The demands of Ireland were
granted, and thus in a moment Grattan's Parliament, in the full panoply
of armed strength, sprang into existence.
Well might Grattan exclaim, at the opening of that Parliament, in words
that still send a thrill through every true lover of freedom:--
"I found Ireland on her knees. I watched over her with an
eternal solicitude. I have traced her progress from injuries to
arms, and from arms to liberty. Spirit of Swift! Spirit of
Molyneux! Your genius has prevailed. Ireland is now a Nation!
In that new character I now hail her! And, bowing to her august
presence, I say, _Esto Perpetua_."[64]
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[56] The first real representative English Parliament, of course, was
summoned by Simon de Montfort in 1265. Grattan was accustomed to claim
"seven centuries" as the lifetime of the Irish Constitution; but in
that, of course, he went back behind the days of a representative
Parliament.
[57] Poynings' Law was passed by the Irish Parliament, at Drogheda, in
1495, under the influence of Sir Edward Poynings, the Lord Deputy of
Ireland to the Viceroy Prince Henry, afterwards King Henry VIII.
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