Grattan

Grattan, Henry (1746-1820), the Irish patriot and orator, was born in 1746. After an education at Trinity College, Dublin, where he became an accomplished classical scholar, Grattan, at the age of twenty-one, entered the Middle Temple, and in 1772 was called to the Irish Bar. In 1775, in consequence of Flood's recommendation to the Earl of Charlemont, he was returned to the Irish Parliament as member for the borough of Charlemont, and rapidly acquired the popularity and influence which were now withdrawn from Flood. The fortunes of Irish commerce were then at a low ebb, mainly owing to the restrictions on exportation imposed by the English Parliament, and the agitation for their removal became so formidable that in 1780 Lord North was compelled to abandon the greater number. Grattan now became the champion of legislative freedom, and in 1780 delivered the famous speech in which he maintained that the Crown is competent to legislate for Ireland with the co-operation of the Irish Parliament alone. The Convention of Dungannon in February, 1782, was followed two months later by concessions on the part of the Rockingham Ministry, through which the legislative independence of Ireland was secured. Grattan received a grant of £50,000 from the Irish Parliament, but Flood and his adherents were dissatisfied with the character of the surrender, and a very bitter feeling was engendered between the two leaders. "Grattan's Parliament" did not realise the aspirations of its author, owing to its unrepresentative character and the corruption rife among its members, yet he gave but a cold support to Flood's agitation for parliamentary reform, confining his own efforts, for the most part, to the struggle for Catholic Emancipation. However, he brought forward a Place and Pension Bill, a bill debarring revenue officials from voting at elections, and others of the same character, but they were all thrown out. A bill, introduced by Secretary Orde, establishing complete freedom of trade, was passed by the Irish Parliament, but in the English House of Commons its operation was limited by the enforcement of the Navigation Laws in Ireland and other restrictions which were very distasteful to Grattan and his compatriots. Pitt was accordingly obliged to abandon the project. Just before the rebellion of 1798 broke out Grattan retired from public life, but in 1800 he returned as member for Wicklow, and resolutely opposed the bill for the Union. After it was passed he again withdrew from politics, but in 1805 he was returned to the Imperial Parliament as member for Malton in Yorkshire, and in 1806 became member for Dublin. The rest of his life was devoted to the cause of Catholic Emancipation, his support of which was none the less keen because he himself was a Protestant. His death occurred in 1820. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, by the side of his friend Fox. The private and public character, of Grattan were alike free from reproach, and his parliamentary eloquence entitles him to rank among the foremost orators of the age.