Irish Gratitude
This print contains caricature portraits of specific individuals and social types, but it is more of a symbolic commemoration of the occasion (May 30th, 1782) when the members of the Irish Parliament voted to grant Henry Grattan the sum of £100,000 for his efforts in gaining his countrymen legislative independence from Britain.
© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Grattan stands at the head of a kneeling crowd of social types intended to represent the entire spectrum of Irish men and women who would (eventually) benefit from Grattan's accomplishment. They include a monk, a Jew, and a dissenter on the religious side, and a chimney sweep, oyster woman, barber, tailor, watchman, and soldier representing the classes and occupations. Edmund Pery, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons in his ceremonial robes, makes the presentation. Behind him are representatives from the House, including the very thin Henry Flood and perhaps the Duke of Portland, who at that time was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and Beauchamp Bagenal who first proposed the grant to Grattan. Grattan ultimately refused so large a sum. So the next day, the offer was reduced to £50,000 which Grattan accepted.
The background of the grant was this: for almost 400 years, Poyning's law (1494) had prevented the Irish from passing any legislation without the approval of the British monarch and Privy Council. To make matters worse, the Declaratory Act of 1719 had decreed that the British Parliament had the right to pass laws for the Irish citizenry and that the British House of Lords was the final court of appeals for any disputes. To Grattan, Flood and others that made real Irish legislative efforts something of a charade.
But after 1776 as the American war began draining off British troops from Ireland, the defense of the island required Irish cooperation. In 1778, then, the Irish Volunteers were established to guard against invasion from France and to help maintain law and order. As the Volunteers grew in strength and numbers, however, they became not only a military but a political force. At a general meeting of the Volunteers at Dungannon in 1782, they pressed for legislative independence from Britain with Grattan as their primary spokeman. Wishing to avoid a civil war, the newly appointed Rockingham ministry in England gave in to Grattan's demands.
Sources and Reading
- Commentary from the British Museum on Irish Gratitude
- "Henry Grattan," Wikipedia
- "Irish Volunteers (18th_century)," Wikipedia
- "Poynings' Law," Wikipedia
- "Declaratory Act 1719," Wikipedia
- Thomas Wright and R.H. Evans, Historical and Descriptive Account of the Caricatures of James Gillray #6
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