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In May, 1800, Lord Castlereagh obtained leave to bring in his Union Bill. Despite the fact that the great Henry Grattan who had retired from Parliament in 1797, returned to the House, speciically to oppose the measure, the Commons voted 153 in favour and 88 against, with almost 60 abstentions.
The Bill was also accepted by the House of Lords by 76 votes to 17, after which it easily passed through both Houses of the British Parliament. Incidentally, another of those who resisted the implementation of the act was a young 25-year-old lawyer and rising political star named Daniel O’ Connell. In his inal speech in the Dublin Parliament, a dispirited Grattan, said of Ireland:-
“I see her in a swoon but she is not dead: though in her tomb she lies helpless and mo- tionless, still on her lips is the spirit of life and on her cheeks the glow of beauty.”
On January 1, 1801, the detested Act of Union came into operation. This controversial and divise act left a legacy of bitterness which lived long in the memory of the Irish people.
How did they pass the Act of Union By perjury and fraud
By slaves who sold their land for gold As Judas sold his God.
(The Union, Anon)
