Irish Imperialism

The British have reigned over the Irish so long and so cruelly that they have left Ireland in “state of dependence” psychologically, politically, and economically. In other words, the “ideology of Protestant consumption” has “actually eroded” the self-confidence and sense of worth of the Irish so badly that it has left Ireland a nation unable to sustain itself (Mahoney). England is eating up Ireland. But this tribulation cannot be blamed solely on the British. Swift cleverly condemns the British aristocracy for their mistreatment of the Irish people while also criticizing the Irish people for allowing this exploitation.

This text is a political speech that Daniel O`Connell, one of the fathers of the Irish Republic, gave at the House of Commons in London in 1836. The aim of O’Connell’s speech was to get equal justice for the Irish people as members of the British Crown, and in the same way that by that time the Scottish, English and Welsh people already had. The majority of the Parliament’s members were protestant and reluctant to give Irish Catholics more rights than they already had.

K.H. Connell, in his paper “Land and Population in Ireland, 1780-1845”, describes and explains the significant population growth in Ireland prior to the famine of 1845 and how the uses of the Irish land changed with the population growth.

During the late seventeenth century the English controlled-parliament had legislated several ideas and laws that restricted the rights of the Ireland Catholics. This caused the Ireland economy to slowly fall apart as many people discarded the issues. However, Jonathan Swift took advantage of the overlooked laws and went on to write the essay, A Modest Proposal. In this writing piece Swift lodged a ridiculous proposal. In doing so he manifested a clear cut image of how backwards and corrupted the state of Ireland really was in the hands of the English. Swift’s essay employed his insincerity, sarcasm, verbal irony, and rhetorics that depicted the conditions of Ireland and its people. However his tone of the whole essay along with his insincerity illustrated the comical effect of the proposal to make his argument seem unserious.

England was in favor of landlords in Ireland due to a good majority of the landlords to be English and that their taxes were benefiting England. This causes bias in newspapers and articles about the landlord’s behaviors which is clearly seen in this article. Historians can read the article and decipher what it was like for these landlords and how much of the article is trying to persuade their readers one way or another especially since it was written by an Englishmen. It is important in understanding the New Departure’s goals and motivations for the Irishmen and the move towards freedom for Ireland. It shows how tenants are willing to fight back against the government which in turn fuels the fire for rebellions and ultimately moves the Home Rule party deeper into existence even with landlords doing everything they can to stay in

Thesis: Swift uses rhetorical device to convey his message that the British are abusing their power against Ireland to gain land and economic boosts,and that Ireland should not only raise prices, but also self-manufacture to not depend on the British.

Pre-Introduction: Today, many texts studied in the English class connect with the world’s history. When covering certain topics, it is important for teachers to pick an interesting and informative study that teaches important literacy skills, such as posing arguments. The pieces studied in this essay focus on the topic of the British Empire.

In 1729, Ireland was at its worst, economically and politically, under the complete control of England. England had control over Ireland in every aspect: politically, militarily, and economically. Because England was tremendously profiting from Ireland’s dependency on them, they cared very little about the conditions that the Ireland people were having to live under. Jonathan Swift, an Ireland satirist, felt obligated to change the conditions that the people of Ireland and himself were living in. In a proposal, Swift uses extreme irony and exaggeration to bring attention to what he is truly trying to reciprocate to his audience. Through “A Modest Proposal”, Swift turns to the political leaders and the mistreated people of Ireland

Although the Irish seem to be the main object of description throughout Swift’s essay, his audience seems to center on the rich, land-owning English elite. One may deduce this from his use of the name “Pretender” to refer to the exiled James Stuart, a Catholic king ousted and exiled after the Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689. With Ireland’s population being mostly Catholic, and Swift introducing the “solution” of “greatly [lessening] the number of Papists” (635) through his proposal, he seems to possess an English mindset in the form of a sort of condescending attitude towards the Irish populace. In addition to this, Swift also distances himself from the issue of Irish overpopulation as a whole in his use of the distal (distant), demonstrative pronoun “that”, as

Document D is an article appearing in the local North Wales Chronicle published 27 November 1880 highlighting landlordism in Ireland. The article is recycled excerpt from Ireland’s national newspaper the Daily News, featuring the brutish landlord, Mr. Stacpoole of Ennis, County Clare and his tenants. Despite the burning land question and demand for the abolition of landlordism in Ireland, the document provides an alternative perspective partial toward landlordism through exemplifying the determination of Mr. Stacpoole to keep his land.

During this essay I will compare the difference of economic and policy development of Ireland, north or south in relation to the United Kingdom. As of today Ireland themselves are bit more advanced, exchange secondary economy. Ireland was among the starting gathering of 12 EU countries that started streaming the euro on 1 January 2002 “Although Ireland had aspirations to become a member of the Community as far back as 1961 it was not until 1972 when a referendum confirmed Ireland’s entry into the European Community with 83 per cent of voters supporting membership. Ireland formally acceded to the then EEC in 1973”. (Loughran, 2015).

The turmoil of the second decade of the twentieth century gave way to a greater sense of peace and stability in the third, with a peace treaty signed between Ireland and Britain in December of 1921 and Home Rule finally established for most of the Irish isle (Ferriter, n.d.). At the same time, this new society did not lead to instant prosperity, and indeed poverty remained a major and growing problem in Ireland during this decade (Ferriter, n.d.). Economic and social problems that persisted during this decade certainly could have been pushes to increased immigration.

It increases their vulnerability of being displaced from it. It determines whether to “encourage or restrain the transmigration of people” –a problem that the English anticipated in resisting the 1753 census bill. The projector’s undertaking is then proposed with regard to the problem of emigration. He begins by addressing the plight of “helpless infants…who, as they grow up… leave their dear Native Country, to fight for the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes” (295). The Irish’s vulnerability is also apparent in their positioning between England and the people of the colonies of Barbadoes or America (as the projector’s information comes from “a very knowing American”

During this time it is clear that many changes were occurring in Ireland, a land that was once dominated by tradition was now becoming a modernized country. Where then does

The Irish had suffered long before in the hands of the English when Cromwell had been in control and had taken away land held by the catholic majority of the country to members of the protestant minority. This created a large tension among the population with the oppressed majority and the rather entitled minority who by Trevelyan’s snooty tone did indeed see themselves as the superior people in the country. (Trevelyan’s tone is probably the most dismissive when in discussion of the Irish, mayhaps showing his own true dislike.) (Trevelyan, p. 116-