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x TheRevol ution of1781 The Government and the Parliament had failed to take sufficiently into account the significance of the intense activity of the Volunteers in 1781. Their manoeuvres could scarcely fail to stir up radical feeling and indignation with a legislature which continually gave sweeping majorities to unpopular measures. The chickens were coming home to roost, and the "system" built up by Carlisle and Eden at such expense was now about to turn to ashes in their hands. The 1use for the great explosion was lit at Armagh on December 28, 1781, when the delegates of eleven corps comprising the Southern Battalion of the First Ulster Regiment agreed unanimously: That with the utmost concern, we behold the little attention paid to the constitutional rights of this Kingdom, by the majority of those whose duty it is to establish and preserve the same. x The Revolution of 178'2 The Government and the Parliament had failed to take sufficiently into account the significance of the intense activity of the Volunteers in 1781. Their manoeuvres could scarcely fail to stir up radical feeling and indignation with a legislature which continually gave sweeping majorities to unpopular measures. The chickens were coming home to roost, and the "system" built up by Carlisle and Eden at such expense was now about to turn to ashes in their hands. The luse for the great explosion was lit at Armagh on December 28, 1781, when the delegates of eleven corps comprising the Southern Battalion of the First Ulster Regiment agreed unanimously: That with the utmost concern, we behold the little attention paid to the constitutional rights of this Kingdom, by the majority of those whose duty it is to establish and preserve the same. 32 0 IRISH POLITICS AND SOCIAL CONFLICT That to avert the impending danger from the nation, and to restore the Constitution to its original purity, the most vigorous and effectual methods must be pursued, to root corruption and Court Influence from the Legislative Body. The meeting decided that every Volunteer corps in Ulster be invited to send delegates to a provincial meeting in Dungannon on February 15 to consider the alarming state of affairs.' Nothing so radical had been heard from any Volunteer body since the fiery resolutions passed by the three Dublin corps in August, 1780. Those now agreed upon at Armagh were more deliberate, more moderate, less open to the charge of sedition, and, therefore, more dangerous. The Armagh meeting was not seen by the Administration as anything more than just another difficulty to be surmounted. Eden informed Hillsborough who, to his credit, took a more serious view; 2 his estate lay in Co. Down, and consequently he probably had a better understanding of the north of Ireland than most officials in Dublin Castle. Even as late as early February Eden considered "the Dungannon Business seems to give alarm in England: it will I believe take a very useful turn: I have some most respectable and weighty friends' attention to check it." 3 It is but to do justice to Carlisle and Eden, however, to remember that Charlemont failed to realize the radical nature of what was happening. He was commander of the very group in Armagh who had passed these resolutions, and should have been fully cognizant of their feeling and intentions; yet his correspondence shows that his early information on the proposed Dungannon meeting was incomplete, and that he did not anticipate its extraordinary importance. 4 Francis Dobbs, a member of parliament and an officer 320 IRISH POLITICS AND SOCIAL CONFLICT That to avert the impending danger from the nation, and to restore the Constitution to its original purity, the most vigorous and effectual methods must be pursued, to root corruption and Court Influence from the Legislative Body. The meeting decided that every Volunteer corps in Ulster be invited to send delegates to a provincial meeting in Dungannon on February 15 to consider the alarming state of affairs.! Nothing so radical had been heard from any Volunteer body since the fiery resolutions passed by the three Dublin corps in August, 1780. Those now agreed upon at Armagh were more deliberate, more moderate, less open to the charge of sedition, and, therefore, more dangerous. The Armagh meeting was not seen by the Administration as anything more than just another difficulty to be surmounted. Eden informed Hillsborough who, to his credit, took a more serious view; 2 his estate lay in Co. Down, and consequently he probably had a better...

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