Liam's Irish Traditional Music - Irelands culture and tradition

The Protestants formed a special society in 1795. It was called the Loyal Orange Association', and took its name from William of Orange. It vowed loyalty to the Crown of England, if the monarch remained loyal to the Protestant Ascendancy, and began to celebrate every year the Battle of the Boyne. The organization' was based on sectarian differences, and grew swiftly in Ulster.

When the rebellion of 1798 had been crushed, the British Prime Minister, Pitt, put forward plans for uniting Ireland and England. Many Catholics and Protestants in Ireland refused, to accept Pitt's proposals. To get his bill passed, Pitt bribed members of the Irish Parliament, and in 1800 the Irish House of Commons passed the Act of Union. Ireland lost an independent Parliament, as power was transferred to Westminster. Any change to be effected would have to be centred on British politics, and discussed in London.