ABSTRACT
The shift from earlier constitutional methods in the pursuit of radical parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation to an uncompromising policy of complete Irish separatism and republicanism had occurred in the history of the United Irish movement and prepared the way for the analogous change in the nature of English radicalism. The meetings of the society, like those of the radical societies in Britain, were open and its test for membership, initially pledged only support for an impartial and adequate representation of the Irish nation in parliament' and the promotion of a brotherhood of affection, an identity of interests, a communion of rights, and an union of power among Irishmen of all religious persuasions'. Among the resolutions were the assertion of the legislative independence of Ireland, the condemnation of Poyning's law and a perpetual mutiny act as unconstitutional, the demand that judges should have the same security of tenure in Ireland as in England and a guarded approval of religious equality.
