Drapier's Letters - Pamphlets - To The Nobility and Gentry

To The Nobility and Gentry

The Drapier's third letter, To the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdom of Ireland: Some Observations Upon a Paper, Call'd, The Report of the Committee of the Most Honourable the Privy-Council in England relating to Wood's Half-pence, was printed on 25 August 1724.

The subject matter of the third letter is similar to that of the second letter, and some scholars have explained this as a result of Swift being forced to respond so quickly to the Privy-council's report. The Drapier emphasizes his humble nature and simple understanding when appealing to the pride of his audience, the nobility.

The Drapier spends most of his letter responding to the "Report of the Committee of the Most Honourable the Privy-Councill in England". This document released by Walpole served as a defense of Wood's coin; the report argued that the coin was important to the people of Ireland. However, the report was not officially released by Walpole in the Parliament's Gazette, but published without Parliament's authority in the London Journal in August 1724. Some scholars have speculated that Walpole had the report published in a non-Parliamentary magazine so that he would not be connected directly to Wood's coin. However, the lack of Parliamentary authority behind the report allowed the Drapier to undermine the credibility of the report's content.

The Drapier claims, "Mr. Wood in publishing this paper would insinuate to the world, as if the Committee had a greater concern for his credit and private emolument, than for the honour of the Privy-council and both Houses of Parliament here ... For it seems intended as a vindication of Mr. Wood, not without several severe remarks on the Houses of Lords and Commons of Ireland." To the Drapier, Wood has utter contempt for the political authority of Ireland, and would use his coin and the report to mock them. However, the attack extends beyond Wood to encompass a dispute about the authority of England to rule over the kingdom of Ireland.

The central argument in the letter is that the British have negated the rights of the Irish people by relying on a completely British system to pass the patent without allowing the Irish Parliament a say. William Wood, according to the Drapier, was already involved in a similar dispute with a coin he minted for Massachusetts. The response to Wood's coin was a complete boycott of the coin.

The Drapier does not blame the production of the coining on Walpole's policies, in regard to England's colonies, but on Wood's (and his accomplice's) actions This criticism of Wood's actions allows the Drapier to attack the patent process in such a way that could not be used directly against the British Parliament. In referring to this point, the Drapier asks, "Were not the People of Ireland born as Free as those of England?"

The final image of this letter is that of the small but brave David versus the giant Goliath. Wood is the giant invader who wears his brass coin as armour and the Drapier is just the small merchant who is not big enough to fill the king's armour. This image resonated with the people, and a sign was displayed by people of Dublin which read:

And the people said unto Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? God forbid : as the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground ; for he hath wrought with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, that he died not.

The third letter openly incorporates Swift's argument that political authority stems from the consent of a population. As such, the third letter has been seen as a response in part to the Declaratory Act, which had undermined the independence and the authority of Irish legislature and judiciary in favor of the British. The Declaratory Act removed the ability for any in Ireland to speak for the people of Ireland, and it was necessary for the act to be removed before the people could be heard.

However, such an attack on the Declaratory Act was common in Swift's works, and he constantly argued against the act by promoting Irish autonomy. This does not mean that the Irish independence is to be taken lightly, because Swift viewed the self-reliance as "the only means of halting their self-destructive complicity - of which they were inadequately aware - in England's ongoing consumption of Ireland."