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believed by many that Drapier’s Letters stand with Swift’s Modest Proposal (that the poor should eat their young) as evidence that Irish satire had, and still has, the power to change popular opinion.
As the century wore on, the public writings, speeches, and outpourings of the Anglo- Irish against the English misgovernment of Ireland, and also their control of the Irish Par- liament, increased in both volume and acrimony, while in tandem the Patriot Party grew in strength and determination. In fact, the famed Irish orator, writer, and philosopher, Ed- mund Burke, who despite devoting most of his life and work to England and the English Parliament, often championed the cause of the Patriot Party, whilst also openly champion- ing the plight of the oppressed Irish Catholics.
But the most prominent and inluential members of the Patriot Party were Charles Lu- cas, a Dublin physician, politician, and writer; Mr. Walter Hussy Burgh, eminent barris- ter and statesman, and probably the two most famous orators and statesmen of their day, Henry Flood and Henry Grattan.
Henry Flood, portrait by John Comerford and engraved by James Heath
The Trinity and Oxford-Educated, Member of Parliament for Kilkenny, Henry Flood, played an important role in the political life of this almost overlooked period of Irish his- tory. Unknown to many, it was mainly through his exertions and inluence that the Octen- nial Bill, which limited the duration of Parliament to eight years was passed in 1768, and