Abstract
Reviewed by: Eamon Darcy, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
There are two key aims to Stephen Conway’s Britain, Ireland, & Continental Europe in the Eighteenth Century: to show how British and Irish people saw themselves as European and to argue that Britain and Ireland are ‘integral parts of Europe’ at this time (2). Acknowledging how fluid contemporary geographical concepts of Europe were (13–16), Conway points to the inherent contradictions within its political and religious boundaries. Such issues posed an obvious challenge as well as dealing with a vast geographic and chronological scope, thus Conway adopts a selective approach, a point noted by the author (3).
The ‘Glorious Revolution’ is taken as the starting point for it led to a constitutional change that was celebrated for both its ‘Englishness’ and for its European influences. The conflict between James II and William III involved key European powers and territories – a wider dimension British and Irish people were aware of. This, coupled with an interest in contemporary French constitutional reforms, meant that many ‘British and Irish Protestants also located their constitution in more positive European contexts’ (47). Increasingly, British monarchs were co-opted into wider European political machinations. At first, this was due to perennial concerns over the Jacobite menace and, secondly, out of a concern for other Protestant polities in Europe. A fundamental legacy of the Glorious Revolution was the concept of the ‘liberty of Europe’ and commentators were eager to be seen as its defenders (72–5).
Finance and trade assisted in the broadening of British and Irish horizons. Here Conway’s study integrates Old and New World trading networks and patterns to show that traders recognized a common European commercial interest, but not one contemporaries wanted to pursue politically (107–8). Such merchant networks facilitated the spread of cultural ideas, dealt with by Chapters 4 and 5. In England, French modes of politeness became popular – although there were some complaints about some of its excesses. Nonetheless, those who visited France were impressed by its culture – so much so that many criticized Napoleon for attempting for destroy it. Aside from Grand Tours, European colleges welcomed British and Irish students; these educational networks provided a valuable opportunity for intellectuals such as Jeremy Bentham to disseminate their ideas on the Continent. Bentham, in particular, had a ‘strong European orientation’ (156), further supporting Conway’s belief in the existence of a European identity on the Atlantic Archipelago.
In Chapter 6 Conway delves further into the issue of religion and argues that Irish Catholics had strong links with their Catholic neighbours on the Continent – a relationship that often fostered unease among British and Irish Protestants. Similarly, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, Protestant refugees from France were welcomed into the Atlantic Archipelago, again fostering a European identity, yet forged on sectarian lines. The passing of conciliatory laws towards Catholics such as the building of a Catholic university, however, weakened these sectarian ties. Instead, Conway argues, Grand Tours facilitated ‘positive engagement’ (213) with Europe, and in particular France. Furthermore, migrant communities helped to foster a common European identity as artisans and artists travelled between the Continent and Britain and Ireland. In Chapter 9, ‘Maritime Connections’ Conway included a discussion of military alliances between European powers and argues that soldiers, in particular, further facilitated a common European identity – due to the ‘sense of a military international’ that was imbued with a European flavour (285). Thus, Conway concludes, claims of ‘English or British exceptionalism are often greatly overstated’ (292).
This book is noteworthy for it reminds us of the importance of the European theatre to British and Irish history. Conway skilfully integrates an Old and New World perspective into a fascinating and highly readable account of Ireland and Britain’s connections with Europe. While the author readily acknowledges some of the book’s flaws (i.e. that it is selective in its approach), two key issues remain. First, much of what Conway discussed needed to acknowledge its earlier provenance. Among Englishmen, for example, the concept of a European ‘Protestant Interest’ was alive and kicking during the Thirty Years War when charitable connections were established for the relief of German Protestants. Similarly, the emergence of an international/European sphere to military combat grew out of the rules of war developed in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Furthermore, is there a point to be made about the influx of Italian and French gestures in seventeenth-century England as an earlier example to Conway’s discussion on politeness? Secondly, it is strange that this collection ignores prominent Irish and British families who left for the Continent fearing religious persecution in the 1600s. Many successfully integrated into other European polities’ political and military structures in the 1700s. Subsequent generations of expatriate Irish noble families became leading figures in the Spanish and French armies and welcomed newly arrived Catholics from their homeland in the eighteenth century. Nonetheless, this is a thought-provoking work, which will prove invaluable to future generations of researchers who wish to understand British and Irish connections with mainland Europe in the eighteenth century.