A Closed Subject?

The actual passage of the Act of Union is an extraordinary episode in Anglo–Irish relations and its dramatic historiography illustrates well the necessity of continuously probing research. Once a subject deemed ‘closed’ and comprehensively understood, it has only recently come to light through the discovery of Home Office secret service files just how involved, weighty and indeed corrupt the whole process was. G. C. Bolton's thorough and complacent account of The Passing of the Irish Act of Union (1966) has been seriously undermined by David Wilkinson's intriguing 1996 findings in a way that turned around debate on the issue and forced historians to confront realities which had been hidden for almost two centuries. The story of the legislation must be told before an attempt is made at interpretation. The bill had, firstly, to pass the British Parliament, but that was relatively straightforward. There was very little opposition – a mere 26 members of parliament (MPs) voted against, whilst 208 voted for; in the Lords, it was a mere 7 against 75. Now came the difficult part. A draft Union bill, sent to Dublin in 1798, made no headway, failing to pass – albeit narrowly – on first being submitted to the Commons. The celebrated debates on 22 January 1799 and 15 January 1800 lasted 21 and 18 hours respectively. These were marathon sessions. It was, however, only a matter of time before attrition wore down opposition and so it proved.