoleon. Wellington's plan was to act on the defensive till the Prussian reinforcements should arrive from Wavre.

The French attack began by a furious assault on Hougomont, which Napoleon continued long after it had become evident that it could not be taken. Its successful resistance not only occupied the attention of many troops during much valuable time but also secured the safety of the English right. Napoleon's attack on Wellington's centre was repulsed after a fierce struggle, and the successive charges of the French cavalry under Ney were again and again rendered futile by the firmness of the English infantry-squares. Throughout the long summer afternoon the assault went on, until about. 6 o'clock news was brought to Napoleon that Blucher's forces, whom he supposed were far away, were actually appearing on his right. Grouchy, too late, tried in vain to hold them back by a rear attack. They advanced first upon the village of Planchenoit, which Napoleon for a time prevented them from occupying, while

(Morris 385 89.

Green 834-6.)

c. Napoleon's 2nd Abdication.

2nd T. of Paris.

Congress of
Vienna.

(Stephens 354. Map in Gardiner's Atlas 50.)

i.

Ney, by great efforts, drove the English from La Haye Sainte. But Blucher's troops were by that time in touch with Wellington's left, and Napoleon made a last effort by ordering the Imperial Guard to charge the English centre. Its failure in face of the terrible fire of musketry with which it was received, decided the fate of the day. Wellington gave the word for a general advance all along the line, and the defeat rapidly became a rout in which the Prussian cavalry did much execution. Napoleon himself fled hurriedly to Paris where he abdicated a second time and surrendered to the commander of the English ship Bellerophon off Rochefort. He was presently sent to the lonely island of S. Helena, where he died in 1821.

The Allies again occupied Paris, and the 2nd Treaty of Paris was drawn up.

The Congress of Vienna was resumed and at length finished its arrangements.

i. To erect Barriers against French aggression :

a. The Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed by uniting Holland and Belgium.

b. The German States were formed into a Confederacy under the presidency of Austria.

ii. To punish France :

a. Her territory was restricted to its limits in 1789.

b. A heavy fine was imposed upon her.

c. All pictures and works of art which had been accumulated during the wars were to be returned to their

owners.

iii. To recompense the Allies

a. Prussia obtained lands on the Rhine and in Saxony. b. Russia obtained all that remained of Poland. ·

c. Austria obtained Lombardy and Venetia.

d. England was confirmed in her possession of Heligoland, Malta, and the Ionian Islands, Cape Colony, Mauritius, Tobago and S. Lucia in the West Indies, and conquests on the mainland of Guiana.

7. THE UNION WITH IRELAND.

The Protestant Ascendancy

1. The Penal Code (1692—1734)—“ the Violated Treaty" of Limerick. 2. The Commercial Code

b. Liability to English "influence "

c. Suspicion of England

d. French Revolution increases disloyalty—the Regency dispute 1789
e. Religious factions-" Battle of Diamond "-the Orangemen-the
United Irishmen

f Attempts at Reform

1. Pitt's Relief Acts 1792-3

2. Commercial and Parliamentary Reforms

g. Attempts at repression

h. Fitz-William's attempt at conciliation

iv. The Irish Rebellion of '98—the Battle of Vinegar Hill 1798

V.

The Union with Ireland 1800

a. Its motives

b. Its methods

c. Its provisions
d. Criticism.

(Lecky, Ireland in

xviii. Cent: May ch. 16; Morris Ireland: Rosebery, Pitt 172; Green 811-815.)

If Pitt had made himself memorable in no other way he would have done so by his Irish Policy. The Act of Union with Ireland which he carried through still stands. Many approve of it and many disapprove, but few remember that it Dunlop, Grattan only represents a portion of the work he desired to accomplish for remedying the many wrongs under which Ireland laboured. Few give him credit for grappling with a great problem which had long defied, as it still defies, a satisfactory settlement.

i. The Protestant Ascendancy.

The result of William III.'s defeat of the Irish rising on behalf of James II. was the adoption of a policy of severe repression. (1) The Irish were nearly all Roman Catholics, except in a portion of Ulster; but the Penal Code, as the measures 1. Penal Code. are called which began in 1692 and continued till 1734, shut "The violated out all Roman Catholics from voting or sitting in the Irish Treaty of Parliament, from all offices, and from most professions. It also did much to prevent them from holding land, and imposed

severe restrictions on public worship.

Limerick" 1691.

(2) At the same time the Commercial Code imposed restric- 2. Commercial Code tions on Irish trade to prevent it from competing with that of England. Shipbuilding, the exportation of horses, cattle, wool, woollen goods and flax, were in turn hampered and injured. (3) Irish landlords lived in England where they 3. Absentee Landspent the rents they received from their poverty-stricken tenants. The Irish were kept poor as well as discontented; ii. Home Rule many emigrated, some to fight for France against England; movement. the rest were gradually united against England.

lords.

No lawful means of venting grievances being allowed, secret a. Agrarian outrages Societies arose, and these were forced to adopt extreme and illegal methods. In the south men called whiteboys," from the garments they wore, committed outrages at night on the cattle of the landlords, and in the north the same things were done by the "Oakboys who wore oakleaves on these

errands.

Even the Irish Parliament, though under the control of the

English Government and the English Parliament (by "Poynings Law" of 1495) and as corrupt as the Parliament at Westminster, began to be restive, especially when Henry Flood and Grattan. Flood, and afterwards Henry Grattan, took up the cause of Irish grievances.

c. The American Revolt.

d. The Irish

The revolt of the American Colonies had great effects in Ireland. It not only gave an example to be copied, but opened the way for copying it. The needs of the war caused the troops to be withdrawn, and the English Government had to allow Volunteers to be raised and armed to defend the coast Volunteers 1779. against the ravages of Paul Jones and French privateers. Roman Catholics were of course excluded, but Grattan soon found he could make use of the large armed body to support the demands of his party in Parliament. Some of the restrictions on Irish trade were removed in 1780, but the loud clamours continued for the independence of the Irish Parliament. In 1781, just when the news of the surrender of the English forces at Yorktown became known, the Irish Lord Lieutenant asserted that "Home Rule," as we now call it, was "the creed of the whole country." In 1782 the Volunteers of Ulster met in "the Convention of Dungannon," and demanded the abolition of corruption and Court influence by the establishment of the Parliamentary and Commercial Independence of Ireland. The English Parliament, under the f. Act of Renuncia- influence of Shelburne, had to pass the Act of Renunciation, renouncing the right to legislate for Ireland.

e. Convention of Dungannon 1782.

tion 1783.

iii. "Grattan's

Parliament 1782-1800.

a. Its inherent difficulties.

1. Personal union only.

A new period now began. Ireland had the same King as the rest of the British Isles, but otherwise was independent. It was like Scotland from 1603 to 1707, or like Norway and Sweden until a few years ago, and difficulties soon appeared similar to those which marked the histories of those countries.

(1) There was no proper means for ensuring agreement between the two Parliaments. In Ireland moreover there were further difficulties which have already been mentioned. 2. R.C.'s excluded. (2) The Parliament only professed to represent the Protestants and these were in an insignificant minority: the mass of the people were altogether excluded by the Penal Code. Moreover (3) so few people had votes, and (4) corruption was so rampant, that only a small fraction even of the Protestant minority was in any sense represented in Parliament.

3. Restricted

Franchise.

4. Prevalence of corruption.

b Liability to English influence.

The English Government, harassed by foreign enemies, could not afford to let the Irish go their own way, and resorted to all kinds of bribery and corruption, which Grattan's Parliament "-as the Irish "Home Rule" Parliament was called,-was only too ready to receive. The "Home Rule " remedy proved to be worse than the disease. Even in spite of English bribery there (Trade Bill 1785.) examples of the difficulties of the situation.

were not a few Pitt's attempt to

d. The French Revolution increases Disloyalty.

1789.

remove restrictions on trade was rejected, and his effort to obtain a regular contribution from Ireland towards the Navy was resented under the quite unjust impression that it was a c. Suspicion of England. new assertion of English supremacy. As the French Revolution developed, ideas similar to those of the Revolutionists spread in Ireland, and “disloyalty" towards England increased. Among many incidents which showed this, one was especially dangerous. In 1789 Fox's proposals about the Regency Dispute Regency were very warmly welcomed in Ireland mainly because they were not acceptable to the English Government, and under the influence of Grattan the Prince of Wales was made Regent in case George III. should become incapable of ruling. If this had actually been carried out the position might have been serious for the Ruler in Ireland would have been a different person from the Ruler in England, and the one link between the two countries would have been removed. The fear of such an event had produced the Act of Union with Scotland (1707), and after 1789 Pitt began to see that there must be a similar Act of Union with Ireland.

Other things too showed that "Home Rule could not e. Religious factions continue. Disputes between Protestants and Roman Catholics became increasingly bitter. The houses of Roman Catholics were violently searched before daybreak for concealed arms by the Protestant "Peep-o'-day-Boys," and when these were opposed by the "Defenders violent conflicts took place. In 1795 a regular pitched battle was fought at Diamond in County Armagh with the loss of many lives. The Protestants then organised themselves as Orangemen," The Orangemen.

taking their name from their hero William III. Prince of Orange, and religious bitterness increased.

"Battle of

Diamond."

men.

The Society of United Irishmen was founded in Belfast The United Irishon the Anniversary of the Fall of the Bastille (July 14) in 1791 by a freethinker named Wolfe Tone. Its pretended design was to unite Protestants and Romanists in a joint movement for national liberty, but it was really opposed to the Roman Catholics. Wolfe Tone tried to convert the Volunteers into a "National Guard" on French lines, and to begin an Irish Revolution in imitation of the French. In 1792 a meeting of Roman Catholics at Dublin, called the Back Lane Convention, demanded freedom of worship for the holders of their faith. The Whiteboys" revived in 1786 under the name of

Rightboys."

Attempts at

Reform.

1792-3.

The English Government was bound to take notice of these f. proceedings. In 1792-3 Pitt passed two Relief Acts." 1. Pitt's Relief Acts These swept away many restrictions on worship and education, 2. Commercial and and allowed other rights. There were also some commercial and Parliamentary Reforms. On the other hand "unlawful assemblies" were forbidden, the Volunteers were disbanded, e, Attempts at

Parliamentary
Reforms.

Repression.