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Another fiction regarding the Union may perhaps be worth notice. It has
sometimes been suggested that it was carried by a venal oligarchy in
opposition to the will of the great mass of the population, of the Roman
Catholic population in particular. This is precisely the reverse of the
truth. The oligarchy controlled the Parliament, and it therefore
followed that the uniformly corrupt traditions of the Irish Parliament
had to be observed in carrying the Union as in carrying every other
Government Bill throughout the century. But, so far from the Act of
Union being carried by landowners and Protestants against the will of
the Catholics, it was, as a matter of fact, carried with the ardent and
unanimous assent and support of the Catholic hierarchy, and against the
embittered opposition of the old ascendancy leaders, who feared the loss
of their influence of power.
The evidence on this point is documentary and precise. Indeed, no one
thought of doubting or challenging it at the time; Grattan contented
himself with denouncing the Catholic Bishops as "a band of prostituted
men.


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