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Chapter eight 281
landlords, Government men and others, with power or inluence, could frighten the poorer people and all those under them into voting as they desired.
4. The reform of Parliament.
The United movement quickly gained the support of such noted men as the previously mentioned Volunteer oicer James Napper Tandy, the popular hero memorialized in the ballad ‘The Wearing of the Green,’ along with another radical former Volunteer, Archibald Hamilton Rowan, and Lord Charlemont, the former Commander of the Volunteers. But it was not till 1796, ive years after the United Irishmen were formed that the society became an oath-bound one, overspreading the country, and in turn, becoming a formidable and menacing revolutionary movement, which in due course precipitated the rising of 1798.
James Napper Tandy
Meantime, some very important events occurred. In 1793, the English Government, anticipating a war with France, and fearing Irish sympathy with the French and in turn, the growth of revolutionary ideas in Ireland, “The French Principles,” as it were, revoked some of the Penal Laws against Catholics. Catholics were now to be admitted to oice, and admitted to Trinity College or colleges ailiated with it.
More importantly, the right to vote was given to Catholic forty-shilling free-holders- though no Catholic could yet become a member of Parliament. Catholics could also serve as jurors; bear arms, provided they possessed certain free-hold and personal estate; hold positions in the army and navy, subject to certain exceptions. The excerise of many of these