| The Dungannon
Convention 1782
By the autumn of 1779 the British administration in Dublin had been
reduced to a state of helplessness. News had come in of catastrophic
defeats at the hands of American colonists; a French invasion was
daily expected; the Treasury in Dublin was empty; and the defence
of the island was entirely dependent on 50,000 independent Volunteers
demanding drastic political change.
In the Irish Parliament the Patriot opposition commanded a crushing
majority. On 24th November, Walter Hussey Burgh MP urged his fellow
Patriots to stand firm: the bonds of slavery imposed by a foreign
parliament must be broken. Then, he declared:
'Talk not to me of peace; Ireland is not in a state of peace; it
is smothered war. England has sown her laws like dragon’s
teeth and they have sprung up in armed men.'
Lord North’s government at Westminster had no choice but
to capitulate completely. Prohibitions on the export of Irish wool,
cut glass, leather and other items were removed; and, from now on,
Irish ships could trade directly with Jamaica and other colonies
of the British Empire.
For some Patriots and Volunteers this was only the beginning of
a campaign to win for Ireland ‘legislative independence’.
The aim was not to make Ireland an independent state but to raise
the island from being a colony to being an equal partner with Britain.
To achieve this, two laws would have to be changed or repealed
altogether. One was Poyning’s Law, first enacted in the 15th
century: in practice, this meant that the government of the day
in London could change or even suppress Bills passed by the Irish
Parliament. The other was the Declaratory Act of 1720, by which
Westminster declared that it made laws for Ireland – a power
most often used to regulate Irish trade.
Until these laws had been changed, it was believed, Ireland would
continue to be treated as a subservient colony. Nowhere was this
felt more strongly than in Ulster, the province where around half
of all Ireland’s Volunteers were based. Since the government
gave not the slightest indication of making any concessions, Volunteer
commanders met at Armagh and agreed new tactics – delegates
from every Volunteer company in Ulster were summoned to Dungannon
in Co Tyrone.
On the morning of 15th February 1782, 242 delegates, representing
143 Volunteer companies, marched two by two down the streets of
Dungannon, lined by the local light infantry company, to the parish
church. William Irvine, Colonel of the Lowtherstown Company in Fermanagh,
took the chair. Between noon and eight that evening propositions
were solemnly debated and voted on. The motions passed were a clarion
call for legislative independence:
Resolved unanimously, that a claim of any body of men, other than
the King, Lords and Commons of Ireland, to make laws to bind this
kingdom, is unconstitutional, illegal, and a Grievance.
Resolved (with one dissenting voice only), That the powers exercised
by the privy Councils of both kingdoms, under, or under colour or
pretence of, the law of Poyning’s, are unconstitutional and
a Grievance.
These were but two of 20 resolutions approved. In addition these
Ulster Volunteers agreed to send a public address of support to
the Patriots in the Irish Parliament. Like the American Declaration
of Independence, it pulsates with the spirit of the 18th-century
Enlightenment:
'My Lords and Gentlemen,
We thank you for your noble and spirited, though hitherto ineffectual
efforts, in defence of the great constitutional and commercial rights
of your country. Go on. The almost unanimous voice of the people
is with you; and in a free country, the voice of the People must
prevail. We know our duty to our Sovereign, and are loyal. We know
our duty to ourselves, and are resolved to be Free. We seek for
our Rights, and no more than our Rights; and, in so just a pursuit,
we should doubt the Being of a Providence, if we doubted of success.'
The Dungannon Convention also debated the prickly question of
Catholic rights. Luke Gardiner, Dublin’s leading Volunteer
commander and a Patriot MP, had succeeded in getting the Irish Parliament
to remove some of the most offensive legal disabilities –
above all, Catholics were now able (for the first time in nearly
90 years) to buy land outright. Only two delegates refused to support
this resolution:
…that, as men and as Irishmen, as Christians and as Protestants,
we rejoice in the relaxation of the penal laws against our Roman
Catholic fellow-subjects…
The resolution was supported by the Reverend Captain Robert Black:
'I rejoice to hear a motion in favour of our Roman Catholic brethren;
Sir, I am proud to second it as a Protestant Dissenting clergyman,
as an Irish Independent Volunteer.'
Few of the delegates at Dungannon could have predicted that legislative
independence would be won just a few weeks hence.
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