The next step in the upward progress has been already partially described in the chapter dealing with Grattan.  At the meeting of Parliament in 1782, the Declaration of Rights proposed by him was passed, and urgently pressed upon the consideration of the Government.  The moment was exceptionally favourable.  Lord North’s Ministry had by this time fallen, after probably the most disastrous tenure of office that had ever befallen any English administration.  America had achieved her independence, and England was in no mood for embarking upon fresh struggle with another of her dependencies.  In Ireland the Ulster volunteers had lately met at Dungannon, and passed unanimous resolutions in favour of Grattan’s proposal, and their example had been speedily followed all over Ireland.  The Whig Ministry, now in power, was known to be not unfavourable to the cause which the Irish patriots had at heart.  A Bill was brought forward and carried, revoking the recent Declaratory Acts which bound the Irish Parliament, and giving it the right to legislate for itself.  Poynings’ Act was thereupon repealed, and a number of independent Acts, as already stated, passed by the now emancipated Irish Parliament.  The legislative independence was an accomplished fact.

The objects of the volunteers’ existence was now over.  The American war was at an end, the independence of the Parliament assured, and it was felt therefore, by all moderate men, that it was now time for them to disband.  Flood, who had now again joined the patriotic party, was strongly opposed to this.  He pressed forward his motion for “simple repeal,” and was supported by Lord Bristol, the Bishop of Derry, a scatter-brained prelate, who had been bitten by a passion for military glory, and would have been perfectly willing to see the whole country plunged into bloodshed.  A better and more reasonable plea on Flood’s part was that reform was the crying necessity of the hour, and ought to be carried while the volunteers were still enrolled, and the effect already produced by their presence was still undiminished.  Grattan also desired reform, but held that the time for carrying it was not yet ripe.  A vehement debate ensued, and bitter recriminations were exchanged.  A convention of volunteers was at the moment being held in Dublin, and Flood endeavoured to make use of their presence there to get his Reform Bill passed.  This the House regarded as a menace, and after a violent debate his Bill was thrown out.  There was a moment during which it seemed as if the volunteers were about to try the question by force of arms.  More prudent counsels, however, prevailed, and, greatly to their credit, they consented a week later to lay down their arms, and retire peaceably to their own homes.

LI.

DANGER SIGNALS.