ABSTRACT
The majority of the population here described as 'semi-barbarous' represented the uncivilised, Roman Catholic peasant 'other' to the English, Protestant ruling class. Catholics had been enfranchised in 1793 and the Act of Union in 1800 and the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 had brought further reforms to the representation system in Ireland. However, as this brief pamphlet demonstrates, there continued to be a deep anxiety about any representation system which enfranchised the Catholic majority. The two members will be in future returned, by the wealthy and intelligent inhabitants of that city—Protestant or Catholic—but by shop-keepers of the lower class—chiefly licensed spirit dealers and others, who are from various causes peculiarly liable to be acted upon by prejudice and passion. During this struggle it is notorious that the Ministry of England and the Local government of Ireland have used their utmost exertions to strengthen and encourage that party in sustaining British influence in Ireland.
