14 March 1801
British Prime Minister quits over Ireland

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The British prime minister, William Pitt the Younger, resigns after 17 years in office, over the king's refusal to agree to Catholic emancipation. Fearful of further rebellions such as that led by the Society of United Irishmen in 1798 (who had been influenced by French revolutionary ideas and supported by France), Pitt had succeeded in getting Parliament to agree to an Act of Union between Britain and Ireland. The separate Irish Parliament was abolished and 100 Irish MPs were to sit in the House of Commons, together with 28 Irish peers and four bishops in the House of Lords. But by insisting that predominantly Catholic Ireland could only be represented by Protestants at Westminster, the king undermined the new Union and guaranteed further Irish rebellions. It will be nearly 30 years before Catholic emancipation is granted, in 1829.

'Nothing renders a nation so despicable as religious despotism.' Napoleon

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