ed to find any bill against such delinquents; no witnesses in the
prosecution were safe in their persons; and no juries were inclined, or
if inclined could venture, to find them guilty."

In such a state of public feeling Swift assumed an entirely new
attitude. He promulgated his "Letter to the Whole People of Ireland"--a
letter which openly struck at the very root of the whole evil, and laid
bare to the public eye the most secret spring of its righteous
indignation. It was not Wood nor his coins, it was the freedom of the
people of Ireland and their just rights and privileges that were being
fought for. He wrote them the letter "to refresh and continue that
spirit so seasonably raised among" them, and in order that they should
plainly understand "that by the laws of God, of NATURE, of NATIONS, and
of your COUNTRY, you ARE, and OUGHT to be as FREE a people as your
brethren in England." The King's prerogative had been held threateningly
over them. What was the King's prerogative? he asked in effect. It was
but the right he enjoyed within the bounds of the law as made by the
people in parliament assembled. The law limits him with his subjects.
Such prerogative he respected and would take up arms to protect against
any who should rebel. But "all government without the consent of the
governed, is the very definition of slavery." The condition of the Irish
nation was such that it was to be expected eleven armed men should
overcome a single man in his shirt; but even if those in power exercise
then power to cramp liberty, a man on the rack may still have "the
liberty of roaring as loud as he thought fit." And the men on the rack
roared to a tune that Walpole had never before heard.

The letter appeared on the 13th October, 1724.[1] The Duke of Grafton
had been recalled and Carteret had taken up the reins of government. For
reasons, either personal or politic, he took Walpole's side. Coxe goes
into considerations on this attitude of Carteret's, but they hardly
concern us here. Suffice it that the Lord Lieutenant joined forces with
the party in the Irish Privy Council, among whom were Midleton and St.
John Brodrick, and on October 27th issued a proclamation offering a
reward of L300[2] for the discovery of the author of this "wicked and
malicious pamphlet" which highly reflected on his Majesty and his
ministers, and which tended "to alienate the affections of his good
subjects of England and Ireland from each other."

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