ABSTRACT
Ireland is the back door to Britain and a major source of concern when Britain stood on the defensive in a major war. The war was unpopular in Ireland since it closed one of the few substantial overseas markets which Britain permitted the Irish to use. The French Revolution offered inspiration to Irish reformers while inducing an increased wariness in Ireland's Protestant ascendancy. The prospects of parliamentary reform in 1793, in Ireland as in England, were nil. At the beginning of 1795 Earl Fitzwilliam, was sent to Ireland as Chief Secretary, as part of William Pitt's recent accommodation with that faction. The north of Ireland was given over to sectarian guerrilla war before the rebellion of 1798. An unsettled Ireland, especially in wartime, would remain a standing threat to Britain. The Anglican Churches of Ireland and England were united and Ireland was to contribute almost twelve per cent to the United Kingdom budget, though the Exchequers remained separate until 1817.
