Drapier's Letters - Pamphlets - To The Whole People of Ireland

To The Whole People of Ireland

The Drapier's fourth letter, To the Whole People of Ireland, A Word or Two to the People of Ireland, A Short Defense of the People of Ireland, was written on 13 October 1724 and was either published on 21 October 1724 or on 22 October 1724, the day Lord Carteret arrived in Dublin. Throughout the letter, the Drapier pretends that Carteret's transfer to Ireland to enforce Wood's patent was a rumor produced by Wood's allies, although Swift had knowledge to the contrary.

The fourth letter was written in response to the many charges put forth by the British supporters of Wood's patent against the Irish, including claims of papal influence and of treason. A large portion of the letter is a response to these accusations and to refuting further arguments that Wood's coin could be beneficial to the Irish people. The tone of the letter is clear: Wood's allies are promoting an evil that will harm Ireland. However, Wood is only a secondary target—figures like Walpole are mocked for their role in the controversy.

The majority of the fourth letter is devoted to an argument revolving around the political liberty of the Irish people. It is for this argument that the Drapier was persecuted, because his words were seen as a call to challenge British authority and possibly to declare independence from the king. The Drapier walks a fine line between disloyalty, because he charges that the Irish are loyal only to their king, who had the title "King of Ireland", but not to England. To this the Drapier states:

Let whoever think otherwise, I M.B. Drapier, desire to be excepted, for I declare, next under Good, I depend only on the King my sovereign, and on the laws of my own country; and I am so far from depending upon the people of England, that if they should ever rebel against my sovereign (which God forbid) I would be ready at the first command from His Majesty to take arms against them, as some of my countrymen did against theirs at Preston. And if such a rebellion should prove so successful as to fix the Pretender on the throne of England, I would venture to transgress that statute so far as to lose every drop of my blood to hinder him from being King of Ireland.

In defense of his nation, the Drapier turns around claims of treason and papal loyalty against Wood and his defenders (especially Walpole), calling them as treasonous as the Jacobite rebels and the Parliamentary rebels. The Drapier believed that God's providence supported the people of Ireland, but his will required the people of Ireland to stand up against the treasonous British.

The most famous and controversial statement of the Drapier's Letters follows claims of loyalty to the Irish king:

I have digressed a little in order to refresh and continue that spirit so seasonably raised amongst you, and to let you see that by the laws of GOD, of NATURE, of NATIONS, and of your own COUNTRY, you ARE and OUGHT to be as FREE a people as your brethren in England.

This line of argument follows the political philosophy of John Locke in the Two Treatises on Government (1689). Locke wrote that the people had the right to resist their government when their property rights were violated, and that nations have the same sovereign rights even when they have been conquered by another.

A secondary rhetorical battle began between Walpole and the Irish in regard to Wood's patent; the rest of the constitutional debate was over the nature of Poynings' Law, a law that was brought back into use through the Declaratory Act (1720). Poyning's Law was a law that the British claimed allowed them to control all of Ireland's legal actions and to revoke the Irish parliamentary independence. Traditionally, the rulers of Ireland viewed themselves as a kingdom and not a colony that would be controlled by Poyning's Law. The Drapier agreed with the Irish interpretation of the law and incorporated aspects of Molyneux's arguments that combined proof the law was misinterpreted and Locke's political philosophy.

Lord Carteret read passages from the fourth letter about Irish constitutional independence to the Irish Privy Council and claimed that they were treasonable. It was then that Harding was arrested for printing the letters and a reward of £300 was offered for the identity of the Drapier. Lord Carteret wrote that the arrest and bounty were the result of an "unfortunate accident" and he did not want to respond in such a way. Lord Midleton was also forced to denounce his previous ally, the Drapier, when did so when he wrote, "to provoke England to that degree as some have endeavoured to do, is not the true way to keep them out". Archbishop King responded to the letters by saying they were "ludicrous and satyrically writ". However, the Archbishop publicly supported the constitutional actions more than the other three, and his support caused others important officials to criticize him.

Regardless of the proclamation against the Drapier and the words issued by important Irish officials, the people of Ireland had stood by the writer, and it was their support that protected Swift. Some critics have viewed this support as resulting from the letter's appeal to the "mob", or common people, of Ireland.