Nothing more absurd had ever been said since language was first abused for the delusion of mankind."] [Footnote 136: The first beginning of the insurrection was at Prosperous, County Kildare, May 24.

General Lake dealt it the final blow on Vinegar Hill, June 21.] [Footnote 137: Mr.Sheridan, Mr.Tierney, and Lord William Russell led the denunciations of the government in the English House of Commons.

A protest against Pitt's refusal to dismiss the Lord-lieutenant, Lord Camden, the Chancellor Fitzgibbon, and the Commander-in-chief, Lord Carhampton, was signed by the Dukes of Norfolk, Devonshire, and Leinster; Lords Fitzwilliam, Moira, and Ponsonby, "two of them Irish absentees, who were discharging thus their duties to the poor country which supported their idle magnificence."-- _The English in Ireland_, iii., 454.] [Footnote 138: "Constitutional History," iii., 451 seq.] [Footnote 139: Massey's "History of England," iv., 397 (quoting the Cornwallis correspondence).] [Footnote 140: Lord Stanhope's "Reign of Queen Anne," p.

89.] [Footnote 141: In the House of Commons by 158 to 115; in the House of Lords, February 10, by 75 to 26.] [Footnote 142: An amendment pledging the House to maintain "an independent Legislature, as established in 1782," was only defeated by 106 to 105.] [Footnote 143: In the House of Commons the majority was 158 to 115; in the House of Lords, 75 to 26.] [Footnote 144: This estimate, which was but a guess, proved very inaccurate.

The first census for the United Kingdom, which was taken the next year (1801), showed that Ireland was considerably more populous than its own representatives had imagined.