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Henry Grattan (3 July 1746 – 6 June 1820) 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 has been described as: :a superb orator – nervous, high-flown, romantic. With generous enthusiasm he demanded that Ireland should be granted its rightful status, that of an independent nation, though he always insisted that Ireland would remain linked to Great Britain by a common crown and by sharing a common political tradition.〔R. B. McDowell, "The Protestant Nation (1775–1800)," in T. W. Moody and F. X. Martin, eds., ''The Course of Irish History'' (2nd ed. 1994) p 233〕 Grattan opposed the Act of Union 1800 that merged the Kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain, but later sat as a member of the united Parliament in London. ==Early life== Grattan was born at Fishamble Street, Dublin, and baptised in the nearby church of St. John the Evangelist.〔(The Volunteers and the United Irishmen )〕 A member of the Anglo-Irish elite of Protestant background, Grattan was the son of James Grattan MP, of Belcamp Park, County Dublin (d. 1766), and Mary (1724–1768), youngest daughter of Sir Thomas Marlay (1691–1756), Attorney-General of Ireland, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer and finally Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench. Grattan attended Drogheda Grammar School and then went on to become a distinguished student at Trinity College, Dublin where he began a lifelong study of classical literature, and was especially interested in the great orators of antiquity. Like his friend Henry Flood, Grattan worked on his natural eloquence and oratory skills by studying models such as Bolingbroke and Junius. After studying at the King's Inns, Dublin and being called to the Irish bar in 1772 he never seriously practised law but was drawn to politics, influenced by Flood. He entered the Irish Parliament for Charlemont in 1775, sponsored by Lord Charlemont, just as Flood had damaged his credibility by accepting office. Grattan quickly superseded Flood in the leadership of the national party, not least because his oratorical powers were unsurpassed among his contemporaries. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Henry Grattan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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