Tories were at their
height. Swift is said to have been a Whig in politics and a Tory in
religion. He now began to write as a patriot; and in his famous
"Drapier's Letters" told the Government of the day some truths which
were more plain than palatable.[551] An Englishman named Wood had
obtained a patent under the Broad Seal, in 1723, for the coinage of
copper halfpence. Even the servile Parliament was indignant, and
protested against a scheme[552] which promised to flood Ireland with bad
coin, and thus to add still more to its already impoverished condition.
There was reason for anxiety. The South Sea Bubble had lately ruined
thousands in England, and France was still suffering from the
Mississippi Scheme. Speculations of all kinds were afloat, and a
temporary mania seemed to have deprived the soberest people of their
ordinary judgment. Dr. Hugh Boulter, an Englishman, was made Archbishop
of Armagh, and sent over mainly to attend to the English interests in
Ireland. But he was unable to control popular feeling; and Swift's
letters accomplished what the Irish Parliament was powerless to effect.
Although it was well known that he was the author of these letters, and
though a reward of L300 was offered for the discovery of the secret, he
escaped unpunished. In 1725 the patent was withdrawn, and Wood received
L3,000 a year for twelve years as an indemnification--an evidence that
he must have given a very large bribe for the original permission, and
that he expected to make more by it than could have been made honestly.
One of the subjects on which Swift wrote most pointedly and effectively,
was that of absentees. He employed both facts and ridicule; but each
were equally in vain. He describes the wretched state of the country;
but his eloquence was unheeded. He gave ludicrous illustrations of the
extreme ignorance of those who governed in regard to those whom they
governed. Unfortunately the state of things which he described and
denounced has continued, with few modifications, to the present day; but
on this subject I have said sufficient elsewhere.

George I. died at Osnaburg, in Germany, on the 10th of June, 1727. On
the accession of his successor, the Catholics offered an address
expressing their loyalty, but the Lords Justices took care that it
should never reach England. The next events of importance were the
efforts made by Dr. Boulter, the Protestant Primate, to establish
Charter Schools, where Catholic children mi