Belfast radicals

For a book club at church, I just read a biography of Archibald Hamilton Rowan, a leader of the United Irishmen. Last night, I saw a BBC preview screening of a documentary about William Tennent, another leader of the Irishmen. Rowan was Dublin-based while Tennent was based in Belfast. Rowan was of the landed gentry, so-called Anglo Irish, while Tennent was a Scottish Presbyterian immigrant to Ireland who became a successful merchant.

Both were products of the Scottish Enlightenment and the French Revolution, which created a ferment in Ireland for democracy and equality. I did not know that the leaders of the United Irishmen were largely Unitarians, including Rowan and Tennent. The film screening last night was at First Presbyterian Church in Belfast, which was built as a Unitarian Church but became a non-subscribing Presbyterian church (a sister church to the one I attend). While I associate Ulster Scots with the Orangemen and the paramilitaries they gave rise to, the first incarnation of Ulster Scots power was liberal and progressive. While the United Irishmen sought independence from England and the throne, the Orangemen cling to both. One reason for the 180-degree turn could be the literal and metaphorical decapitation of the United Irishmen. Many of its leaders were hung, deported to penal colonies, and otherwise tormented after a 1798 revolt against England. At the same time, the bloodshed in French dampened enthusiasm for overthrowing monarchies.

I found it interesting that after the Irish Parliament was dissolved in the wake of the 1798 revolt, Dublin declined precipitously (all the wealthy MPs and their entourages decamped to England) while Belfast grew rapidly. Essentially many of the Anglo Irish deserted Dublin while the Ulster Scots merchants thrived in Belfast. And any chance for Catholic suffrage or advancement would have to wait 30 years.
11-20