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The Military Origins of the Roman Catholic Relief Programme of 1778*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Robert Kent Donovan
Robert Kent Donovan
Affiliation:
Kansas State University
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Extract

Among historians it is a commonplace to observe that outcomes are bound up in origins and that we can find the explanation of perplexing or startling events by looking at how those events began. Nothing appears more obvious, but in some historical problems nothing is more easily overlooked. The history of the Roman Catholic relief proposals and enactments and the violent opposition to them in the British Isles in 1778–80 affords an example. It still presents difficulties to historians despite much research and writing on the subject. Accounts of Roman Catholic relief and the reaction to it, which was sustained over several years and was ferocious in climax, still leave an unsatisfactory impression as to how such opposition could have taken place. Confusion and doubt will go a long way towards disappearance, however, once we look more closely at the origins of the relief plan, origins which historians have largely overlooked.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , March 1985 , pp. 79 - 102
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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References

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44 Watson, George III, describes North's administration as ‘a ministry of departmental, unhanded ministers’. It was more decentralized than was customary. For opposing views of Germain's supposed deviousness see Mackesy, Piers, The war for America, 1775–1783 (Cambridge, Mass., 1964), p. 13Google Scholar and Valentine, , Germain, pp. 381–2Google Scholar.

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46 In 1777 and thereafter British forces, including mercenaries and home militia, rose from about 89,000 to 120,000. Of these only 40,000 were in America: Rogers, H. C. B., The British army of the eighteenth century (New York, 1977), pp. 29–30Google Scholar; Valentine, , Germain, p. 173Google Scholar, n. 3. General Burgoyne had surrendered 4,000 men at Saratoga, and Lord Amherst, when consulted in spring 1778 urged 30,000 to 40,000 more troops: Mackesy, , War for America, p. 155Google Scholar; Mackintosh, H. B., The northern or Gordon fenables 1778–1783 (Edinburgh, 1929), p. 13Google Scholar.

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48 Hayter, Tony, The army and the crowd in mid-Georgian England (Totowa, N.J., 1978), p. 139Google Scholar, remarks of the army, ‘only those rendered desperate by failures in civilian life enlisted in such a force’.

49 The earl of Seaforth to Lord Barrington, 9 Apr. 1778, P.R.O., W.O. 1/999.

50 A good brief study of recruiting for rank is Syrett's, David introduction to The lost war: letters from British officers during the American Revolution, ed. Balderston, Marion and Syrett, David (New York, 1975), pp. 7–22Google Scholar. The requests came from all quarters, Irish ones going to officials there. Mackesy rightly refers to the petitioners as ‘a ravening horde’: War for America, p. 11.

51 For government offers of rank for recruits see Suffolk to Barrington, 23 Dec. 1777, W.O. 1/682, fo. 29; Lord Weymouth to Barrington, 24 Sept. 1778, ibid. fo. 185. For Germain and North see North, Lord to Germain, Lord George, 25 Dec. 1777, H.M.C. report on the MSS. of the marquess of Lothian (London, 1905), pp. 175–6Google Scholar.

52 Burke, , Correspondence, III, 418 IIGoogle Scholar. For Barrington see Hayter, , Army, p. 55Google Scholar: ‘He was … generally against the granting of nepotic favours.’ His attitude was not an unmitigated obstacle since he seems to have tried to shift responsibility for measures he disliked on to others, shunning responsibility himself: Valentine, , Germain, p. 114Google Scholar.

53 Mr MacKenzie to Barrington, 20 Mar. 1778, P.R.O., W.O. 1/997; R. Smith to Barrington, 5 Mar. 1778, P.R.O., W.O. 1/999; Bulloch, John Malcolm, Territorial soldiering in the north-east of Scotland during 1750–1814 (Aberdeen, 1914), pp. 101–2Google Scholar.

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55 For Scottish Catholics in the Seven Years War see [Hay], Memorial, p. 3 and Darragh, , ‘Catholic Population’, p. 53Google Scholar. For Irish Catholics see the speech of Col. Browne, M.P., in The Freeman's Journal, 15 02 1774Google Scholar. Government also enlisted Roman Catholics in the colonies for use against the rebels. See Cowan, Helen I., British emigration to British North America, rev. edn (Toronto, 1961), pp. 9–10CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Haarmann, A. W., ‘The Roman Catholic volunteers 1777–1778’, Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, XLIX, no. 199 (1971), 184–5Google Scholar.

56 Some Irish supporters and critics of relief pointed out how limited and socially exclusive it was. See Dublin Evening Post, 11 Aug. and 13 Aug. 1778, quoted by Brady, , Eighteenth-century press, p. 191Google Scholar. See also the HonHervey, Frederick, Bishop of Deny, to Germain, 10 Sept. 1779: Brian Fothergill, The mitred earl: an eighteenth-century eccentric (London, 1974), p. 71Google Scholar, and Frederick Hervey to Elizabeth Foster, 29 Nov. 1779: Childe-Pemberton, William S., The earl bishop: the life of Frederick Hervey, bishop of Deny, earl of Bristol (New York, 1928), I, 246Google Scholar.

57 For Dalrymple see Valentine, Alan, The British establishment, 1760–1784 (Norman, Okla., 1970), I, 324Google Scholar; The complete baronetage, ed. Cokayne, George E. (Exeter, 1900–1906), IVGoogle Scholar, 379–81; and Donovan, Robert Kent, ‘Sir John Dalrymple and the origins of Roman Catholic relief’ Recusant History, XVII (1984), 188–96Google Scholar. The first baronet and family founder married a daughter of Sir James Dundas of Arniston. Sir John's son married a niece of Henry Dundas. Germain, whose mother was Scottish, served in Scotland in the '45: Valentine, , Germain, pp. 6Google Scholar, 9–10, 16, 22–5, 67; Marlow, Louis, Sackvilleof Drayton (Wakefield, 1973), pp. 27–35Google Scholar, 83, 87–9. Alexander Wedderburn, the solicitor general, was another likely ally. He was Scottish, generally favoured vigorous measures against America and was an ally of Suffolk and Germain. In spring 1778, however, he found it politic to support conciliation: History of parliament, III, 619.

58 Dalrymple, John, Three letters … to the right honourable Lord Viscount Barrington … on his lordship's official conduct (London, 1778), Letter I, pp. 15–24Google Scholar; Letters II and III, 1–64. See also Dalrymple to Barrington, 5 Jan. 1778, P.R.O., W.O. 1/996, fos. 327–9; Mr de Grey to Matthew Lewis, 17 June 1778, ibid. fo. 539; Dalrymple to North, 25 June 1778, P.R.O., CO. 5/155, fos. 301–2.

59 Dalrymple's conversations took place in the summer or autumn of 1775. His reference to Irish Catholics' valour has to do with their service under Catholic powers abroad, common in this century. His brother's corps saw service in Jamaica in summer 1776. See Dalrymple, , Three letters, Letter I, pp. 10–11, 14, 31Google Scholar.

60 Dalrymple, John, Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland, 2nd edn (London, 1771 and 1773), IIGoogle Scholar, Appendix II, 48–50. Germain was notable in attempting to replace Harcourt. Rochford had served as secretary of state in 1775 and perhaps took part in Dalrymple's scheme then, his attitude about America being ‘uncompromising’. He resigned in November 1779. See Valentine, , North, IGoogle Scholar, 259, 392, 403–4.

61 Any date before February 1778 cannot be firmly established, but Bishop Hay's lease in May or June 1777 of more property for a larger and, of course, technically illegal Edinburgh chapel suggests encouragement from someone like Sir John. ‘We have been much befriended for some time past by those in power, and have even received some very signal instances of their good will …’: George Hay to Mr Arbuthnot, 16 June 1777, Hay MSS. See also Miller to Suffolk, 4 Feb. 1779, P.R.O., S.P. 54/47, for 217; Miller to Suffolk, 12 Feb. 1779, ibid. fo. 225; Hay to the lord provost of Edinburgh, 21 Feb. 1779, Hay MSS.

62 Hay to Arbuthnot, 16 June 1777; Bishop Challoner to Lord [Linton?], 19 Mar. 1778; Hay to Challoner, 24 Mar. 1779, Hay MSS.

63 There is, at any rate, no evidence to show Dalrymple was commissioned by North or Germain to act as he did. Views of him as a government agent seem to assume he was a civil servant in the twentieth-century sense. Cf. Hibbert, , King mob, p. 17Google Scholar; Anson, , Underground Catholicism, p. 177Google Scholar; and Levack, A. Paul, ‘Edmund Burke, his friends and the dawn of Catholic emancipation’, The Catholic Historical Review, XXXVII, 4 (1952), 399Google Scholar.

64 Hay to Dalrymple, 16 Feb. 1778, Hay MSS.

65 Bossy, , Catholic community, pp. 150 ff., 316, 330Google Scholar.

66 O'Connell, , Irish politics, pp. 107–8Google Scholar. Germain was corresponding with the Irish lord-lieutenant, Lord Buckinghamshire, about the prospects of relief during this time: ibid. pp. 118–22.

67 For Savile's reaction to a rumoured regiment of French Catholics in Canada see Parliamentary history, XVIII, 679. For Rockingham and Burke's opposition to recruiting see O'Gorman, , Rockingham whigs, p. 365Google Scholar; McDowell, , Ireland, pp. 244–5Google Scholar.

68 Gordon, J. F. S., Ecclesiastical chronicle for Scotland (Glasgow, 1867), IV, 147Google Scholar.

69 ‘Instructions for the deputies of the catholics in the highlands to the general meeting to be held at Edinburgh, etc …’; ‘Minutes of the opinion of the meeting at Edinburgh, 10 Sept. 1778’, Hay MSS. Two regiments would have been filled by 1,000 troops.

70 Hay to Dalrymple, quoted in Gordon, , Ecclesiastical chronicle, IVGoogle Scholar, 157. Only 500 troops were offered at this time.

71 Dalrymple, to Germain, , 25 12. 1778, H.M.C., report on the MSS of Mrs. Stopford-Sackvile, II, 120–1Google Scholar. See also Dalrymple to Hay, ? Feb. 1778, Hay MSS. Dalrymple also encouraged the Catholics to expect Germain's continued support for compensation and relief throughout the spring: Dalrymple to Linton, 1 Apr. 1779, ibid.

72 Hay to [Weymouth?], 1 May 1779, P.R.O., S.P. 54/45, fos. 767–8. Hay here describes an offer of 50 recruits made by the earl of Traquair which the government rejected at this time, along with other offers from the earl. Government fear of emigration from Scotland was high in these years and earlier, when organized group migration, such as Hay may have envisaged, was common. See Graham, Ian C. C., Colonists from Scotland: emigration to North America (Ithaca, N.Y., 1956), pp. 35, 89, 96–9Google Scholar.

73 Gordon was son of the third duke of Gordon and, at this time, brother of the fourth duke. Erskine was a cousin of Lord Cardross, the earl of Buchan and the earl of Leven and Melville. He married a daughter of the third Lord Reay and was also a kinsman to the earl of Kincardine and Lord Elphinstone.

74 Erskine was brother-in-law to the Hon. Alexander MacKay, who became commander-in-chief of the forces in Scotland in 1780. The Scots peerage founded on Wood's edition of Sir Robert Douglas's peerage of Scotland, ed. Paul, James Balfour (Edinburgh, 1904–1914), VII, 175–6Google Scholar. Gordon's brother, the duke, raised the North or Gordon Fencibles for rank in April 1778. See Mackintosh, , Fencibles, p. 37Google Scholar. The Duchess helped raise the 71st or Fraser's Highlanders for rank in 1775. See Bulloch, , Territorial soldiering, pp. 32Google Scholarff. The Hon. William Gordon, a cousin, raised the 8 Ist or Aberdeenshire Highlanders for rank in 1777: ibid. p. 37.

75 Parliamentary history, XVIII, 679, 847–9. The Scottish press reported Dunning's speech. See The Scots Magazine, January 1776. For Irish rumours see McDowell, , Ireland, p. 242Google Scholar.

76 The Freeman's Journal, 29 Dec. 1777 quoted by Brady, , Eighteenth-century press, pp. 187–8Google Scholar.

77 Scots Magazine, January 1778.

78 The London Magazine; or, Gentlemen's Monthly Intelligencer, XLVII, 10–11; The Caledonian Mercury, 22 Jan. 1778. A rumour circulated that Lord Kenmare, Lord Caher and other Irish Catholics would receive regimental commands: ibid. 19 Jan. 1778. This was untrue, although Kenmare paid for the raising of a regiment of Catholics commanded by a Protestant kinsman. See O'Connell, , Irish politics, p. 35Google Scholar.

79 Dalrymple, , Three letters, Letters II and III, pp. 63–4Google Scholar. Dalrymple also published under his own name another account of Scottish recruiting, although this made no mention of Catholics. See The Weekly Magazine, or Edinburgh Amusement, 25 Feb. 1778.

80 [George Hay], An answer to Mr W.A.D.'s Letter to G.H. (Edinburgh, 1778)Google Scholar, introduction. The press picked up Hay's reference to indulgence. See Scots Magazine, November 1778. Hay repeated comments about Scots Catholic army service in a letter to The London Chronicle, 28 Jan. 1779.

81 For the latest contributions to the debate about Scotsmen's attitudes to the American cause see D. B. Swinfen, ‘The American Revolution and the Scottish press’; C. Duncan Rice, ‘Scottish enlightenment, American Revolution and Atlantic reform’; Andrew D. Hook, ‘Scotland and America revisited’; Ronald G. Cant, ‘Scottish and American Presbyterianism, their relations in a Revolutionary age’; Scotland, Europe and the American Revolution, pp. 66–91. Whatever one may conclude from this debate, a significant number of popular party spokesmen in the Kirk were fearful of and hostile to the conduct of war against the Americans. It is difficult to accept Professor Rice's view of pro-Americans (p. 76) as ‘isolated individuals’, given the success of this party's well-organized campaign against Scottish relief. They included Erskine, the Rev. Charles Nisbet of Montrose, the Rev. William Peterkin of Elgin, the Rev. Colin Campbell of Renfrew and the Rev. William Porteous of Glasgow, all of whom actively opposed relief and had American sympathies. See John Erskine to Burke, 24 Apr. 1779: Burke, , Correspondence, IV, 63Google Scholar; Miller, Samuel, Memoir of the Rev. Charles Nisbet, D.D … (New York, 1840), pp. 74–7Google Scholar ; Peterkin, William, A dialogue on public worship, 2nd edn (Aberdeen, 1780), p. 34Google Scholar n.; [John Erskine], A narrative of the debate in the general assembly … May 25, 1779 (Edinburgh, 1780), p. 20Google Scholar; The Edinburgh Advertiser, 24–7 May 1774.

82 Dalrymple to Lin ton, 5 Feb. 1779, Hay MSS. The Edinburgh crowd, like the later London one analysed by Professor Rudé, was not indiscriminate in choosing targets.

83 Both species are in A summary of the proceedings of the house of commons, on the petition of the Roman Catholics of Edinburgh and Glasgow (London, 1779), pp. 23–4Google Scholar.

84 Lord George Gordon to James Fisher, 19 Nov. 1779, quoted by Watson, Robert, The life of Lord George Gordon (London, 1795), p. 14Google Scholar. The Protestant Magazine, March 1780, published this letter.

85 Gordon, Lord George, Innocence vindicated and the intrigues of Popery and its abettors displayed … (London, 1783)Google Scholar, quoted by Castro, De, Gordon riots, pp. 19–20Google Scholar.

86 Brown, , Chathamites, p. 310Google Scholar.

87 Hibbert, , King Mob, p. 58Google Scholar.

88 Sketch of a Conference with the Earl of Shelburne (London, 1782), p. 15Google Scholar.