[Illustration:  RIGHT HON.  HENRY GRATTAN, M.P. (From an engraving by Godby after Pope.)]

In 1775 he entered Parliament—­sixteen years, therefore, later than Flood—­being brought in by his friend Lord Charlemont.  The struggle with America was then beginning, and all Grattan’s sympathies went with those colonists who were battling for their own independence.  His eloquence from the moment it was first heard produced an extraordinary effect, and when the volunteer movement broke out he threw himself heartily into it, and availed himself of it to press in the Irish Parliament for those measures of free trade and self-government upon which his heart was set When the first of these measures was carried, he brought forward the famous Declaration of Rights, embodying the demand for independence, a demand which, in the first instance, he had to defend almost single-handed.  Many of his best friends hung back, believing the time to be not yet ripe for such a proposal.  Even Edmund Burke—­the life-long and passionate friend of Ireland—­cried out in alarm “Will no one speak to that madman?  Will no one stop that madman Grattan?” The madman, however, went on undismayed.  His words flew like wild-fire over the country.  He was supported in his motion by eighteen counties, by addresses from the grand juries, and by resolutions from the volunteers.  By 1782, the impulse had grown so strong that it could no longer be resisted.  An address in favour of Grattan’s Declaration of Rights was carried enthusiastically in April by the Irish Parliament, and so impressed was the Government by the determined attitude of the country that, by the 27th of May the Viceroy was empowered to announce the concurrence of the English legislature.  The Declaratory Act of George I. was then repealed by the English Parliament.  Bills were immediately afterwards passed by the Irish one embodying the Declaration of Rights, also a biennial Mutiny Act, and an Act validating the marriage of Dissenters, while, above all, Poynings’ Act, which had so long fettered its free action, was once for all repealed.

This was the happiest moment of Grattan’s life.  The country, with a burst of spontaneous gratitude, voted him a grant of L100,000.  This sum he declined, but in the end was persuaded, with some reluctance, to take half.  A period of brief, but while it lasted unquestionable prosperity spread over the country.  In Dublin, public buildings sprang up in all directions; a bright little society flourished and enjoyed itself; trade too prospered to a degree never hitherto known.  Between England and Ireland, however, the commercial restrictions were still in force.  The condition of the Irish Catholics, though latterly to some degree alleviated, was still one of all but unendurable oppression.  Reform, too, was as far off as ever, and corruption had increased rather than diminished, owing to the greatly increased importance of the Parliament.  In 1789 an unfortunate quarrel sprang up between the