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our, the Irish Parliament unanimously adopted the Volunteer resolutions and the English Parliament, for the same reasons, quickly granted the demands of the Irish Parliament, in reality, the Volunteers. As already mentioned, England had by then lost the American War, but she was still at war on other fronts with both France and Spain, and what she really did not need right then was to become entangled in another draining military conlict, this time in Ireland.
So, by what became known as the Act of Repeal, the English Parliament repealed the Sixth of George 1, and following this, by what was called the Act of Renunciation, she re- pealed Poynings Law, and by doing so airmed that “The right of Ireland to be governed only by the laws of the King and the Irish Parliament, is hereby established for ever, and at no time hereafter can it be questioned or questionable.”
This was, without doubt, the supreme triumph of the Irish Volunteers and the Patriot Party. They were both then at the zenith of their power, the country was enthusiastically supporting them, added to which, the winning of these reforms was a huge relief to Ireland, given that her trade, for so long banned and depressed, was now revived, and began lour- ishing, as it seldom had lourished heretofore. It could also be said, that from then until the end of the century and the Union with England, the Protestants of Ireland virtually enjoyed complete independence under the guidance of Grattan’s Parliament, as the Irish Parliament of the day became known. But we should not overlook the fact that they also consented to share some of their newly gained freedom with their oppressed Catholic fellow-countrymen by means of Catholic Relief Acts, passed during the Patriot period.
The inal endeavour of the Volunteers and the one which probably heralded the be- ginning of the end for the movement was the reform of the Irish Parliament. To put this into context, of the 300 members who sat in the House, only 72 were fairly and popularly elected. The remaining seats were considered the property of a number of the more power- ful landlords and titled families throughout the country, most of whom made considerable fortunes by selling the seats at election time to the highest bidder. More often than not, the highest bidder, and therefore the purchaser, was the English Government, or its representa- tives in Ireland. By purchasing the seats, as well as bestowing, appointments, pensions, and titles, the Lord Lieutenant and his accolyites were nearly always in control of the Irish Parliament. As a result, they were able to pass whatever laws and measures they wished, and only a massive popular threat like that posed by the Volunteers could inluence this