1 Kelly, James, ‘The origins of the Act of Union: an examination of unionist opinion in Britain and Ireland, 1650–1800’ in I.H.S., xxv, no. 99 (1987), pp 236-63Google Scholar; idem, Prelude to union: Anglo-Irish politics in the 1780s (Cork, 1992), pp 32–75.

2 In addition to the works by Kelly, cited above, see also Bartlett, Thomas, The fall and rise of the Irish nation: the Catholic question, 1690–1830 (Savage, Maryland, 1992), pp 127-8, 169–72Google Scholar; Geoghegan, Patrick M., The Irish Act of Union: a study in high politics, 1797–1801 (New York, 1999), pp 1–7.Google Scholar

3 Though ‘Foxite’ is most frequently used to describe the opposition Whigs after 1792, the term was already in use by 1784; see Mitchell, L. G., Charles James Fox and the disintegration of the Whig party, 1782–1794 (London, 1971), p. 246.Google Scholar

4 Kelly, Prelude to union, pp 35–51.

5 Cobbett, William, Parliamentary history of England from … 1066 to … 1803 (36 vols, London, 1806-20), xxiii, 337-41 (22 Jan. 1783)Google Scholar, 730–1 (11 Apr. 1783).

6 Ibid., xxv, 674, 686 (24 May 1785).

7 Ibid., 744–5 (30 May 1785).

8 Ibid., 969 (25 July 1785). Earlier in the debate, however, Fox had briefly, and contradictorily, ‘mentioned the circumstance of an union as extremely desirable’. In this, he may have simply been following the lead of his parliamentary ally, Lord North, who advocated legislative union during the debates. See ibid., 660 (19 May 1785); quoted in Powell, Martyn J., ‘Charles James Fox and Ireland’ in I.H.S., xxxiii, no. 130 (2002), p. 186.Google Scholar

9 See the speeches of SirFitzpatrick, R., Erskine, J., Beauchamp, Viscount, and Courtenay, J.; Cobbett, Parl, hist., xxv, 698-9, 727–9, 729–35, 738–43 (24 May 1785).Google Scholar

10 Edmund Burke [?] to Sir John Tydd, 13 May 1785 (Grattan, Henry, Memoirs of the life and times of the Rt. Hon. Henry Grattan by his son Henry Grattan (5 vols, London, 1839-46), iii, 250-2Google Scholar. The attribution of this letter to Burke has recently been disputed; see The correspondence of Edmund Burke, ed. Copeland, T. W. (9 vols, Chicago, 1958-70), v, viiGoogle Scholar. Whether or not the letter was written by Burke, however, it provides an astute analysis of the strategy of the Portland Whigs during the debate on the commercial propositions.

11 Fox to the duke of Portland, 1 Feb. 1789 (B.L., Fox papers, Add. MS 47561, f. 101); Fox to Richard Fitzpatrick, 17 Feb. 1789 (Memorials and correspondence of Charles James Fox, ed. Russell, Lord John (5 vols, London, 1853-7), ii, 301)Google Scholar. See also Herman, Neil, ‘Henry Grattan, the Regency crisis, and the emergence of a Whig party in Ireland, 1788–9’ in I.H.S., xxxii, no. 128 (2001), pp 481-2.Google Scholar

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13 In the absence of a definitive modern biography of Moira, see Thorne, Roland, ‘Hasting, Francis Rawdon’ in Mathew, H. C. G. and Harrison, Brian (eds), Oxford dictionary of national biography (60 vols, Oxford, 2004), xxv, 744-5.Google Scholar

14 Dickson, William to Fox, , 9 Mar. 1795 (B.L., Fox papers, Add. MS 47569, f. 59).Google Scholar

15 Cobbett, , Parl, hist., xxxi, 1496–1501, 1521–30 (8 May 1795)Google Scholar, 1531–6, 1541–8 (19 May 1795), xxxiii, 20–2 (3 Mar. 1797).

16 For Grattan’s discreet role, see Fox to Grattan, 7 Apr. 1797 (Grattan, , Grattan, iv, 314-16Google Scholar).

17 Cobbett, , Parl, hist., xxxiii, 142, 153–4 (23 Mar. 1797).Google Scholar

18 Ibid., 1487–8 (14 June 1798), 1490–2 (15 June 1798), 1513–15 (22 June 1798), 1517–18, 1519–23 (27 June 1798).

19 Ibid., xxxiv, 209–10 (23 Jan. 1799), 340–3 (7 Feb. 1799).

20 Ibid., 706–8 (19 Mar. 1799); see also Jupp, Peter, ‘Britain and the union, 1797–1801’ in R. Hist. Soc. Trans., 6th ser., no. 10 (2000), p. 205.Google Scholar

21 Fox, to Fitzpatrick, , 1798 (Memorials and correspondence, ed. Russell, iii, 281); Fox to Lord Holland, 15 Jan. 1799 (ibid., 150–1).Google Scholar

22 Morning Chronicle, 6 Mar. 1799.

23 Ibid., 8 May 1799.

24 Cobbett, Parl, hist., xxxv, 57–72, 81–2, 153–6 (21 Apr. 1800), 179–80 (8 May 1800); Morning Chronicle, 7 May 1800.

25 Grattan to Fox, 26 Jan. 1797 (B.L., Fox papers, Add. MS 47569, f. 97); Fox to Grattan, 4 Feb. 1799 (Grattati, Grattait, iv, 435–6); Fox to Fitzpatrick, 3 Apr. 1800 (Memorials and correspondence, ed. Russell, iii, 295–6).

26 Jupp, ‘Britain and the union’, p. 205.

27 Thome, R. G. (ed.), The House of Commons, 1790–1820 (5 vols, London, 1986), i, 153-4.Google Scholar

28 Cobbett, , Parl, hist., xxxiv, 321 (31 Jan. 1799), 332Google Scholar (7 Feb. 1799), 387 (7 Feb. 1799), 444 (11 Feb. 1799), 512 (14 Feb. 1799), xxxv, 85 (21 Apr. 1800), 117–18 (25 Apr. 1800), 150 (1 May 1800). This average excludes tellers. I have omitted from my calculations the division on the sixth article of union, relating to British-Irish commerce, which attracted significant opposition from British independents uneasy about the prospect of freer trade. Because no list exists for this division, which occurred on 29 April 1800, it is impossible to determine how many of the fifty-eight M.P.s who registered their dissent were Foxite Whigs. Only one M.P. associated with the Foxites - French Laurence - spoke on the sixth article, suggesting that most of those who went into the lobby against the ministry were not members of the party. For a discussion of British responses to the union’s commercial arrangements, see Bolton, G. C., ‘Some British reactions to the Irish Act of Union’ in Econ. Hist. Rev., new ser., xviii, no. 2 (1965), pp 367-75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

29 They were: the earl of Derby, Earl Fitzwilliam, the earl of Moira, the earl of Thanet, the marquess of Lansdowne, Lord Holland and Lord King.

30 Grey, to Holland, , n.d. [1799] (Durham University Library, Grey MSS, GRE/ B35/13).Google Scholar

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32 Cooke, Edward to Pitt, , 7 Jan. 1799 (T.N.A. P.R.O., Chatham papers, 30/8/327, f. 163).Google Scholar

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35 They were: Adair, A., Barclay, G., Biddulph, R., Bird, W. W., Bouverie, E., Bouverie, W. H., Burdett, F., Combe, H. C., Hobhouse, B., Cavendish, Lord G., Cooke, B., Copley, L., Courtenay, J., Dension, W. J., Dundas, C., Dundas, L., Fitzpatrick, R., Green, J., Grey, C., Harrison, J., Howard, H., Laurence, F., Jefferys, N., Jekyll, J., Lemon, W., Lloyd, J. M., Milner, W., Mostyn, T., North, D., Plumer, W., Richardson, J., Ridley, M. W., Russell, Lord J., Russell, W., Shakespeare, A., Sheridan, R. B., Shum, G., Smith, W., John, A. St., Stanley, Lord E., Tierney, G., Tufton, H., Vyner, R. and Walpole, G.. This list includes not only committed followers of Fox but also dependants of Fitzwilliam, Lansdowne and the Prince of Wales, as well as the radical Francis Burdett and a few nominal independents who habitually voted with the opposition. Throughout this article, the political affiliation of M.P.s has been established with reference to Thorne (ed.), The House of Commons.Google Scholar

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38 Morning Chronicle, 8, 10, 20, 24–27 Dec. 1798, 14, 23 Jan. 1799.

39 Bolton, G. C., The passing of the Irish Act of Union: a study in parliamentary politics (Oxford, 1966), pp 130-56Google Scholar; Smyth, Jim, ‘The Act of Union and “public opinion”’ in Smyth, Jim (ed.), Revolution, counter-revolution, and union: Ireland in the 1790s (Cambridge, 2000), pp 158-9.Google Scholar

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43 Wilkinson, David, ‘“How did they pass the union?”: secret service expenditure in Ireland, 1799–1804’ in History, lxxxii, no. 266 (1997), pp 223-51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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45 Ibid., xxxv, 60, 81, 82–3 (21 Apr. 1800), xxxv, 88–101 (25 Apr. 1800).

46 McDowell, R. B., Ireland in the age of imperialism and revolution, 1770–1801 (Oxford, 1979), pp 59, 612–13Google Scholar; Ehrman, John, The younger Pitt: the consuming struggle (Stanford, 1996), p. 362.Google Scholar

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48 Cobbett, , Parl, hist., xxxiv, 295-6 (31 Jan. 1799)Google Scholar, xxxv, 59 (21 Apr. 1800); Morning Chronicle, 8 May 1799.

49 Locke, John, Second treatise of government, ed. Macpherson, C. B. (Indianapolis, 1980), pp 74-5, 109, 116–17 (emphasis in original).Google Scholar

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51 Cobbett, , Parl, hist., xxxiv, 377 (7 Feb. 1799)Google Scholar, 474–5 (14 Feb. 1799).

52 Morning Chronicle, 7 May 1800.

53 Cobbett, , Parl. hist., xxxv, 891-2 (2 Feb. 1801).Google Scholar

54 Ibid., xxxv, 1008–10, 1031 (12 Mar. 1801), 1238, 1245–6 (23 Mar. 1801).

55 Ibid., xxxv, 1156 (25 Mar. 1801); Fox had, in 1800, made a brief deprecatory allusion to the union during a debate on the war with France; see ibid., xxxiv, 1386 (3 Feb. 1800).

56 Ibid., xxxvi, 952 (23 Nov. 1802).

57 Grey, to Fox, , 3 Aug. 1803 (Durham University Library, Grey MSS, GRE/B16/49A).Google Scholar

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60 Fedorak, Charles John, Henry Addington, Prime Minister, 1801–1804: peace, war, and parliamentary politics (Akron, Ohio, 2002), pp 70-4Google Scholar. The number of Grenvillites has been supplied by Thorne (ed.), The House of Commons, i, 159.

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63 Ibid., p. 620.

64 Fox to the earl of Lauderdale, 19 Feb. 1801 (Memorials and correspondence, ed. Russell, iii, 325–6).Google Scholar

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66 Grenville, to Castlereagh, , 1 June 1801 (Memoirs and correspondence of Viscount Castlereagh, ed. the marquess of Londonderry (12 vols, London, 1848–53), iv, 89)Google Scholar; narrative, Lord Grenville’s, 1803 (Memoirs of the courts and Cabinets of George the Third, ed. the duke of Buckingham and Chandos (4 vols, London, 1853), iii, 285-6).Google Scholar

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73 Hansard 1, i, 797 (7 Mar. 1804).

74 Ibid., ii, 87 (11 Apr. 1804).

75 Jupp, Grenville, pp 332–4; Ehrman, The consuming struggle, pp 653–62.

76 Hansard 1, iv, 847 (13 May 1805).

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86 Spencer to the duke of Bedford, 6 Mar. 1806, enclosing ‘Heads for Consideration to make the Subject of instructions to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on the general outline of the Measures of Government in that part of the United Kingdom’ (B.L., Althorp papers, Add. MS 75901). The memorandum is docketed ‘Copy to Mr. Fox’. The Althorp papers have not, at the time of writing, been calendared.

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92 Spencer to Elliot, 2 Apr. 1806 (ibid., Add. MS 75905).

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95 The dismissal of the ministry has been described in detail by Jupp, Grenville, pp 399–410, and Smith, Lord Grey, pp 118–28.