A Modest Proposal

Term Paper Title	A Modest Proposal
# of Words	1389
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	5.56

A Modest Proposal

Today there still exists tension between Ireland and Great Britain. It is not difficult to find news about some skirmish between the two. Some examples include car bombings, drive-by shootings and other forms of terrorism. Imagine a British citizen walking to his car and a car full of people drive by shooting at him. It is not a pretty thought. History tells us that most of these occurrences stem from adverse feelings from the Irish towards the British government extending as far back as the fourteenth century and the unification of Ireland with Great Britain. However, not all Irish protests are violent. Artists, musicians, and writers often protest without using violence. U2 and Sinead O’Connor are good examples of modern day protests, but none was more effective than Jonathan Swift. It is clear that Swift’s satire stemmed from the frustration he felt with the events that were happening around him at his time. Jonathan Swift’s political satire, “A Modest Proposal”, is a direct reflection of the British government’s cruelty and insensitivity towards the Irish that allowed the citizens of Ireland to self-destruct, live in poverty, and starve to death.
     The British government allowed Ireland to self-destruct. Ireland divided itself into two groups: the Northern Protestants and the Catholics. While Northern Ireland was content with the British rule, the rest of Ireland suffered and was not content. This is
because the British government seemed to favor Northern Ireland, who were considered loyal Protestants. This favoritism is displayed in the different acts that the British Parliament was passing. In 1695, several acts were passed that limited the rights of Catholics in not only arms bearing and horse owning, but education as well. In the same year, the Catholic clergy was banished. In 1704, Legislation restricted even more rights of Catholics in land holding and holding public offices (tests were required). “…all conspired to…reduce the Catholic land owning class to a mere fraction” (Curtis 291). These restrictions enraged the Catholics, who were the majority in Ireland. In addition, a Toleration Act was passed for Protestant dissenters in 1719. In The Oxford History of Ireland, R.F. Foster states that to be a Protestant or a Catholic in eighteenth-century Ireland indicated more than mere religious allegiance: it represented opposing political cultures, and conflicting views of history (136). Now that Ireland was divided, the Irish citizens quarreled amongst each other. Of course, this did not pose a problem to the British government because now the Irish left them alone. Thus the British government did nothing to put a stop to it.
     The British government also allowed the Irish to live in poverty. During the British rule of Ireland, the Irish had little say in how they were ruled. This was due to how Parliament was set up, how it was run, and the lack of Irish representation. Since few Irish people were a part of it, all of the decisions made were based only on benefit to Britain. A good example of this kind of decision is the Toleration Act for Protestant dissenters in 1719. With these acts being passed came not only anger, but poverty as well. This was due to the fact that more loyalists and British people had more control over the market, industry, and land holdings. Since the majority of Ireland’s citizens were “unloyal” Catholics, the majority of Ireland suffered. Most of Ireland was in a rut now due to their foreign ruling. The British government failed to assist the Irish in their time of need because Britain itself was doing fine and Irish problems did not affect the British economy. In Modern Ireland: 1600-1972, R.F. Foster states that there is not one argument used to prove the riches of Ireland, which is not a logical demonstration of its poverty (182). This just proves that if someone were to try and point out anything good about Ireland it had to involve a form of its poverty as well.
     The British government allowed the Irish to starve to death. Ireland had a period of sustained grow...

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