ABSTRACT
During the 1770's, when England was increasingly involved in American affairs, some of the anti-Catholic penal laws of Ireland were partially rescinded. Small economic rights were extended in 1771 and in 1774. But in 1778, under pressure from the Dublin Association, a group of Catholic merchants, the English Parliament passed the Savile Act, removing some important disabilities against the ownership and inheritance of land by Catholics. For supporting these measures, and others aimed at helping Ireland to participate in trade, Edmund Burke found himself the target of criticism of some of his Bristol constituents. In 1778 he wrote Two Letters to Gentlemen in Bristol, defending his support of the Savile Act. Burke lamented that the new statutes fell "extremely short" of the freedom needed to be granted to Ireland. He believed that the permanent interests of communities grew with a mutual increase in wealth.
