FREE ESSAY ON HOW AND WHY DID THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AFFECT IRELAND?

HOW AND WHY DID THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AFFECT IRELAND?

The French Revolution had an overwhelming affect on Ireland. The similar situations in the
two countries meant that the French Revolution had real relevance for Irish society, as
it provided an example of how to overthrow a tyrannical regime and helped break the
sectarian deadlock which had disabled the reform movement of the 1780's, as Presbyterians
were encouraged by the actions of the French Catholics to embrace the Catholics of
Ireland. The Irish Catholics, due to the restrictions imposed by the Penal Code, accepted
the principles expressed in France, as did the Presbyterian community for both pragmatic
and ideological reasons. The politicization and radicalization of the Irish Catholics,
under the Catholic Committee caused the Irish government to further adopt suppressive
methods to deal with this 'revolutionary force'. The French Revolution helped spark the
rebirth of the Irish reformist movement, expressed through the radical United Irishmen,
who helped develop a Catholic-Presbyterian alliance and the beginnings of an Irish
separatist movement, again serving to increase the intransigence of the Ascendancy, as
war with revolutionary France broke out in 1793. 
Ireland was a fertile ground for revolutionary principles to gain acceptance due to
previous developments and the tradition of dissent, which existed throughout the country.
The tradition of Colonial Nationalism, and wide belief in the Social Contract Theory
combined with the experiences of the American War and Volunteering meant that the country
was already rich in the principles expressed in France, and had experience in opposing a
corrupt system of government. The subsequent failure of 'Grattan's Parliament' to
represent the views of the Irish Presbyterian and Catholic communities, and the failure
of the reform movement, caused by the Catholic question, had already induced feelings of
frustration within the country, making the message from France attractive to the majority
of the population.
The polarization of society and political thought was one of the first major influences
the French Revolution had on Ireland, as Smyth points out:
"In a little time the French revolution became the test of every man's political creed
and the nation was fairly divided into two great parties, the aristocrats and the
democrats". Smyth
Public debate was stimulated as the French experience created an example for radical
minds in Ireland, of how to establish a political system based on the 'Rights of Man', as
the mightiest ancien regime in Europe had fallen to the power of reformist political
action. The Burke- Paine debate caught the imagination of the Irish public, and forever
changed the politics of the country. The mass circulation of Paine's Rights of Man by the
'Whigs of the Capital', printing twenty thousand cheap copies, allowed the revolutionary
mood to spread throughout the country, as the people were receptive of his description of
the time, as 'an age of revolutions'. The ideas of Paine were influential in the
establishment of the United Irish Society, as Paine was elected an honorary member of the
Dublin Society, and many of his ideas about the aristocracy were adopted by the Society.
The Catholic and Presbyterian communities were obviously the most accepting of such
principles, as they swept away a range of archaic, unjust privileges, the
disestablishment of the church and the abolition of tithes also heightening such
support.
The Presbyterians, a group mostly concentrated in Ulster welcomed the French Revolution,
as concepts of 'liberty, equality and fraternity' were in keeping with their habitual
democratic instincts and their belief in the principles of the Enlightenment. Such
factors made Presbyterians receptive to the French principles, and their participation in
Volunteering and the gaining of legislative independence had prepared them for the
further challenge of gaining a truly democratic system of government. The failure of
Presbyterianism to gain full political representation throughout the 1780's, and their
treatment as second-class citizens, laid in stone by the Penal Code, led them to seek
redress. This being especially true in the largely Presbyterian town of Belfast, where
Lord Donegall controlled the town's corporation, effectively excluding the Presbyterian
community from political activity, and the lack of a substantial Catholic community meant
that sectarian tensions did not really exist. Therefore the principles of the French
Revolution were attractive to them as it brought to them hope of a revival of the reform
movement which had fizzled out after the constitution of 1782 and the Volunteer split.
Thus there existed, within the Presbyterian community:
"A genuine, if somewhat naive, enthusiasm for revolutionary principles" Beckett
The news of revolution in France was bound to capture the support of the Irish Catholics,
despite their natural conservatism, since it severed the link between religion and
political representation, a link that was made quite apparent in Ireland through the
continued existence of the Penal Laws. The Catholic community was therefore responsive to
the 'Rights of Man' as they opened up the opportunity to gain the political rights, which
had been denied for so long in the confessional 'Irish Nation'. For the lower class and
peasant Catholics of Ireland the French principles of justice and equality gave them the
opportunity to gain a greater measure of economic representation in wealth, and social
rights, views expressed by Defenderism in their mistaken view of the Revolution, as a
means to regaining land and ridding Ireland of Protestantism. As Smyth points out:
"The French Revolution, never far from the mind of contemporaries, formed the background
against which the Catholic and reform questions of 1791-1793 were fought out" Smyth
The French Revolution served to radicalize the Irish Catholic community as they began to
question the idea of the Protestant Ascendancy in Irish politics and society. The source
of the majority of this new radicalism came from the urban middle class Catholics who
believed the French Revolution to be the opportunity to gain the political rights, which
were denied by the Penal Code. This radical middle class body soon came to replace the
old cautious elite, who had led the somewhat circumspect campaign for Catholic
Emancipation. The Catholic Committee began a period of revival under this new leadership
and its radicalization was soon apparent as it began to demand rights rather than exhaust
the roads of supplication, a fact made evident in the pamphlet produced on 21st October
by the Catholic Society in Dublin, which called for the repeal of the Penal Code as a
'matter of right'.
"The French Revolution changed the rhetoric of Irish politics. A language of 'rights'
replaced the language of supplication in Catholic declarations" Smyth
The radical character of this middle class led Committee became further evident as it
soon came to oppose the conservative opinion of the Catholic Church, an establishment who
viewed the Revolution with trepidation. Thomas Hussey claimed that the Irish Catholics
had caught "the French disease", as the Church was forced, in order to maintain support,
to back the radical Committee in the 1792 campaign for Catholic Emancipation. The new
Catholic linkage with the Protestant radical community, in the form of the United
Irishmen, provoked anxiety within the Catholic conservative community as the feared the
political, social, and economic consequences of their radical nature. According to
Hussey, as a result of the French Revolution, the Irish Catholics would not:
"Bear the lash of tyranny and oppression...inflicted upon them, without their resisting
or even complaining" Hussey
Not only did the French Revolution radicalize the Catholic community, but it also acted
as a catalyst in their politicization, shown most clearly in the elections to and
implications of the Catholic Convention. The elections involved mass participation by
Catholics throughout Ireland, giving them a taste in the polity of Ireland. The
Convention, which met on the 3rd December 1792 provided a forum for Catholic radicals and
helped allay Catholic political claims with the causes of general liberty, the rights of
man and parliamentary reform. The Convention heightened the administration's worry over
the revolutionary potential of the Catholics of Ireland and induced Pitt to exert
irresistible pressure on the Irish executive to grant Catholic Emancipation and reassess
the governmental system. In 1793 the franchise was extended to the Catholic community,
but the significance of the Convention did not stop there, as a Convention Act was also
passed to prevent the meeting of 'Back Lane Parliaments'.
The French Revolution helped break the sectarian deadlock in Ireland as it had, according
to Curtin, a major "impact on Protestant perceptions of Catholics". The participation of
Roman Catholics in overthrowing a corrupt monarchy in France and establishing a
constitution arguably more representative than that in Protestant Britain seemed to show
how far Catholics had matured politically. Presbyterians in Ireland felt that the
Catholics of Ireland might too adopt the Republican principles of their French
counterparts, and help establish a representative government based on the principles of
'liberty, equality and fraternity'. The writing by Tone, inspired by events in France, of
'An Argument on Behalf of the Catholics of Ireland' helped inspire many Protestants,
especially Presbyterians, to believe that the Catholic religion was now dying out, shown
by the treatment of the Catholic Church in France after the establishment of the French
Republic, and that their inclusion in the parliamentary reform movement was necessary if
they were to achieve their goal of a representative government. The most visible example
of this new Catholic-Protestant alliance was the co-operation between the United Irishmen
and the Catholic Committee throughout the Catholic Agitation as the Catholic community
helped allay Protestant fears, appointing Tone as the Secretary of the Catholic
Committee.
The revolutionary enthusiasm and subsequent moderate Whig response caused by the events
in France led many Irish radicals, who wished to establish a representative system of
government, to establish a body to represent such views. The United Irishmen, formed in
the mainly Presbyterian town of Belfast in October 1791, was the idea of William Drennan,
and included all shades of Irish society. Their wide, inclusive representation, based on
the French tenets explained their belief that, 'no reform can ever be obtained which
shall not comprehensively embrace Irishmen of all denominations'. The United Irish
Society, which soon spread to the capital of Dublin, gave Protestant radicals and
Presbyterians a stark choice, to either embrace the Catholic cause or abandon their aims
of parliamentary representation.
"A window of opportunity was opened in Ireland by the impact of the French Revolution;
that moment was brilliantly seized by the United Irishmen, who imaginatively created a
vision of non-sectarian, democratic and inclusive politics" Whelan
The United Irishmen themselves allied theirs with the cause of the Catholic community,
establishing an alliance with the radicalized Catholic Committee and accepting Catholics
such as Keogh, McCormick and McNeven into their ranks. The society, especially Tone,
embraced ideas of separatism from England, stating that, 'We have no national government;
we are ruled by Englishmen, and the servants of Englishmen'. The United Irishmen, a
society whose establishment had much to do with the emergence of the French Republic, set
about politicizing the people of Ireland circulating pro-revolutionary propaganda and the
works of writers such as Paine and John Locke. The Northern Star, founded in January
1792, acted as the organization's main medium of communication and reported intensely on
events from France, with much success as each edition reached at least ten people. The
establishment of this effective body was proof of the effects of the French Revolution:
"The French Revolution had a most invigorating effect on...Irish radicalism...events in
France inspired the advocates of change in all parts of the British Isles with verve"
McDowell
The Irish establishment and the Anglican Ascendancy were naturally quick to draw
comparisons between their situation and that of the ousted French elite, their views
championed through the work of the conservative Edmund Burke. The French Revolution gave
rise to fears that the Catholic and Presbyterian communities would come together to
overthrow their rule, due to their ambitions for parliamentary reform which were given a
major boost by the events in France, thus explaining the attitudes of the Ascendancy
towards any possible alliance. The Ascendancy feared that they would lose their political
and economic control in Ireland, and possibly their connections with England and
privileges guaranteed by membership of the established church. The emergence of an Irish
Republic based on the 'Rights of Man' would almost undoubtedly obliterate their religious
supremacy, and they viewed the revolution with scorn:
"To Irish conservatives...the revolution seemed a challenge to civilization, an awful and
alarming example of what could happen to a country when it began to remodel its
institutions recklessly and ruthlessly on erroneous first principles" McDowell
The revolution, rather than soften the stance of the Ascendancy against parliamentary
reform, served to increase their determination not to share their political power with
the Irish masses. The elite became stubborn as their natural conservatism became
preponderating, and attempts at relaxing the Penal Code were opposed without prior
thought. The London administration, finding Catholic Relief less contentious,
begrudgingly pressurized the Irish administration to grant concessions to the Catholic
community. The Irish government though, due to their intransigent approach to Catholic
Relief, ruled this out of the question, rejecting the Catholic Committee petition for the
extension of the franchise in February 1792. Even when Catholic Relief did make it
through the Irish Commons, it met with fierce opposition from conservative elements who
accused the Catholic Committee of being 'men of very low parentage', further acting to
radicalize the Committee. The French Revolution further affected the actions of the
Ascendancy as the war with France, which broke out in 1793, led to a clamp down on Irish
radicals. Leading radicals were imprisoned, as the administration grew more intransigent
towards their ideological beliefs, which were undoubtedly linked to those of the French.
This served to drive Irish radicals underground and further increased ill feeling towards
the Ascendancy. The Ascendancy were also forced by the war to reconsider the attitudes of
Catholics, since:
"Revolution was now a present danger, not just a vague possibility, and this fact gave
new and critical importance to the attitudes of the Roman Catholics" Beckett
Due to the similar scenarios in France and Ireland, the French Revolution had real
relevance, as it provided an example of how to overthrow an unrepresentative system of
government and helped bring about a Catholic-Dissenter alliance, thus removing the reason
for the previous failure to gain representative government in Ireland, as Presbyterians
were encouraged by the actions of the French Catholics to ally with the Catholics of
Ireland.
"It was the situation created by the French Revolution which eventually brought about an
alliance between the extreme Protestant reformers and the Catholics, giving the latter
the leadership which alone could have turned their passive discontent to revolutionary
ends" M. Elliot
Irish Catholics saw the French revolutionary principles as a means to removing the Penal
Code, as did the Presbyterian community who also saw it as an ideological crusade. The
politicization and radicalization of the Irish Catholics, under the middle class led
Catholic Committee, caused the Irish administration to adopt further suppressive methods
to deal with this 'revolutionary force'. The French Revolution helped initiate the
rebirth of the Irish reformist movement, and the inauguration of the United Irishmen who
helped develop a Catholic-Presbyterian alliance and the beginnings of an Irish separatist
movement, again serving to increase the intransigence of the Ascendancy, as war with
revolutionary France broke out in 1793. The French Revolution had a profound affect on
Ireland. According to JC Beckett it:
"Altered the current of political life throughout western Europe, and not least in
Ireland"