Page 12 - GAHS Journal Volume 9

CREATING A NEW STATE

I must fear from the decided party which the
Duke takes in support of Mr. Latouche, that I
shall be prevented from serving you as I wish.
‘Tis true I am not dependent upon him for any
part of my property, but I feel that if I were to
oppose myself to his wishes, it would be doing
an unbecoming, and perhaps, an ungrateful
act. I shall now forebear to register the four
freeholds I had intended. Excuse me for
troubling you with this letter I felt it right to
communicate its contents to you.

I have the honour to be, Dear Sir, with great
Respect & Truth your most humble servant.

Athy, 16 November 1801, Lewis Mansergh’.

The letter shows that even those who had the franchise,
before the days of Catholic Emancipation and before the secret
ballot, were not in practice always free in the exercise of it. It can
only be speculated upon whether there were any financial
reasons for the penurious Duke of Leinster, as he is described
by Edith Johnston-Liik in her biographical dictionary The Irish
Parliament 1692-1800, to back a La Touche, whose father had
purchased the borough of Harristown in Co. Kildare off the duke
in 1792 for £14,000, and who had succeeded to his father’s
partnership in the La Touche Bank. The Hamilton referred to
could have been the MP for Dublin County before and after the
Union. Robert was the successor to his uncle Peter La Touche
of Bellevue in ownership of 9, St. Stephen’s Green, subsequently
the St. Stephen’s Green Club. The Rt. Hon David La Touche had
been first Treasurer of the Kildare Street Club, when it was
located in premises now the Royal College of Physicians. In a

8