Gavrilin B. A.

Struggle for emancipation of Catholics in Britain at the turn of the 1770s and 1780s (based on the correspondence of E. Burke). Pp. 73–80.

UDC 94(410).07

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2024.83.2.007

 

Abstract. The correspondence of the British political thinker Edmund Burke with two Irish aristocrats: Thomas Browne, 4th Viscount Kinmara, and Luke Gardiner, 1st Viscount Montjoy, is examined. This correspondence presents a unique source on the history of the struggle for the emancipation of Catholics in the 18th century. Burke, Brown and Gardiner express their views on the conditions of the Catholic population of Ireland and document the strategy for the adoption of the Catholic Emancipation Bills of 1778 and 1782. These letters also reflect the attitude of the correspondents towards their anti-Catholic contemporaries. Burke and Brown discuss the events of Lord Gordon’s famous Riot of 1780 in London and express their dismay at the anti-Catholic opposition within the British and Irish Parliaments. All participants in the correspondence tended to take a cautious approach in the fight for the rights of Catholics, avoiding radical measures. An analysis of both bills reveals the motivation for their creation and the reasons why their basic provisions were included in the acts. All the three authors of the correspondence came to the conclusion that it would be much more effective to sacrifice a number of provisions of the drafts for a speedy adoption of the bills. Also, in one letter Burke writes about the moral and ethical crisis in Britain that could arise if discriminatory practices against Catholics continued. In fact, Burke substantiated the motivation for the need for Catholic emancipation not only for Ireland, but also for the British Isles as a whole.

 

Keywords: Edmund Burke, Catholic Emancipation Act of 1778, Catholic Emancipation Act of 1782, Thomas Browne, Luke Gardiner.

 

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