Thomas Ledlie Birch (1754–1828) was a
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
minister and radical democrat in the
Kingdom of Ireland
The Kingdom of Ireland ( ga, label=Classical Irish, an Ríoghacht Éireann; ga, label=Modern Irish, an Ríocht Éireann, ) was a monarchy on the island of Ireland that was a client state of England and then of Great Britain. It existed from ...
. Forced into American exile following the suppression of the
1798 rebellion
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a Irish republicanism, ...
, he wrote ''A Letter from An Irish Emigrant'' (1799).
Assailing the landed
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
Ascendancy and vindicating the call for an Irish republic, it was the first published apologia for the
United Irish insurrection. In the United States he found himself at odds with the spirit of
evangelical revivalism.
Early life
Birch was the sixth and youngest son of a
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...
farmer and merchant. He studied at the
University of Glasgow
, image = UofG Coat of Arms.png
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in
Saintfield
Saintfield () is a village and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is about halfway between Belfast and Downpatrick on the A7 road. It had a population of 3,381 in the 2011 Census, made up mostly of commuters working in both south ...
in 1776, with 900 families one of the largest Presbyterian congregations in Ireland. He married Isabella Ledlie, a second cousin from Arboe,
County Tyrone
County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...
in 1783.
His exposure in Glasgow to the ideas of the
Scottish enlightenment
The Scottish Enlightenment ( sco, Scots Enlichtenment, gd, Soillseachadh na h-Alba) was the period in 18th- and early-19th-century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By the eighteenth century ...
heightened the sympathy he shared with his congregants for their American kin in the struggle for independence from Britain. In 1784, through a brother-in-law in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, Birch presented
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
with an address he had written for the (
Masonic
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to Fraternity, fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of Stonemasonry, stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their inte ...
) Yankee Club of
Stewartstown, Tyrone. It expressed their joy that the Americans had succeeded in throwing off “the yoke of slavery” and suggested that their exertions had "shed a benign light on the distressed kingdom of Ireland". Washington returned his thanks.
Volunteer and United Irishman
When in the
American War the
Irish Volunteers
The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respon ...
were mustered to defend against a French invasion, Birch recognised an opportunity to broaden the political franchise against both the Ascendancy, that monopolised representation in the
Irish Parliament, and the
Dublin Castle executive appointed by the
King's ministers in London. He became chaplain to the volunteer Saintfield Light Infantry, and called his manse "Liberty Hall".
With other prominent Volunteers, in the 1783 and 1790 general elections Birch campaigned in Down for the candidates of the Stewarts, Presbyterians and relative upstarts among county gentry; first for
Lord Londonderry
Marquess of Londonderry, of the County of Londonderry ( ), is a title in the Peerage of Ireland.
History
The title was created in 1816 for Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Londonderry. He had earlier represented County Down in the Irish House of ...
and then, with success, for his son
Robert Stewart.
Birch, however, was soon disillusioned. While the new MP reacted to revolutionary events in France, and to the prospect of war with the new republic, by rallying to the government, Birch was persuaded that reform would have to sought in an extra-parliamentary union with the
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
majority.
In 1792 Birch joined the
United Irishmen
The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional reform, ...
, intervening with them in a crucial
Bastille
The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was sto ...
Day Volunteer debate in
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
to defend a resolution in favour of immediate, unqualified,
Catholic emancipation
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...
. He decried the "withholding of rights from our Catholic brethren" as "criminally unjust and impolitic", and declared he would rather transport himself to Botany Bay, "than live in a country which continued to keep itself in abject slavery, by its internal divisions".
Birch's Saintfield Resolutions
Birch convened the Saintfield Society of United Irishmen and on Christmas Eve 1792 moved their first resolutions.
Resolved, that we will steadily pursue every reasonable, legal and constitutional means in our power, to obtain a more equal representation of the people in Parliament and a shorter period of parliamentary delegation
Resolved that a radical reform can never be affected, but by extending the right of suffrage to all sects and denominations of Irishmen.
Resolved, that we look upon our brethren Roman Catholics as men deprived of their just rights--that we highly approve of their present mode of proceeding and sincerely and heartily wish them success.
An almost identical resolution was carried by Birch's church congregation, but with the anticipation that they would opposed by the landowner-led yeomanry and loyalist vigilantes. The Belfast
News Letter
The ''News Letter'' is one of Northern Ireland's main daily newspapers, published from Monday to Saturday. It is the world's oldest English-language general daily newspaper still in publication, having first been printed in 1737.
The newspape ...
(4 January 1793) reported that the congregation unanimously applauded a proposal that "for the defence of their families and properties" a further 500 of their number "be added to the National Guards
he Volunteers
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
of Ireland".
Birch's visions from the pulpit were often
millenarian
Millenarianism or millenarism (from Latin , "containing a thousand") is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenarian ...
: he spoke of the approaching "overthrow of the Beast", the "Battle of Armaggedon" that would be the "prelude to a peaceful reign of 1,000 years." At the same time Birch asked his asked his congregants to consider that "we live in a very advanced and enlightened period of the world, when ignorance and superstition are falling like lightening from heaven" and that, as a minster, he had a duty to bear witness against the corruptions of government.
Birch told
Wolfe Tone
Theobald Wolfe Tone, posthumously known as Wolfe Tone ( ga, Bhulbh Teón; 20 June 176319 November 1798), was a leading Irish revolutionary figure and one of the founding members in Belfast and Dublin of the United Irishmen, a republican socie ...
that his congregation were completely converted to his views; and that they had celebrated French victories over the Austrian and Prussian armies. Now, however, that the government was rendering both the Volunteer and United Irish movements illegal, they were "dissatisfied" with his comparative moderation.
The conversion to Birch's political gospel, however, was not complete. Some of his congregation withdrew, joining the "Seceders" or
Reformed Presbyterians. While refusing to bow their knee "to any king but Jesus" they were, at least in north Down, hostile to his overt republicanism.
Rebellion and exile
In 1797, eleven of Birch's congregation were charged with attacking the house of the McKee family, local loyalists who supplied the authorities with such information as they could gather on the activities of United Irishmen. They were all acquitted thanks chiefly to the withering cross examination of prosecution witness the Presbyterian-turned-Anglican Rev. John Cleland, sub-sheriff and land agent of the
Lord Londonderry
Marquess of Londonderry, of the County of Londonderry ( ), is a title in the Peerage of Ireland.
History
The title was created in 1816 for Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Londonderry. He had earlier represented County Down in the Irish House of ...
, by the celebrity defence-counsel for the democratic cause,
John Philpot Curran
John Philpot Curran (24 July 1750 – 14 October 1817) was an Irish orator, politician, wit, lawyer and judge, who held the office of Master of the Rolls in Ireland. He was renowned for his representation in 1780 of Father Neale, a Catholic prie ...
. Birch added drama to the proceedings by being arrested in the court on a charge of
High Treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
. Finding the conduct of the prosecutor "base and malicious", the presiding judge at his subsequent trial in
Downpatrick
Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be the b ...
directed his honourable discharge.
Birch, as chaplain of the United
rish
Rish ( bg, Риш Riš) is a village in Smyadovo Municipality, Shumen Province, Bulgaria, with a population of 604 as of 2019.
Population
According to the 2011 Census, the population of Rish consists mainly of Bulgarian Turks (72.6%), followe ...
Army in County Down, took to the field with his men on 8 June 1798. They converged a thousand strong on the McKee homestead. All eight members of the family died in a siege that saw by the house set alight. A relief column of 300, consisting of Newtownards Yeomanry cavalry and 270 York Fencibles were ambushed by the rebels and obliged to retreat, withdrawing through
Comber
Comber ( , , locally ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies south of Newtownards, at the northern end of Strangford Lough. It is situated in the townland of Town Parks, the civil parish of Comber and the historic barony of Ca ...
to Belfast.
According to witnesses at his subsequent court martial, the day after the
Battle of Saintfield
The Battle of Saintfield was a short but bloody clash in County Down, in Northern Ireland. The battle was the first major conflict of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 in Down. The battle took place on Saturday, 9 June 1798.
Background
A rebel force, o ...
, "Pike Sunday", Birch appeared among the rebel army assembled at Creevy Rocks, a hill outside the town. None testified to his preaching a sermon, but there is at least one record (possibly spurious) of his offering the following:
Men of Down, we are gathered here today ... to pray and fight for the liberty of this Kingdom of Ireland. We have grasped the pike and musket to fight for the right against might, to drive the bloodhounds of King George the German king beyond the seas. This is Ireland, we are Irish and shall be free.
On Monday, Birch marched with the army to
Ballynahinch Ballynahinch may refer to:
Northern Ireland
* Ballynahinch, County Armagh, a townland
*Ballynahinch, County Down, a town
Republic of Ireland
*Ballynahinch (barony), in County Galway
*Ballynahinch, County Galway, a townland in County Galway
* Bally ...
, but returned the same day to Saintfield to help marshal reinforcements. After the
rout of the rebels at Ballynahinch on Wednesday 13 June, Birch retired to his manse, where on the 16th he was arrested.
He faced court martial in Lisburn where one observer contrasted his "long and blubbering defence" with the dignity with which Munro, preceding him, had made on the army officers present (Munro's last words on the scaffold were: "Tell my country I had deserved better of her"). Thanks to his brother's intervention with Londonderry, Birch was assured that he would avoid the worst by agreeing to remove himself to the United States.
After some weeks on a prison ship in Belfast Lough where he encountered fellow Presbyterian clergy
William Steel Dickson
William Steel Dickson (1744–1824) was an Irish Presbyterian minister and member of the Society of the United Irishmen, committed to the cause of Catholic Emancipation, democratic reform, and national independence. He was arrested on the eve ...
,
William Sinclair and
David Bailie Warden
David Bailie Warden was a republican insurgent in the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and, in later exile, a United States consul in Paris. While in American service Watson protested the corruption of diplomatic service by the "avaricious" spirit of com ...
(the Presbyterian licentiate who had led an attack upon the garrison in
Newtownards), in August 1798 Birch sailed with other marked men for
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on the ship ''Harmony'' of
New Bedford
New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...
. (Birch's counterpart in the west of
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...
,
John Glendy
John Glendy (1755 – 1832) was a Presbyterian clergyman from County Londonderry in Ireland, who, after being forced into American exile for his association with the United Irishmen, found favour with President Thomas Jefferson and became a leadi ...
, minister of
Maghera
Maghera (pronounced , ) is a small town at the foot of the Glenshane Pass in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Its population was 4,220 in the 2011 Census, increasing from 3,711 in the 2001 Census. It is situated within Mid-Ulster Distri ...
, was permitted the same consideration: permitted, later in the year, to sail for
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
).
A Letter from An Irish Emigrant
Birch may have started writing his ''Letter'' on the trans-Atlantic crossing. It was end dated 26 October 1798, and published the following month in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. The politics of the Irish immigrant communities in Philadelphia and in New York City were democratic and opposed to the
Federalist
The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''.
History Europe federation
In Europe, proponents of de ...
commitment to a understanding with Britain. The Letter was addressed to an American audience and sought to counter Federalist propaganda in which the rebellion in Ireland was discredited as part of a larger effort to generate and sustain alarm over revolutionary developments in France.
Birch decried the "unnatural war" that, under the British Crown, Irish Presbyterians had been forced to wage against their "brethren" in America. Their only wish was to be "indulged (like you) as citizens, in enjoying rights without religious distinctions, and fair vote of chusing
ictheir Representatives in the Commons House of
he Irish
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
Parliament". But their "humble petitions" ignored, and visited with "rapines, burnings, rapes, murders, and other sheddings of blood", the people were "goaded" into insurrection. "Nothing", they were persuaded, "will satisfy (no matter at what price) but a republican form of government".
Birch did not restrain himself from proposing that in this resolve, the people of Ireland "are inspired (as they think) with a well grounded belief, and hope that the time is arrived, when the
iblicalProphecies concerning the ''Universal Dominion of Christ's Kingdom'', and the ''peaceful happy state'' upon earth ... are to be fulfilled".
Last years: at odds with American revivalism
In the United States, Birch returned to the ministry, first in Philadelphia and then, unhappily due to various disputes, political and religious, with the
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
presbytery in
Allegheny County, western
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
.
The Ohio presbytery disapproved of Birch's radical republicanism, which he had translated into support for
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
and his
Democratic-Republican Party
The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...
. Together with most of the local shopkeepers, merchants and landowners, the elders and clergy supported the
Federalist Party
The Federalist Party was a Conservatism in the United States, conservative political party which was the first political party in the United States. As such, under Alexander Hamilton, it dominated the national government from 1789 to 1801.
De ...
.
Citing his United Irish past, Rev. John McMillan characterised Birch as a "fugitive from justice and an enemy of order".
But "more fundamentally" the presbytery responded to Birch's hostility to a new American-frontier theology. Despite his own millenarianism (based on his reading of the
Books of Daniel and
Revelation
In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities.
Background
Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the ...
he concluded that the
Second Coming of Christ
The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messi ...
would occur in Washington in 1848), as in Ireland Birch robustly defended the Presbyterian orthodoxy. He was repelled by a
revivalism
Revivalism may refer to:
* Christian revival, increased spiritual interest or renewal in the life of a church congregation or society, with a local, national or global effect
* Revivalism (architecture), the use of visual styles that consciously ...
that emphasised personal faith experience. The Ohio Presbytery repeatedly rejected Birch as "unconverted".
In American revivalism Birch may have recognised something of that which in Ireland he had observed in the "Seceders" who believed they were returning to the fundamentals of the faith. In a broadside published in 1796 he had denounced the excesses of their outdoor communion observations, suggesting that their primary aim was "large collections", and had rebuked their reactionary politics.
In 1804 Birch purchased a farm five miles west of
Washington, Pennsylvania
Washington is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Pennsylvania. A part of the Greater Pittsburgh area in the southwestern part of the state, the city is home to Washington & Jefferson College and Pony League baseball. The populat ...
, where a local paper records him officiating at a wedding in June 1819. He died near
Freeport, Pennsylvania
Freeport is a borough in Armstrong County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania; it is situated along the Allegheny River in the southwest corner of the county. The population was 1,813 at the 2010 Census.
Geography
Freeport is located at (40.674 ...
in 1828. His widow Isabella died in
Cadiz, Ohio
Cadiz ( ) is a village in Cadiz Township, Harrison County, Ohio, United States located about 20 miles from Steubenville. The population was 3,353 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Harrison County.
History
Cadiz was founded in 1803 a ...
in 1836, and a son Hamilton died there in 1847.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birch, Thomas Ledlie
1754 births
1828 deaths
United Irishmen
Irish Presbyterian ministers
Alumni of the University of Glasgow