Charles Lucas (politician)
Encyclopedia
Charles Lucas was an Irish
apothecary
, physician
and politician
. He sat as Member of Parliament for Dublin City
and was known as the "Irish Wilkes
" because of his radical
views.
, Ireland
. Benjamin Lucas died about 1727, leaving £937 to his family, of which Charles was to receive £80. Having served the usual apprenticeship as an apothecary, Lucas was admitted to the Guild of St. Mary Magdalene.
the Common Council. On 25 December 1747 Lucas presented a printed statement of the case, entitled The Complaints of Dublin, to the lord-lieutenant of Ireland, the Earl of Harrington
: but Harrington declined to move in the business.
When in August 1748 a vacancy occurred in the parliamentary representation of the city of Dublin, Lucas offered himself as a candidate. Alderman Sir Samuel Cooke
and James La Touche also came forward, and although the views of Lucas and Latouche were practically identical, neither would withdraw. To advance his candidature, Lucas in 1748-9 published twenty political addresses to his fellow-citizens, explaining his views on the constitution, reflecting severely on the corruption prevailing in the House of Commons, and advocating the principles expounded by William Molyneux
in favour of parliamentary independence. He rejected the claim that Ireland was a conquered colony dependent on the government and parliament of Great Britain. He continued "...it must now be confessed that there was no general
rebellion in Ireland, since the first British invasion, that
was not raised or fomented by the oppression, instigation,
evil influence or connivance of the English." These addresses and a certain paper called The Censor, or Citizen's Journal, offended not only the court party, but also the friends of La Touche, whose character was roughly handled by Lucas, especially in his fourteenth address. In counter addresses and pamphlets Lucas was stigmatised as a needy adventurer, a man of no family, and a political firebrand.
While the election was still pending, the death of Alderman Nathaniel Pearson in May 1749 caused a second vacancy in the representation, and Lucas and La Touche became partly reconciled in opposing Cooke and the second aldermanic candidate, Charles Burton. Shortly afterwards, the corporation having resolved to farm the revenues
of the city to a certain Alderman, Lucas denounced the affair as a job, and the council in which the resolution had been passed as packed. The corporation voted the charge false and malicious, and refused to hear Lucas in his defence. The censure was confirmed at a subsequent meeting, and a vote of thanks passed to the author of a pamphlet entitled Lucas Detected, conjectured to have been Edmund Burke
, at that time a student at Trinity College. But an appeal by Lucas to the corporation secured fifteen votes out of the twenty-five in his favour.
About the same time he printed, with a translation and notes, The Great Charter of the City of Dublin. The lords justices refused (15 May 1749) his request to transmit it to the king, with a "Dedication to his Majesty." But on the return of Lord Harrington, Lucas waited on him at the castle on 8 October, and gave him a copy, together with a collection of his political addresses. Lucas was favourably impressed with his reception. Two days later (5 October), however, he attended a levee, and was peremptorily required to leave the castle. Next day he published the story in a newspaper, "with thanks to his excellency for the honour he did him," and on the day following, 7 October, issued An Address to his Excellency . . . with a Preface to the Free and Independent Citizens of Dublin, commenting on his treatment.
The date of the parliamentary election was approaching, and the government resolved to prevent Lucas from proceeding to the poll. When Parliament assembled on 10 October, the lord-lieutenant in his speech from the throne animadverted on certain bold attempts to create jealousies between the two kingdoms. The reference to Lucas was unmistakable, and the commons, on a motion of Sir Richard Cox
, ordered Lucas and his printer to appear at the bar of the house. Esdall, Lucas's publisher, absconded; but the copy of his publications presented to the lord-lieutenant was put in evidence against him. The feeling of the house ran strongly against him, although the people of Dublin were hotly in his favour. Being ordered to withdraw, a series of resolutions was passed declaring him to be an enemy to his country, calling upon the attorney-general to prosecute him for his offence, and ordering his immediate imprisonment in Newgate
.
, and thence to London. After his flight he was presented by the grand juries of the county and city of Dublin as a common libeller. A proclamation was issued by the lord-lieutenant, at the request of the House of Commons, for his apprehension, and an engraver who advertised a mezzotint of him, as "an exile for his country, who seeking for liberty lost it," was committed to prison by order of the House of Commons. Finally, at the Christmas assembly of the corporation, he was disfranchised. Meanwhile Cooke and Latouche had been elected to represent Dublin in parliament.
After a short residence in London Lucas proceeded to the continent for the purpose of studying medicine. At Paris he studied under Petit
, and after visiting Rheims proceeded to Leyden, where he graduated M.D. on 20 December 1752. The title of his thesis was De Gangrena et Sphacelo, written in Latin. Не then visited Spa, Belgium
, Aachen
, and other baths
for the purpose of investigating the composition of their mineral waters. He returned to England in 1753, proceeding to Bath, and after a series of elaborate experiments conducted in public he went to London, where he established himself in practice. In 1756 he published An Essay on Waters. In three Parts: (i) of Simple Waters, (ii) of Cold Medicated Waters, (iii) of Natural Baths. This treatise, reviewed by Dr. Johnson
, gave great offence to the faculty at Bath, and having occasion to visit that place in 1757 he became involved in an acrimonious controversy with the heads of the profession there owing to their refusal to consult with him. But the book obtained for him considerable reputation, and enabled him,it is improbably said, to make an annual income of £3,000 by his profession. On 25 June 1759 he was admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians of London and he established a successful practice in London.
, Lucas published in November 1760 a pamphlet entitled Seasonable Advice to the Electors ... of Ireland in general, to those of Dublin in particular. In the same month he determined to offer himself as a candidate for the city of Dublin, notwithstanding the consequent loss of his practice in London. After assuring himself that the electors of Dublin "were warmed with the same sentiments in which he left them," he obtained a personal interview with the king in order to petition for pardon, and being favourably received was enabled to return to Dublin, 15 March 1761, on a nolle prosequi. His return was the occasion of great popular rejoicing; the order for his disfranchisement
was annulled at the midsummer assembly of the corporation; and in July the degree of Doctor of Physic was conferred upon him by Trinity College, Dublin. During the election Lucas's colleague, Colonel Dunn, withdrew his candidature in order to insure Lucas's return, which was strongly opposed by the aldermanic party. After a thirteen days' poll he and Recorder Grattan, father of Henry Grattan
, were elected, and he continued to represent Dublin City
till his death in 1771.
In parliament Lucas does not appear to have shone as an orator; but by assiduously bringing every question of importance before the public, he had the merit of reviving "that constitutional connection which ought to subsist between the constituents and their representative." On the first day of the session, 22 October 1761, he obtained leave to bring in the heads of a bill for shortening the duration of parliaments, which he presented to the house on 28 October; but on a motion to have it transmitted to England it was defeated by a majority of sixty-five. Shortly afterwards he presented the heads of two new bills for securing the freedom of parliament. In 1763 the Freeman's Journal, a biweekly newspaper, was started by three Dublin merchants under the management of Henry Brooke (1703?-l783 .) Lucas contributed to it from its commencement, sometimes anonymously, but generally under the signature of "A Citizen" or "Civis." Small as were its literary merits, the paper enjoyed at first great popularity, owing to the gratuitous contributions of Lucas and its strenuous assertion of Irish Protestant privileges In 1766 Lucas unsuccessfully opposed a bill to prevent the exportation of grain, on the ground that certain alterations made in it by the English privy council were detrimental to the rights of the Irish parliament. He justified his conduct in An Address to the Lord Mayor and Citizens of Dublin, and replied to further censure in A Second Address to the Lord Mayor. Several guilds, and among them the Guild of Merchants, presented addresses of thanks to him, and it was even proposed to grant him a salary of £365 a year out of the city treasury as a public acknowledgment of his services in parliament. The proposal was rejected by the Aldermen, and its rejection led to a renewal of the old quarrel between them and the commons, and to fresh manifestations of public sympathy with Lucas In 1768 Lucas strongly opposed the scheme for the augmentation of the army, on the ground partly that he favoured the establishment of a national militia, but chiefly because in his opinion "Standing parliaments and standing armies have ever proved the most dangerous enemies to civil liberty." In this year he caused considerable sensation by trying to institute a parliamentary inquiry into the case of a soldier whom he regarded as the victim of military discipline. His efforts in parliament proving unsuccessful, he published a pamphlet entitled A Mirror for Courts-Martial: in which the Complaints, Trial, Sentence, and Punishment of David Blakeney are examined. It is probably to his conduct on this occasion that Lord Townshend referred in a letter to the Marquess of Granby, "Here is a Doctor Lucas,
the Wilkes
of Ireland, who has been playing the devil here and poisoning all the soldiery with his harangues and writings; but I have treated this nonsensical demagogue as he deserves, with his mob at his heels." Lord Townshend's protest against the right of the Irish House of Commons to originate money bills, and his sudden prorogation of parliament in December 1769 drew from Lucas early in 1770 a pamphlet entitled The Rights and Privileges of Parliament asserted upon constitutional Principles. It was announced in the newspapers that an answer, "published by authority," entitled The Usage of holding Parliaments and of preparing Bills of Supply in Ireland, stated from Record,
would shortly appear. The book appeared on the day announced, but was instantly suppressed. A copy, however, came into Lucas's possession, and finding that it told more against than for the government he immediately republished it, with a sarcastic introduction and commentary.
From his earliest years Lucas had been a martyr to hereditary gout
, which rendered him a complete cripple, and latterly obliged him to be carried to the House of Commons. Nevertheless, says an eye-witness, "the gravity and uncommon neatness of his dress, his grey, venerable locks, blending with a pale but interesting countenance, in which an air of beauty was still visible, altogether excited attention, and I never saw a stranger come into the house without asking who he was." He died at his residence in Henry Street, Dublin, on Monday 4 November 1771. His remains were honoured with a public funeral of imposing solemnity. He was interred in the family burial-ground in St. Michan's churchyard. Lucas’s son Henry and other relatives were in attendance at his funeral, as were his friends Lord Charlemont, Flood and Adderley. The mourners also included officers and many hundred brethren of the guilds and the Lord Mayor with representatives of the Corporation and
the Vice-Provost and scholars of Trinity College.
There are several engraved portraits of Lucas, but the best is a mezzotint from a half-length by Sir Joshua Reynolds
in the National Gallery of Ireland
.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
apothecary
Apothecary
Apothecary is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist and some caregivers....
, physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. He sat as Member of Parliament for Dublin City
Dublin City (Parliament of Ireland constituency)
Dublin City was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons to 1801.-History:In the Patriot Parliament of 1689 summoned by King James II, Dublin City was represented with two members. In the 1760s the radical politician Charles Lucas used the seat as his political base.-1689–1801:...
and was known as the "Irish Wilkes
John Wilkes
John Wilkes was an English radical, journalist and politician.He was first elected Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he fought for the right of voters—rather than the House of Commons—to determine their representatives...
" because of his radical
Radicalism (historical)
The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
views.
Early life
Lucas was the younger son of Benjamin Lucas of Ballingaddy County ClareCounty Clare
-History:There was a Neolithic civilisation in the Clare area — the name of the peoples is unknown, but the Prehistoric peoples left evidence behind in the form of ancient dolmen; single-chamber megalithic tombs, usually consisting of three or more upright stones...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. Benjamin Lucas died about 1727, leaving £937 to his family, of which Charles was to receive £80. Having served the usual apprenticeship as an apothecary, Lucas was admitted to the Guild of St. Mary Magdalene.
Apothecary
For many years Lucas kept a shop in Charles Street, Dublin. He married his first wife Anne Blundell in 1734. In conducting his business Lucas was struck with certain abuses connected with the sale of drugs, and in 1735 published A Short Scheme for Preventing Frauds and Abuses in Pharmacy, humbly offered to the Consideration of the Legislature. His pamphlet was resented by his fellow-apothecaries, but was the cause of an act being passed for the inspection of medicines. In 1741 he published his Pharmacomastix, or the Office, Use, and Abuse of Apothecaries Explained, and had the satisfaction of seeing the former act renewed.Political career
In this year he was chosen one of the representatives of his corporation on the Common Council of the City of Dublin. He soon came to the conclusion that the board of Aldermen had illegally usurped many of the powers belonging of right to the entire corporation. Aided by James La Touche, a prominent merchant of the city, he secured the appointment of a committee, with Latouche as chairman, to inspect the charters and records of the city. The Aldermen strenuously resisted reform, and in 1743 he published A Remonstrance against certain Infringements on the Rights and Liberties of the Commons and Citizens of Dublin, arguing that the right of electing Aldermen lay with the entire corporation. His argument was disputed by Recorder Stannard, and in the following year Lucas published his closely reasoned and temperate Divelina Libera: an Apology for the Civil Rights and Liberties of the Commons and Citizens of Dublin. During the year the controversy continued with unabated zeal on both sides (see The Proceedings of the Sheriffs and Commons, &c., Dublin, 1744, and A Message from the Sheriffs and Commons to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen . . .protesting against the Election of George Ribton, Dublin, 26 Sept. 1744). By Lucas's efforts a fund was raised by voluntary subscription,and a suit commenced on 7 November 1744 against the Aldermen in the court of king's bench. But after a hearing of two days permission was refused by the judge to lodge an information, and the victorious Aldermen struck out the names of Lucas and his supporters from the following triennial return ofthe Common Council. On 25 December 1747 Lucas presented a printed statement of the case, entitled The Complaints of Dublin, to the lord-lieutenant of Ireland, the Earl of Harrington
William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington
William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington, PC was a British statesman and diplomat.He was a younger son of John Stanhope of Elvaston, Derbyshire, and a brother of Charles Stanhope , an active politician during the reign of George I. His ancestor, Sir John Stanhope , was a half-brother of Philip...
: but Harrington declined to move in the business.
When in August 1748 a vacancy occurred in the parliamentary representation of the city of Dublin, Lucas offered himself as a candidate. Alderman Sir Samuel Cooke
Samuel Cooke
Samuel Winter Cooke was an Australian politician.-Early life:Cooke was the son of pastoralist Cecil Pybus Cooke and Arbella, née Winter. He was sent to England for his schooling, where he attended Mr Shapcott's school and Cheltenham College, subsequently taking a Bachelor of Arts at Trinity...
and James La Touche also came forward, and although the views of Lucas and Latouche were practically identical, neither would withdraw. To advance his candidature, Lucas in 1748-9 published twenty political addresses to his fellow-citizens, explaining his views on the constitution, reflecting severely on the corruption prevailing in the House of Commons, and advocating the principles expounded by William Molyneux
William Molyneux
William Molyneux FRS was an Irish natural philosopher and writer on politics.He was born in Dublin to Samuel Molyneux , lawyer and landowner , and his wife, Anne, née Dowdall. The second of five children, William Molyneux came from a relatively prosperous Anglican background...
in favour of parliamentary independence. He rejected the claim that Ireland was a conquered colony dependent on the government and parliament of Great Britain. He continued "...it must now be confessed that there was no general
rebellion in Ireland, since the first British invasion, that
was not raised or fomented by the oppression, instigation,
evil influence or connivance of the English." These addresses and a certain paper called The Censor, or Citizen's Journal, offended not only the court party, but also the friends of La Touche, whose character was roughly handled by Lucas, especially in his fourteenth address. In counter addresses and pamphlets Lucas was stigmatised as a needy adventurer, a man of no family, and a political firebrand.
While the election was still pending, the death of Alderman Nathaniel Pearson in May 1749 caused a second vacancy in the representation, and Lucas and La Touche became partly reconciled in opposing Cooke and the second aldermanic candidate, Charles Burton. Shortly afterwards, the corporation having resolved to farm the revenues
Tax farming
Farming is a technique of financial management, namely the process of commuting , by its assignment by legal contract to a third party, a future uncertain revenue stream into fixed and certain periodic rents, in consideration for which commutation a discount in value received is suffered...
of the city to a certain Alderman, Lucas denounced the affair as a job, and the council in which the resolution had been passed as packed. The corporation voted the charge false and malicious, and refused to hear Lucas in his defence. The censure was confirmed at a subsequent meeting, and a vote of thanks passed to the author of a pamphlet entitled Lucas Detected, conjectured to have been Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
, at that time a student at Trinity College. But an appeal by Lucas to the corporation secured fifteen votes out of the twenty-five in his favour.
About the same time he printed, with a translation and notes, The Great Charter of the City of Dublin. The lords justices refused (15 May 1749) his request to transmit it to the king, with a "Dedication to his Majesty." But on the return of Lord Harrington, Lucas waited on him at the castle on 8 October, and gave him a copy, together with a collection of his political addresses. Lucas was favourably impressed with his reception. Two days later (5 October), however, he attended a levee, and was peremptorily required to leave the castle. Next day he published the story in a newspaper, "with thanks to his excellency for the honour he did him," and on the day following, 7 October, issued An Address to his Excellency . . . with a Preface to the Free and Independent Citizens of Dublin, commenting on his treatment.
The date of the parliamentary election was approaching, and the government resolved to prevent Lucas from proceeding to the poll. When Parliament assembled on 10 October, the lord-lieutenant in his speech from the throne animadverted on certain bold attempts to create jealousies between the two kingdoms. The reference to Lucas was unmistakable, and the commons, on a motion of Sir Richard Cox
Richard Cox
Richard Cox may refer to:*Dick Cox , American baseball player*Richard Cox , American actor*Richard Cox , English clergyman, Dean of Westminster and Bishop of Ely...
, ordered Lucas and his printer to appear at the bar of the house. Esdall, Lucas's publisher, absconded; but the copy of his publications presented to the lord-lieutenant was put in evidence against him. The feeling of the house ran strongly against him, although the people of Dublin were hotly in his favour. Being ordered to withdraw, a series of resolutions was passed declaring him to be an enemy to his country, calling upon the attorney-general to prosecute him for his offence, and ordering his immediate imprisonment in Newgate
Newgate Prison, Dublin
Newgate Prison was a place of detention in Dublin until its closure in 1863. It was initially located at Cornmarket, near Christ Church Cathedral, on the south side of the Liffey, and was originally one of the city gates.-From city gate to prison:...
.
Physician
His first intention was to submit quietly to his punishment; but finding that he was to be treated with scant decency, he escaped to the Isle of ManIsle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
, and thence to London. After his flight he was presented by the grand juries of the county and city of Dublin as a common libeller. A proclamation was issued by the lord-lieutenant, at the request of the House of Commons, for his apprehension, and an engraver who advertised a mezzotint of him, as "an exile for his country, who seeking for liberty lost it," was committed to prison by order of the House of Commons. Finally, at the Christmas assembly of the corporation, he was disfranchised. Meanwhile Cooke and Latouche had been elected to represent Dublin in parliament.
After a short residence in London Lucas proceeded to the continent for the purpose of studying medicine. At Paris he studied under Petit
François Pourfour du Petit
François Pourfour du Petit was a French anatomist, ophthalmologist and surgeon who was a native of Paris. He studied medicine at the University of Montpellier, and afterwards studied surgery at the Hôpital de la Charité in Paris...
, and after visiting Rheims proceeded to Leyden, where he graduated M.D. on 20 December 1752. The title of his thesis was De Gangrena et Sphacelo, written in Latin. Не then visited Spa, Belgium
Spa, Belgium
Spa is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Province of Liège. It is situated in a valley in the Ardennes mountain chain, some southeast of Liège, and southwest of Aachen. As of 1 January 2006, Spa had a total population of 10,543...
, Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
, and other baths
Spa town
A spa town is a town situated around a mineral spa . Patrons resorted to spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. The word comes from the Belgian town Spa. In continental Europe a spa was known as a ville d'eau...
for the purpose of investigating the composition of their mineral waters. He returned to England in 1753, proceeding to Bath, and after a series of elaborate experiments conducted in public he went to London, where he established himself in practice. In 1756 he published An Essay on Waters. In three Parts: (i) of Simple Waters, (ii) of Cold Medicated Waters, (iii) of Natural Baths. This treatise, reviewed by Dr. Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
, gave great offence to the faculty at Bath, and having occasion to visit that place in 1757 he became involved in an acrimonious controversy with the heads of the profession there owing to their refusal to consult with him. But the book obtained for him considerable reputation, and enabled him,it is improbably said, to make an annual income of £3,000 by his profession. On 25 June 1759 he was admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians of London and he established a successful practice in London.
Return to Ireland
In view of the general election at the accession of George IIIGeorge III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
, Lucas published in November 1760 a pamphlet entitled Seasonable Advice to the Electors ... of Ireland in general, to those of Dublin in particular. In the same month he determined to offer himself as a candidate for the city of Dublin, notwithstanding the consequent loss of his practice in London. After assuring himself that the electors of Dublin "were warmed with the same sentiments in which he left them," he obtained a personal interview with the king in order to petition for pardon, and being favourably received was enabled to return to Dublin, 15 March 1761, on a nolle prosequi. His return was the occasion of great popular rejoicing; the order for his disfranchisement
was annulled at the midsummer assembly of the corporation; and in July the degree of Doctor of Physic was conferred upon him by Trinity College, Dublin. During the election Lucas's colleague, Colonel Dunn, withdrew his candidature in order to insure Lucas's return, which was strongly opposed by the aldermanic party. After a thirteen days' poll he and Recorder Grattan, father of Henry Grattan
Henry Grattan
Henry Grattan was an Irish politician and member of the Irish House of Commons and a campaigner for legislative freedom for the Irish Parliament in the late 18th century. He opposed the Act of Union 1800 that merged the Kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain.-Early life:Grattan was born at...
, were elected, and he continued to represent Dublin City
Dublin City (Parliament of Ireland constituency)
Dublin City was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons to 1801.-History:In the Patriot Parliament of 1689 summoned by King James II, Dublin City was represented with two members. In the 1760s the radical politician Charles Lucas used the seat as his political base.-1689–1801:...
till his death in 1771.
In parliament Lucas does not appear to have shone as an orator; but by assiduously bringing every question of importance before the public, he had the merit of reviving "that constitutional connection which ought to subsist between the constituents and their representative." On the first day of the session, 22 October 1761, he obtained leave to bring in the heads of a bill for shortening the duration of parliaments, which he presented to the house on 28 October; but on a motion to have it transmitted to England it was defeated by a majority of sixty-five. Shortly afterwards he presented the heads of two new bills for securing the freedom of parliament. In 1763 the Freeman's Journal, a biweekly newspaper, was started by three Dublin merchants under the management of Henry Brooke (1703?-l783 .) Lucas contributed to it from its commencement, sometimes anonymously, but generally under the signature of "A Citizen" or "Civis." Small as were its literary merits, the paper enjoyed at first great popularity, owing to the gratuitous contributions of Lucas and its strenuous assertion of Irish Protestant privileges In 1766 Lucas unsuccessfully opposed a bill to prevent the exportation of grain, on the ground that certain alterations made in it by the English privy council were detrimental to the rights of the Irish parliament. He justified his conduct in An Address to the Lord Mayor and Citizens of Dublin, and replied to further censure in A Second Address to the Lord Mayor. Several guilds, and among them the Guild of Merchants, presented addresses of thanks to him, and it was even proposed to grant him a salary of £365 a year out of the city treasury as a public acknowledgment of his services in parliament. The proposal was rejected by the Aldermen, and its rejection led to a renewal of the old quarrel between them and the commons, and to fresh manifestations of public sympathy with Lucas In 1768 Lucas strongly opposed the scheme for the augmentation of the army, on the ground partly that he favoured the establishment of a national militia, but chiefly because in his opinion "Standing parliaments and standing armies have ever proved the most dangerous enemies to civil liberty." In this year he caused considerable sensation by trying to institute a parliamentary inquiry into the case of a soldier whom he regarded as the victim of military discipline. His efforts in parliament proving unsuccessful, he published a pamphlet entitled A Mirror for Courts-Martial: in which the Complaints, Trial, Sentence, and Punishment of David Blakeney are examined. It is probably to his conduct on this occasion that Lord Townshend referred in a letter to the Marquess of Granby, "Here is a Doctor Lucas,
the Wilkes
Wilkes
Wilkes may refer to:* Wilkes, Portland, Oregon, a US neighborhood* Wilkes , Australian thoroughbred, sire of Vain * USS Wilkes , a US Navy destroyer* Wilkes University, in Pennsylvania, US...
of Ireland, who has been playing the devil here and poisoning all the soldiery with his harangues and writings; but I have treated this nonsensical demagogue as he deserves, with his mob at his heels." Lord Townshend's protest against the right of the Irish House of Commons to originate money bills, and his sudden prorogation of parliament in December 1769 drew from Lucas early in 1770 a pamphlet entitled The Rights and Privileges of Parliament asserted upon constitutional Principles. It was announced in the newspapers that an answer, "published by authority," entitled The Usage of holding Parliaments and of preparing Bills of Supply in Ireland, stated from Record,
would shortly appear. The book appeared on the day announced, but was instantly suppressed. A copy, however, came into Lucas's possession, and finding that it told more against than for the government he immediately republished it, with a sarcastic introduction and commentary.
From his earliest years Lucas had been a martyr to hereditary gout
Gout
Gout is a medical condition usually characterized by recurrent attacks of acute inflammatory arthritis—a red, tender, hot, swollen joint. The metatarsal-phalangeal joint at the base of the big toe is the most commonly affected . However, it may also present as tophi, kidney stones, or urate...
, which rendered him a complete cripple, and latterly obliged him to be carried to the House of Commons. Nevertheless, says an eye-witness, "the gravity and uncommon neatness of his dress, his grey, venerable locks, blending with a pale but interesting countenance, in which an air of beauty was still visible, altogether excited attention, and I never saw a stranger come into the house without asking who he was." He died at his residence in Henry Street, Dublin, on Monday 4 November 1771. His remains were honoured with a public funeral of imposing solemnity. He was interred in the family burial-ground in St. Michan's churchyard. Lucas’s son Henry and other relatives were in attendance at his funeral, as were his friends Lord Charlemont, Flood and Adderley. The mourners also included officers and many hundred brethren of the guilds and the Lord Mayor with representatives of the Corporation and
the Vice-Provost and scholars of Trinity College.
There are several engraved portraits of Lucas, but the best is a mezzotint from a half-length by Sir Joshua Reynolds
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...
in the National Gallery of Ireland
National Gallery of Ireland
The National Gallery of Ireland houses the Irish national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street. It was founded in 1854 and opened its doors ten years later...
.