Today in Irish History: 1746 Birth of Irish statesman and parliamentarian Henry Grattan. Grattan was member of the Patriot Movement that won legislative independence for Ireland in 1782. He said “I found Ireland on her knees, I watched over her with a paternal solicitude; I have traced her progress from injuries to arms, and from arms to liberty. Spirit of Swift! Spirit of Molyneux! Your genius has prevailed! Ireland is now a nation! In that new character I hail her! And bowing to her august presence, I say, Esto perpetua (May it be forever)” It was not to be forever. The 1800 Act of Union abolished the Irish Parliament. On the demise of the Irish Parliament, he said to a friend, “I sat by its cradle and followed its hearse.”