It was the place-holders of
Ireland who, intriguing with the Ministry in London, led to the recall
of Lord Fitzwilliam.[66]
For that party was then playing the same part as it is attempting to
play to-day. They were playing then, as ever since, on the nerves of
Protestant England. They were conjuring up the dread of Catholic power,
and the terror of Irish disloyalty. Unhappily, in the confusions of the
moment--the confusions of the French wars--they succeeded. By
compelling the recall of Lord Fitzwilliam they wrecked the hopes of the
Grattan Parliament.
For after 1795 that Parliament was practically doomed, and events moved
rapidly to their climax. Grattan, thwarted in his policy, and unwilling
to be responsible for a body over which he had no control, withdrew
into retirement. The Irish Catholics, feeling themselves again betrayed
and deserted, relapsed all over Ireland into sullen indifference and
detachment. The Protestant Parliament, deprived of their leader, swung
more and more towards the Ascendancy Party. Even so, indeed, the virtue
of self-government continued to work. No Parliament has left a better
record of good local work for the prosperity of its country than
Grattan's Parliament.
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