More Recent History: 1700's - 1969
Conditions around 1760 had already gotten so bad that bands of peasants began
launching attacks in several areas, landlords were abducted, tortured and sometimes
murdered. Cattle belonging to rich ranchers were maimed by the attackers. Some 75,000
volunteers, almost all protestant, had been rasied throughout Ireland in 1778 with the
aim of safeguarding the colony while the British army was tied down in a war against the
American Colonies. The volunteers were not a dependable group because they soon
sensed their power and placed it at the service of Grattan's parliament. In 1780, Henry
Grattan, a protestant lawyer, who headed a group within the Dublin parliament, had
suggested that perhaps Westminster had no real right to legislate for Ireland. Grattan was
in a position to say such a thing because he was backed up on the streets by an armed
body of men ("Kelley" 8).
From 1782-1800 the Irish protestant-controlled parliament ruled the country, they
abolished all the restrictions that were placed on the catholics not to hold land, and also
abolished the restrictions on their religious rights ("Ireland" World Book 426). In 1785,
fighting broke out over the land rights in Ulster. The defenders (catholics) were trying to
defend themselves against the protestant English groups.
Theobald Wolfe Tone, a protestant lawyer, believed that by joining together catholics
and protestants they would have a better chance of gaining independence from England.
He established the Society of United Irishmen in 1791. The purposes of this organization
was to continue reforms in Ireland and gain complete independence from England. The
Society of United Irishmen was made up of catholics and protestants.