The Significance of Penal Laws in 18th Century Ireland - Essay Example

Assess the Significance of Penal Laws in 18th Century Ireland You're Assess the Significance of Penal Laws in 18th Century Introduction The penal laws that were implemented in the 18th century in Ireland served one main purpose, and that was to cripple the Irish Catholics and subject them to harsh conditions that held very little other than disparity. History clearly shows that by the early 1800's much of the land in Ireland was no longer owned by Irish Catholics and that these people were left dealing with illiteracy, and as a nation they had become more like tenant farmers more so than anything else (O'Grada 2004, pg. 69). Ultimately what the penal laws in the 1800's provoked from the Irish Catholics were retribution and revenge for the severity of life that they had been left to deal with. The Irish Catholics began evading the penal laws which led to forms of guerrilla warfare from a society that only wanted what was rightfully theirs. Groups were formed to fight what was believed to be a greedy and cruel government, one of these such groups was titled, "The White boys" (Garnham 2006, pg. 403). Historical evidence can only lead one who researches the period of the 18th century in Ireland to have been one where there was terrible inequality, violence, incorrigible criminal acts, disparity, and an unrelenting fear among many of the Irish citizens that defined the period as one of "domination of one group over another" (Garnham 2006, pg. 404). The Harshness of the Penal Laws "The penal laws in Ireland during the 18th century forced many Irish Catholics to have to renounce their religious faith in order to just survive from one day to the next" (Canny 1982, pg. 95). This defines these laws as having been meant to overturn the Irish Catholic Faith and thus force the Irish people to reform to English religious beliefs and laws or face severe penalties if they rebuked these penal doctrines. Of course, historical accounts point out that the oppression that the English penal laws placed upon the Irish Catholics not only did this but it also forced many to have to live extremely poor lives and abandon their traditional Gaelic language as well. The Irish Catholics had poor dwellings and many times the farm animals were inside the mud huts with these people due to the cruelty that English laws had brought down upon them. Much of the food was only vegetables with their main source being potatoes but when disease struck this crop it resulted in the "deaths of 2.5 million Irish Catholics" (MacManus 1974, pg. 112). In history this marks what is known as, "The Great Famine" (MacKay 1992, pg. 27). The Irish farmers did have other crops and livestock but they were all shipped to England as rent for the landlords. Without the rent money the starving Irish could not even afford to live in a home and would have been homeless on top of this horrible famine. Due to the many atrocities that these various penal codes inflicted upon Irish Catholics there were militia groups that were formed, with one having been mentioned in the introduction of this research. The truth to this matter is that England wanted total domination of Ireland and inflicted very harsh demands onto the people of the country. It is quite natural that there would be rebellion from the citizens of Ireland in order to try and maintain their own religious beliefs and laws in their land, which even today still goes on even though a Republic was formed. Another group that developed due to the escalating violence in the 18th century was the, "IRA-Irish Republican Army" (O'Neill et al 1980, pg. 133). This group and others like it were formed to initially protect the people but in actuality these groups and others were driven by the religious sanctions and political influences that have been central to the conflict in Ireland since as far back as the 16th century (O'Neill et al 1980, pg. 133). The main problem that has existed in Ireland since the 18th century and perhaps even beforehand is due to the division that exists in the country between religious bodies. Northern Ireland has a Protestant, unionist majority while Ireland and the island as a whole has a Catholic, republican majority. During the 18th century, again from a historical perspective, British soldiers and British administrators did not bring anything good to the country of Ireland. Irish citizens in the 18th century endured death, suffering, starvation, and untold misery and even in the current century, as was stated some of this more "secular violence continues to exist and even thrive in Northern Ireland" (O'Neill et al 1980, pg. 133). It can clearly be stated that this is due to the historical events that took place in the 18th century and what the penal laws that the British tried to place during that time created. The Penal Laws as a Means of Discrimination The Penal Laws brought a myriad of discriminatory issues onto the Irish Catholics, and "this discrimination is what caused so much of their suffering" (Nolan 2005, pg. 595). Some of the discrimination issues were focused on preventing Irish Catholics from practicing their religion, having an education, owning property and having a right to vote. One main issue that was brought into being due to the penal laws, and of which was briefly mentioned earlier is with regard to the land that Irish Catholics held before England took control. The penal laws discriminated against the Irish Catholics in such a way that is was found under these laws they were not entitled to own land or to have their voices heard in any political or religious element that was considered to be anything but Protestant. There were quite a few uprisings that occurred early on, with Wolfe Tone, an Irish Protestant wanting complete independence from Britain and an Irish Republic with equal rights for people of all religions. However, his rebellion that he led failed in 1798, and the penal laws remained intact, controlling the lives of all Irish citizens, specifically those who followed the Catholic faith. These types of historical recounts have been what have driven literary writers such as Larkin (1984) to emphasize how "religion placed a power struggle in the country of Ireland", with English Protestants pulling in one direction and Irish Catholics pulling in another. Yet, despite how much suffering there was for the Irish Catholics they still managed to hold on to their faith and keep their fortitude. This however, did not change the hate that developed between these two groups nor did it prevent the split of the country either. Nevertheless, there came a point in time during the 18th century where recognition for the Irish Catholics emerged and Catholic emancipation took shape. The Catholic Emancipation in the 18th century came after a torrid of bloodshed and unrest had been recurring in Ireland due to the evasion of the penal laws by several Irish Catholic Activist rights groups. This formed through the 1801 Act of Union with Great Britain but it did not solve all of the adverse issues nor did it bring peace to the land. This "Act of Union" united Ireland with Britain which ultimately made it harder in some ways for Irish Catholics because they were forced to submit to Westminister Parliament at that time (Griffin 2000, pg. 263). The most pressing problems from the Act of Union in Ireland concerned land and church tithes. Looking back, we can see that the most serious issue was that of land since at the time there just was not enough of it to feed the entire growing Irish population. Much of this was due to how the British were invading so much of Ireland and taking up (through occupation) so much of the countryside. Because it was scarce, the rents were driven up, and since improving upon your land meant higher rents, tenant farmers were unwilling to develop their land. Most of the penal laws, following the Act of Union, and more into the middle of the 18th century the Penal laws were repealed yet, Catholics still could not sit at parliament, become judges, colonels, captains, or ministers in the government. They still had to pay taxes to the English Protestant churches and other levies were placed upon them as well so it did not change their circumstances very much. "Landlords, merchants and professional men, who were not actually in touch with the majority of the Irish Catholic population, carried out the early attempts at Emancipation". This was meant to alleviate the burdens once and for all for the Irish Catholics. This group of men was not very organized and tended to accomplish nothing except for gaining newspaper attention by bickering among themselves. One of these men, however, emerged from this group and became the most influential Irish politician of the first half of the 19th century. Daniel O'Connell was a Catholic barrister from County Kerry and in 1823 he began the real movement for Catholic Emancipation by founding the Catholic Association. The reason that this organization was so much more successful than any other group before it was because it involved the masses of Irish Catholics, rather than just a handful of the rich. It wasn't until 1829, when revolution in Ireland was ultimately taking shape that the "British Government fully conceded and acknowledged Catholic Emancipation" (Lee 2000, pg. 10). This still has not put a halt to the discrimination and other adversities that Irish Catholics endure nor what they continually endured during the 18th century and into the 19th century as well. The History between the English Protestants and the Irish Catholics Most of the Irish Catholics in the 18th century considered themselves to have descended from the "Celts or Gaels", the people already living in Ireland when British influence began (Hoppen 1999, pg. 11). They were and are typically proud to be Irish and identify with Irish or Celtic culture. For decades now, many Irish Catholics have resented the partition of Ireland, and their lack of influence in the new politics. Politically they wanted (and still do) Northern Ireland to lose its link with the UK and become part of the Republic of Ireland. Because of their ideals their political identity has always been one of nationalism (Hachett 1919, pg. 7). English Protestants on the other hand, come from two different backgrounds, not just one such as the Irish do. These backgrounds are Scottish and English. The twelve-mile stretch of sea between Scotland and Ireland has always facilitated contact and movement back and forth, and there were many Scots living in the north-east area of Ireland before the arrival of the English settlers (Hoppen 1999, pg. 55). The Celtic leaders in this part of Ireland failed in their resistance to growing English influence and went into exile. Their lands were confiscated by the British government and awarded to merchant companies in London who in 1609 developed a settlement scheme, known as the Plantation of Ulster, offering tenancies to English settlers or planters. These settlers, and the increasing numbers of Scot immigrants, were mainly Protestants in contrast to the Catholic farmers who were displaced. It was said that "the Protestants got the best land and the Catholics got the best views" (Moody & Martin 1994, pg. 117). Of course, history defines that these occurrences laid the groundwork for the disparity that grew for Irish Catholics and created a split right down the middle of Ireland that still currently exists. Conclusion Emancipation allowed Catholics to become MP's, cabinet ministers, judges, generals and admirals; though they were still barred from the lord lieutenancy of Ireland the lord chancellorships of England and Ireland. The most important result of emancipation was that it boosted the morale of Irish Catholics who were no longer plagued by "the taint of inequality." Another smaller victory at the time was Wellesley's accomplishments in Parliament, which included several measures of reform. One such reform was the introduction of the rule that required the selection of assistant barristers should be independent of personal, party, or religious influence. Another was the growth of the number of 'crown persecutions,' which expanded the scope from solely treason to murder, rape, and burglary. This kind of reform was useful as it strengthened confidence in the law. Despite the great victory of emancipation, it did not solve all Irish Catholic problems. It did nothing to exempt them from paying church tithes to the established Protestant Church, which was seen as quite unfair since the wealthiest Protestants were obliged to pay nothing while the poorest Catholics carried most of the burden on their shoulders. Directly after emancipation, the 'tithe war' began, which meant that many Catholics refused to hand over their money to the church and as a result cows and other property were seized and a slew of homicides and mini-massacres occurred. In 1832 alone there were 242 murders as a result of the tithe war, including a police massacre of Irish peasants in the County of Waterford. An archdeacon was stoned to death and in 1831; eleven policemen and seventeen others were wounded in a scurry. Despite these unfortunate results, Catholic emancipation was still a victory and most Catholics felt a kind of security that they had never enjoyed before. Notes 1. Canny, N, "The Formation of the Irish Mind: Religion, Politics, and Gaelic Irish Literature," Past and Present 95 (1982): 91-116. 2. Garnham, Neal, "Riot Acts, Popular Protests, and Protestant Mentalities in Eighteenth Century Ireland," The Historical Journal 49 (2006): 403-423. 3. Griffin, Patrick, "Defining the Limits of Britishness: British History and the Meaning of the Revolution Settlement in Ireland for Ulster's Presbyterians," Journal of British Studies 39 (2000): 263-287. 4. Larkin, Emmett, The Historical Dimensions of Irish Catholicism (New York: Catholic University of America Press, 1984), 55. 5. Lee, Nicholas, The Catholic Question in Ireland (Bristol: Ganesha Publishing, 2000), 10. 6. MacManus, Seumas, The Story of the Irish Race (New York: The Devin Adair Co. Publishing, 1974), 112. 7. MacKay, Donald, Flight from Famine (Canada: McClelland & Stewart Inc. Publishing, 1992), 27. 8. Nolan, J, "Silent Generations: New Voices of Irish America," American Literary History 17 (2005): 595-603. 9. O'Grada, Cormac, "Introduction," Food and Foodways 12 (2004): 69-80. 10. O'Neill, Bard & Alberts, Donald & Heaton, William, Insurgency in the Modern World (Colorado: Westview Press Publishing, 1980), 45. Read More