British General Charles Cornwallis, the 1st Marquess Cornwallis was appointed in June 1798 to serve as both Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Commander-in-Chief of Ireland, the highest civil and military posts in the Kingdom of Ireland. He held these offices until 1801. Cornwallis had specific instructions and authority to deal with the Irish Rebellion of 1798, which had broken out in May 1798. He took steps to ensure that justice was consistently applied to captured rebels, personally reviewing a significant number of court cases. He directed military operations when a French invasion force landed at Killala Bay in August 1798.
In the aftermath of the rebellion, the political climate with regard to Ireland became dominated by the idea that the union of the Irish and British kingdoms (which were in personal union under the sovereignty of King George III) was necessary to improve conditions in Ireland. Cornwallis favoured union, but believed that it would also require Catholic emancipation (the granting of basic civil rights to the predominantly Roman Catholic Irish population) to create a lasting peace. While Cornwallis was instrumental in achieving the passage of the Act of Union in 1800 by the Irish Parliament, he and Prime Minister William Pitt were unable to convince the king of the merits of Catholic emancipation. This difference of opinion led to the fall of Pitt's government. Cornwallis also resigned, and was replaced in May 1801 by the Earl of Hardwicke.
Background
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, was a British general, civil administrator, and diplomat. His early career was primarily military in nature, including a series of well-known campaigns during the War of American Independence from 1776 to 1781 that culminated in his surrender at Yorktown. This was followed in 1786 by a period of service as Commander-in-Chief and Governor-General of India. There he oversaw the consolidation of British power throughout most of southern India, primarily at the expense of the Kingdom of Mysore and its vassals, and introduced administrative reforms that had long-term consequences.Wickwire, pp. 18–179 In 1794 he returned to England, which was then militarily engaged in the French Revolutionary Wars. After he was sent on an ultimately fruitless diplomatic mission to stop the fighting, he was appointed master of the ordnance, a post he held until 1798.Wickwire, pp. 184–222
The Kingdom of Ireland was at this time in personal union with the Kingdom of Great Britain, and therefore was under the rule of King George III, although it had separate political and administrative institutions. Members of the Parliament of Ireland were only elected by Protestants, as the Roman Catholic property owners had been disenfranchised in 1728. The majority Catholics had, over the previous century, been progressively stripped of other rights as well. King George was represented in civil affairs by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, who ruled in consultation with a privy council, and in military affairs by a Commander-in-Chief.Wickwire, pp. 209–215
The demands of the American War of Independence had forced King George to withdraw many troops from Ireland for service in North America. To bolster forces supportive of the king, Protestants raised militia companies called the Irish Volunteers to replace the departing regulars.Maxwell, p. 2 Protestant leaders in the Irish Parliament, including Henry Flood and Henry Grattan, who had the support of the Volunteers, convinced the British Parliament to pass a series of acts known collectively as the Constitution of 1782, giving the Irish Parliament significant political independence.Wickwire, pp. 215–216
Unlike many English, Flood and Grattan were also proponents of Catholic emancipation, and under their leadership the Irish Parliament overturned a number of the restrictions on the rights of Catholics, although they continued to be unable to vote or hold elected offices.Maxwell, pp. 4–5 When the French Revolution broke out in the early 1790s, Catholics and middle-class Protestants united to form the Society of United Irishmen. They successfully extracted additional rights, although there was some Protestant resistance to the idea of full Catholic suffrage due to their overwhelming numerical majority.Maxwell, p. 5 The more radical elements favouring Irish independence found a leader in Theobald Wolfe Tone, who went to France for support from the revolutionaries there that led to an aborted attempt to invade Ireland in 1796.Wickwire, p. 217 The failed invasion led the government of the Earl of Camden to round up leaders of the United Irishmen and attempt to disarm the Catholic populace.Wickwire, p. 218 Use of these tactics was made possible in part by the passage of an Insurrection Act, giving the administration broad police powers, and also by the suspension of habeas corpus in October 1796.Maxwell, p. 7
By mid-May 1798 the Commander-in-Chief, General Gerard Lake had organised British troops and the Irish Volunteers to put down elements of the growing rebellion. These actions, sometimes capricious and brutal, fanned the flames of rebellion. While Lake's actions had been effective in Dublin, rebel leaders successfully orchestrated the simultaneous start of widespread hostilities on 23 May.Wickwire, p. 220 News of the rebellion reached London a few days later, taking the British cabinet by surprise. Lord Camden had assured the Home Secretary, the Duke of Portland, that rebellion was unlikely in a letter written less than two weeks earlier. Camden, predicting a protracted and bloody struggle, sent his family to safety in England, undermining William Pitt's confidence in him.
Appointment Lord Camden had suggested Cornwallis for the position of Commander-in-Chief as early as 1797, since he was unhappy with Lake's heavy-handed leadership. Cornwallis refused this initial offer because the position was subservient to that of the Lord Lieutenant, which he felt would diminish its effectiveness. In March 1798, Camden suggested to Pitt that he be replaced as Lord Lieutenant with Cornwallis, and then in May suggested that Cornwallis be offered both posts, an arrangement similar to the position he held in India.Wickwire, p. 221 Cornwallis was aware of the discussions around these later proposals, and he agreed to the idea in discussions with Pitt in early June. On 13 June, King George's Privy Council approved his appointment to both posts. On 21 June, Cornwallis arrived in Dublin to take command. While these discussions went on, General Lake directed the response to the rebellion. On the day Cornwallis landed, the back of the rebellion was broken with a British victory over a large rebel force at Vinegar Hill.Wickwire, p. 222
Rebellion
Irish remnants As the British military and loyal militia mopped up the remnants of the rebellion in Wexford and other counties, the atrocities and sectarian violence left a mark on Cornwallis. He wrote that "the life of a Lord Lieutenant of Ireland comes up to my idea of a perfect misery; but if I can achieve the great object of consolidating the British Empire, I shall be sufficiently repaid."Lecky, Vol. 5, p. 15 In early July he issued a proclamation offering amnesty to rebels who laid down their arms and took an oath to the crown, and he cracked down on the sometimes arbitrary courts martial held in the field by requiring the review of all sentences in Dublin. However, not all of Ireland received this treatment: areas that were still "disturbed" were exempted from the requirement, Lord Castlereagh, Cornwallis' Chief Secretary, reported that "numbers were tried and executed" without the lord lieutenant's review.Bartlett, pp. 241–242 One principal stronghold of the rebels was the Wicklow Mountains, through which the army began construction of a road to facilitate its operations. The Wicklow Military Road survives today as the R115 road in Wexford and Dublin.Fewer, p. 27
Cornwallis also negotiated with the parliament the passage of a bill offering amnesty to most of the rebels. This idea was vigorously opposed both in the Protestant-controlled Irish Parliament and in London. By the time the bill passed and received the royal signature in October, it contained numerous exceptions, meaning that anyone with a role of significance in the rebellion was likely not eligible. The bill was also enacted too late to be of significant benefit anyway.Wickwire, p. 229 He offered financial compensation for losses incurred by loyalists, the terms of which were significantly abused, as claims were often made well in excess of actual losses.Maxwell, p. 190 This policy of lenience was furthermore disliked by politically influential Protestants, which complicated some of Cornwallis's later activities.Bartlett, p. 246
To finish putting down the rebellion and create a semblance of peace, Cornwallis needed more troops. Pitt had promised him 5,000 regulars and militia prior to his appointment. While regular troops were among the first to arrive, Ireland became a virtual garrison by September as militia companies flooded in. On 27 June, the Irish Parliament passed a bill Cornwallis introduced to regulate the use of English militia companies.
The rebel ringleaders were subjected to courts martial dominated by Protestants, something Cornwallis disliked but put up with. A few of the rebel leaders were tried for treason in July, and sentenced by Cornwallis to hang. This prompted a large number of prisoners, who had not yet been tried, to petition Cornwallis for banishment in exchange for their co-operation. Cornwallis agreed in principle, to stem the flow of blood that was still ongoing in the countryside, and out of concern that the rebellion might be renewed if French assistance arrived. The banishments in many cases were not carried out until 1799.Lecky, Vol. 5, p. 36 In spite of some opposition, Cornwallis ultimately succeeded in having more than 400 rebels banished, primarily to Scotland. According to Lord Castlereagh, Cornwallis' Chief Secretary, Cornwallis personally reviewed 400 court cases, sentencing 131 to death.Wickwire, pp. 229–230
French invasion French support for Irish independence waned after the death of Lazare Hoche, one of its main proponents, and the driving force behind the 1796 invasion attempt. Napoleon considered an invasion of Great Britain in late 1797 and early 1798, but dropped the idea in February 1798 after seeing the poor condition of the navy. Napoleon instead chose to begin an expedition to Malta and Egypt in May, shortly before the Irish rebellion erupted.Lecky, Vol. 5, p. 39 However, Wolfe Tone and other Irish dissidents in France managed to extract some assistance from the French Directory.Lecky, Vol. 5, p. 40
Cornwallis did not directly involve himself in military matters until the unexpected arrival on 22 August of French troops at Killala Bay in County Mayo, an area that had not seen much rebellious activity. A fleet of three ships had sailed from Rochefort in early August, carrying General Jean Humbert and over 1,000 French troops, pursuant to a plan that also included 3,000 troops to sail from Brest.Pakenham, p. 298 When they landed, Humbert relatively quickly raised several hundred poorly disciplined recruits to join him, and began moving south.Wickwire, p. 225