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 signed (November 1798). War with France and the outbreak of rebellion at home called for strong and prompt measures, and it fell to him to take many of the necessary steps, the officials of Dublin Castle being unable to deal with such a crisis. He received timely information of the plans of the rebels, and ordered the arrest of the leaders before the day fixed for the outbreak. He was thus largely responsible for the administration during the conspiracy of the United Irishmen, and was frequently accused of encouraging and ordering inhuman punishments. That he was completely guiltless of this charge even Brougham admits; indeed it was his repeated and urgent demands that at length obtained the despatch from England of a proper military force. The substitution of regular troops for the disorderly Irish militia then enabled him in some degree to check the cruelties and excesses which had been perpetrated. The substitution of Lord Cornwallis for Lord Camden in the lord-lieutenancy gave vigour to the administration. The battle of Vinegar Hill broke the strength of the insurgents. Even the landing of the French troops under General Humbert, and his success at Castlebar on 27 Aug. 1798, failed to restore the cause of the rebels. Of Lord Castlereagh's services during this time Lord Cornwallis reported in warm terms of appreciation (Cornwallis Correspondence, ii. 359, 439). A liberal amnesty was recommended by Cornwallis and Castlereagh even before the rebellion was at an end; but under pressure from the English government, which thought them unduly lenient, it was granted in a much less generous form.

It was the preparation of a scheme for the union of Great Britain and Ireland, to be followed by a measure of Roman catholic emancipation, which led to the resignation of Pelham, who was hostile to any further concession. Castlereagh's views made him a suitable person to forward the government's policy, and, in spite of the rule that the chief secretary should not be an Irishman, Pitt, on his own knowledge of Castlereagh's talent and recent services, as well as upon Lord Cornwallis's recommendation, made him Pelham's successor. To carry an act of union with the rebellion hardly extinguished was a hard task, but to carry it by protestant votes as the precursor of an emancipation measure was harder still. First the Dublin bar, and then the citizens of Dublin generally, denounced any project of union; the Roman catholics were at best indifferent. But Castlereagh pressed vigorously on. He visited London, and laid his views before the ministry. Having regard to the aggressive policy of the French republic, Ireland, he argued, must be secured by an incorporating union, and that without the loss of a single session. If the catholics could win over the protestant freeholders to a policy of separation, it would be beyond the power of England to maintain her hold on Ireland. The bill which he was accordingly authorised to introduce was, even in its details, drawn in accordance with his own views; but it gained less and less favour the better it was known. All classes in Dublin feared the personal loss that would follow if the centre of political affairs were removed to London; and the catholics, though they saw a prospect of immediate gain in the substitution of English influence for protestant ascendency, saw also that there could be no hope, after a union, of ultimately securing a similar ascendency for themselves. The best argument for the measure, the rottenness of the existing system of government, was one on which it best beseemed the present members of that government to be silent. The borough proprietors and the members of parliament who had sunk large sums in buying their seats were almost unanimously hostile, and estimated their certain pecuniary loss at an aggregate of 1,500,000l. Under these circumstances any course was attended by many evils; none was likely to be an unmixed good. If emancipation was to precede union, the Roman catholics could not be withheld from supporting a separate parliament in order to secure an opportunity of taking vengeance on their opponents; if it accompanied union, all hope of protestant support was gone. If an act of union passed without emancipation, a new crop of difficulties would be sown. Reluctantly Lord Castlereagh was driven to choose the third of these three courses; equally reluctantly Pitt was brought to the same way of thinking. Even so Castlereagh perceived that success was hopeless if the government were either irresolute or scrupulous. He made up his mind and had his way. He secretly asked for money from England, and remittance after remittance was sent him.

The British parliament passed the bill without difficulty; but, much to Castlereagh's disappointment, the Irish House of Commons passed, though only by a majority of two, on 22 Jan. 1799, George Ponsonby's resolution ‘that the house would be ready to enter into any measure short of surrendering their free, resident, and independent legislature as established in 1782.’ Still he was undeterred. His temper, a happy mixture of suavity and obstinacy, stood him