The Viceroys of Ireland

by Charles Kingston O'Mahony

CHAPTER XV

Wellington's premiership was four days old when Lord Anglesey accepted the viceroyalty. The duke evidently selected his Waterloo comrade without taking the trouble to sound him upon the views he held, but George IV.—that fine champion of Protestantism!—immediately sent for the marquis, and in a touching interview implored him to keep the Catholics at bay, emphasizing his belief that the surrender of the Government to O'Connell would mean the dismemberment and destruction of the British Empire. Anglesey, who knew nothing whatever about anything except women and war, sought refuge in meaningless platitudes. He declared to the king that he intended to take no part in sectarian or political strife in Ireland; he would administer the law equally to all, and so forth, impressing George IV. with a sense of his extreme propriety and impartiality.

On January 29, 1828, Lord Anglesey became Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. He was in his sixtieth year, and could look back with some pride on a long and busy life. He had fought with Moore at Corunna, and at Waterloo was Wellington's commander of cavalry. These were landmarks in his life, and even his unfortunate relations with the wife of his friend's brother did not create any ill-feeling between Anglesey and Wellington. The Iron Duke had a great affection for his relations, and he often expressed his gratification at the remarkable successes achieved by his brothers, the Marquis Wellesley and Lord Cowley. Politically the Wellesleys were always at enmity, and in addition they were handicapped by inheriting from their mother some of her severe manner and not a little of her pride. It is remarkable that the three brothers should each have had marital troubles. The Duke of Wellington's marriage, begun as a romance, ended as a tragi-comedy; Lord Wellesley's went the same way, and he was burdened for years by a wife with whom he could not live; while Lord Cowley was compelled to seek a divorce.

It was five years before Waterloo that society was startled by the news that Lord Cowley had presented a Bill to Parliament, praying to be divorced from his wife, a daughter of Lord Cadogan. The Marquis of Anglesey, then known as the Earl of Uxbridge, was cited as the co-respondent, and as Lord Uxbridge was a married man with eight children, and, of course, an intimate friend of the Wellesley family, London discussed nothing else. The affair was robbed of a great deal of publicity by the influence of the two families concerned, but Lady Uxbridge was not to be placated, and she divorced her husband. Then Lord Cowley was awarded damages to the extent of £24,000 against the earl, and the complicated affair was simplified by the Earl of Uxbridge marrying Lady Cowley.

The Duke of Wellington was too fond of a good soldier to permit a mere family matter to stand in the way of Lord Uxbridge's prospects. He took him to Waterloo, and if the earl lost a leg in that famous battle, he gained a marquisate, bestowed within less than three weeks of June 18, 1815. Promotion in the service followed, and owing to Wellington's influence it was rapid and remunerative.

The appointment to Ireland was his patron's greatest gift. It seemed only too obvious that a soldier at the head of affairs would be very necessary, for it was accepted as truth in ministerial circles that the entire Catholic priesthood of Ireland was engaged in a campaign for converting the Irish soldiers in the English army to the political principles of the Catholic Association.

The Clare election

When the Iron Duke formed a Government, the Catholic Association passed a resolution declaring that it would oppose the election of any Irish member who took office under the new premier. Undisturbed by this, the member for Clare, Mr. Fitzgerald, accepted the post of President of the Board of Trade, and then O'Connell announced that he would be the nominee of the Association, and would contest the seat. This created a veritable sensation. The eyes of the world were centred on Clare, and Lord Anglesey sent an army of occupation to take possession of it. On the polling days there were about five soldiers for every voter, and the Catholic Association received an advertisement that made the world understand the seriousness of its principles. No single election has ever had the effect produced by the election of Daniel O'Connell to represent Clare at Westminster. A month before the result Sir Robert Peel declared that he would die politically rather than give way: the returns from Clare were still being discussed when the same man started to draft the Bill he introduced into the House of Commons in February, 1829, a measure which completely emancipated the Roman Catholics. The posts of Regent, of Lord Chancellor, and of Irish Viceroy were the only ones Catholics could not hold. The Catholic Association had justified its existence.

Meanwhile Lord Anglesey's position was not without interest. He was very unpopular with the patriotic party, and the fact that George IV. was annoyed with him tended to increase further his popularity. Anglesey learned many things during his first six months in England, and he became an emancipationist while Peel was still defiant. The Duke of Wellington was exasperated when Anglesey nullified his advice to Catholics to substitute patience for agitation by advising them to agitate until they obtained their demands. The duke wrote curt letters, and Anglesey answered in a similar strain. He was not fond of Dublin or Dublin society, and Irish affairs began to bore him. The most interesting men were in his opinion the members of the Catholic Association, and he dare not be seen with them, while he knew, as every other viceroy had known, that to withhold complete emancipation was the worst service the English ministry could do the country. The Prime Minister, with the help of the king, compelled Anglesey to send in his resignation, and the vacancy was given at once to Hugh Percy, third Duke of Northumberland, Greville's 'prodigious bore,' and almost the wealthiest nobleman in England. He accepted with the proviso that he was not to hold the post for more than eighteen months, while he advised the Government to reduce the viceroy's salary by £10,000—it then stood at £20,000 a year. The latter piece of advice was not accepted, because the Government realized that there would be future viceroys without the wealth of the newer Percys.

The Tithe War

The Duke and Duchess of Northumberland gave a great display of their wealth in Dublin, and once more the official party revelled in feastings, balls, and flamboyant levées and drawing-rooms. Some serious work was attempted, and in April, 1830, a proclamation was issued suppressing the Catholic Association. Agitation feeds on agitation, and O'Connell's league had replaced Emancipation by Repeal. He was demanding the severance of the Union between the two countries, and Northumberland determined on a vigorous campaign against the agitator. The Tithe War—arising out of the refusal of the Catholic peasantry to pay tribute to the ministers of an alien Church—had begun, and fierce encounters between the military and the country people were everyday occurrences. Northumberland had a large army at his disposal, and the Cabinet advised him to make full use of it, but realizing the temper of the country better than his superiors, he declared that O'Connell's agitation for Repeal could be rendered abortive by reason, and not by force. Despite the friction with his official chiefs in London, Northumberland would have remained in Dublin had not the Tory ministry been replaced by Lord Grey's administration. The Duke and Duchess of Northumberland—the latter best known as one of the late Queen Victoria's governesses—left the country with the knowledge that they had been as successful as any viceregal pair before them. Sir Robert Peel described him as the very best governor of Ireland, and Wellington, never an easy man to please, growled out some compliments when he met the duke at a dinner-party. Lord Anglesey's second viceroyalty began in December, 1830, and ended in September, 1833. He had been popular during his brief reign of 1828-29, but he discovered speedily that patriots are susceptible, and the viceroy who earned popularity as an emancipationist in 1828 was disliked and distrusted by the O'Connellites, because he would not follow their lead and become equally as enthusiastic for Repeal. Daniel O'Connell derided the viceroy in almost every speech made, and no epithet was too strong to be applied to Lord Anglesey. O'Connell publicly prayed for his removal, and the viceroy, out of sympathy with all parties, lingered on at Dublin Castle, worried by the popularity of the Repealer, and disturbed by the havoc the Tithe War was playing with the progress of the country.

The famous Doon auction

The history of the Tithe War has been told many times, and there is no room for it here, but it possessed so much comedy and tragedy that some of its incidents may be recalled. When the peasantry tried passive resistance, their activities were aroused by the arrival of soldiers to take their goods and sell them by public auction. In one battle twelve peasants were killed and twenty wounded; in another there were heavy casualties on both sides; and there were other affrays with equally deadly results. A touch of humour was provided by the inhabitants of Doon, a Limerick town which, in the early thirties of the last century, contained a population of about 5,000 Roman Catholics and a single Protestant. In due course, the Protestant clergyman demanded tithes from the priest, which the latter promptly refused to pay. With the aid of the law, the priest's cow was seized, and elaborate preparations made for its sale by public auction. The authorities at Dublin Castle were consulted, and a long correspondence dealing with the cow ensued; there was much advising and consultation; the viceroy discussed it in secret and laughed at it during dinner; the Commander-in-Chief of the forces was asked for his help, and he signed an order for the attendance of a small army at the forthcoming auction. Meanwhile the cow, unmindful of its prominence and glory, browsed on contentedly until the time came when it was led into the field by its crown keeper and escorted by a force of police. On the field of auction, besides the police were a troop of the 12th Lancers, five companies of the 92nd Highlanders, and two pieces of artillery. The auctioneer stood in the midst of an arsenal surrounded by the army. Bids for the historic cow were invited; threats and jokes were all he got from the peasantry, and the proceedings finally left the Government in possession of the cow, no one having the courage to buy it. This auction was one of many. Cows and pigs, escorted by several hundred soldiers, became part of the pageantry of the country; officers and men were recalled from leave of absence to take their part in tending cattle captured from rebellious villagers. No Government could maintain its dignity, and ridicule nullified the dearly bought victories in the field. The net result was that the Government collected £12,000 at a cost of £27,000 and hundreds of lives, and £48,000 still due for tithes.

Lord Anglesey saw nothing of the Tithe War, but from Dublin Castle he superintended the operations against the peasantry. The Government regarded the objection to tithe-paying as one of O'Connell's devices for rousing the masses against England, and although the ministry was compelled to abolish the tithes, the victory of the peasants was more apparent than real, because the Tithe Commutation Act of 1838 placed the onus of collecting the dues on the landlord, who, of course, added the amount to the rent he levied on his tenants' holdings.

Between July, 1834, and April, 1835, there were three ministries, two Melbourne administrations being interrupted by Sir Robert Peel's first and brief government. Lord Wellesley's second viceroyalty lasted a few months—from September, 1833, to April, 1834—and although in 1835 he intimated to Lord Melbourne that he would not be averse to a third term, the premier appointed Lord Mulgrave, and Wellesley had to be content with the gilded post of Lord Chamberlain. The Marquis Wellesley lived until 1842.

The viceroyalty of the Earl of Haddington was as colourless as it was brief. He had been in Parliament some years before he was given a peerage, and succeeding to the earldom shortly afterwards, passed into an obscurity from which he never emerged, even when Peel, on December 29, 1834, made him Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. That ministry resigned in the April following, and Lord Melbourne formed his second Cabinet, sending Lord Mulgrave to Ireland.

The Irish party in Parliament

The return to power of Lord Melbourne marked a new epoch in the history of the British Parliament. For the first time English statesmen realized that the Irish vote could be capable of controlling the destinies of an English party. Hitherto the Irish members had been regarded as of no account; ever since the Union one or other of the great parties had been able to act independently of the Irish members, but the kaleidoscopic ministerial changes that had taken place since the termination of Lord Liverpool's record premiership had gradually given the Irish members the balance of power between the two parties. In eight years seven distinct Cabinets were formed, and when the seventh, Lord Melbourne's, received their seals from William IV., they knew as well as O'Connell himself that their existence depended upon the Irish vote.

It was only natural that O'Connell and his followers were delighted. They foresaw the time when England would tire of the domination of the Irish minority in Parliament, and would gladly send them back to College Green, and so certain were they of this that O'Connell agreed to suspend his demand for the repeal of the Union, and give Melbourne and his colleagues an opportunity of doing something great for Ireland. It was a strong Government and rich in statesmen. Lord John Russell was Home Secretary, and Palmerston was Foreign Secretary. The Cabinet had many long and anxious consultations on Irish affairs, and the ministers did their best to keep their bargain with O'Connell. The House of Lords, however, blocked the way, and the Melbourne Government fell in the autumn of 1841.

When Lord Mulgrave was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in 1835, he was regarded as the best man for the position. O'Connell expressed public approval of him, and the numerous religious and political associations added their testimonials. The Irish leader's compact with the ministry was well known, and although Lord Mulgrave was regarded as O'Connell's puppet, he was not without opinions of his own. Lord Anglesey had expressed the opinion that O'Connell was the real ruler of Ireland, and Mulgrave, in showing his sympathy with the Catholics, became as popular with the majority as he was unpopular with the powerful Protestant minority. He was considered to have the best opportunity to bring peace to Ireland, and English Liberal members of Parliament, in their enthusiasm for their leader, Lord Melbourne, were continually pointing out how peaceful Ireland had become under a Whig administration. When a constable in the county of Clare appealed to Dublin Castle to remove him to the metropolis because the country had become so quiet that he had no chance of gaining promotion or distinguishing himself, the Whig Press and politicians went wild with delight. The enterprising constable was written about in scores of pamphlets, and three-fourths of England got the impression—and retained it for many years, too!—that Ireland was most law-abiding, as well as one of the most prosperous countries in the world.

William IV. and Lord Mulgrave

The fatal weakness of Lord Mulgrave was his partisanship. He could look at nothing except through the spectacles of well-grounded opinions of his own. At a time when he should have exercised discretion, he rushed into the arms of the Catholic party, and thereby mortally offended the Orangemen and their not-to-be-despised co-religionists. The result was that at a Protestant meeting the mention of the viceroy's name was sufficient to fill the building with cries of derision, while at a gathering of the Catholics Lord Mulgrave was cheered to the echo. It was an undignified reputation for a man supposed to hold the scales of justice evenly, and William IV. protested to Melbourne about the conduct of his viceroy.

An examination of the crime returns of the period shows that the compact between O'Connell and Lord Melbourne caused no appreciative diminution of violence in the country. Protestants declared that Lord Mulgrave was encouraging political criminals by his leniency, the culmination of which was his decision in the case of the brutal murder of the second Earl of Norbury. The earl was the younger son of the notorious Chief Justice Toler, who had received honours from a grateful government because of his anti-Irish and anti-Catholic policy. On his deathbed Toler, hearing that his neighbour, Lord Erne, was also dying, sent a servant to assure his lordship that it would be a dead heat between them! The anecdote is characteristic of the man and his times, but his children were of a different calibre. The elder son died a lunatic, and the second was murdered because he evicted one of his tenants, a rogue who objected to paying rent. The country cried out for the severe punishment of the murderers, but the viceroy more than tempered justice with mercy, and every landowner instantly became alarmed. If murderers were permitted to escape the hangman because a Whig viceroy was at Dublin Castle, then assuredly no Tory landlord was safe. Private and public appeals were made to the king and Lord Melbourne. The premier was compelled to 'promote' him, and in 1839, shortly after he had been created Marquis of Normanby, the viceroy resigned in order to take up the post of Secretary for the Colonies.

Lord Mulgrave

Lord Normanby's subsequent career was quite in keeping with his conduct in Ireland. No matter in what capacity he acted, he always took sides, and during his diplomatic career, the Foreign Office experienced too much Normanby for its liking. His wife was one of the two women of the bedchamber to Queen Victoria to whom Peel objected when called upon to form a Government in 1841. Normanby had been asked to take charge of affairs, but there were not half a dozen men willing to serve under him, and he soon abandoned his attempt to become Prime Minister. Thenceforward his public life was spent abroad in the diplomatic service, and a list of his diplomatic indiscretions would fill a volume. From 1846 to 1852 he was Ambassador at Paris, and Palmerston's sudden recognition of Louis Napoleon exasperated him to an extent that he never forgot. Normanby was not the man for Paris, and when given a chance to represent the English nation at the Court of Tuscany in Florence, his partisanship, when he ought to have been neutral, was such that Lord Malmesbury had to recall him by telegraph! He returned to England, and until his death in 1863, at the age of sixty-six, he acted with the Tories against the Whigs. His conduct was due entirely to his personal detestation of Lord Palmerston. He was not in sympathy with a single act of the Whig, or Liberal, party, but he exerted himself to thwart Palmerston. He shed tears when 'Pam' became premier for the second time, and he died while the Liberal statesman was half-way through his historic ministry.