In 1792, a man named Jonathan Swift created a pamphlet that circulated through Ireland called “A Modest Proposal: For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being Aburden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to The Public”. While the name sounds as if it would be how to put them to work or something of that nature, he was actually proposing the idea to eat children. He suggests that the act of eating children would solve their economic crisis. Even though he wrote this as if he was in real concern and in a serious tone, to the majority of the readers, it was obvious that it was satirical. During this time period, the British had a hold on Ireland’s government and were not letting go. The article by Sean Moore and the book by Charles Ivar McGrath explain how the British were able to take over their parliament, how unfair they were to the Irish, and some factors that lead to the composition of this pamphlet.  

 In Jonathan Swifts “Modest Proposal”, he suggest some absolutely insane ways to cut down on the spending of the people in Ireland, specifically the women. His main proposal, was to begin consuming the children and hunting them for sport once they became a certain age instead of deer, and even to make baby skin into “admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen” (Swift). He did this because the Irish people were being taxed very heavily by the British, who were running their parliament. In Sean Moore’s, “Devouring Posterity: "A Modest Proposal", Empire, and Ireland's "Debt of the Nation"”, he explains why Swift wrote his proposal and the division between the two parties, Whigs and Tories. While Charles Ivar McGrath in his book “Ireland and Empire, 1692 – 1770” explains how it the British were financially able to take over the Irish.

The British were in control of the Irish government because Ireland took out a private loan from the British, into the Irish Treasury in 1716. According to McGrath, they were already in debt because of “an integral part of the evolving constitutional framework centered on short-term additional supply and biennial sessions” (McGrath 182). The British were in debt because of their obsession with their new military. They were building it up and wasting money by using it when it was not necessary. With their new military, the British were able to threaten the Irish and put their people, the Whigs, in power and rule Ireland. The Whigs in power were all corrupt, especially the prime minister of the time, and were even censoring the Tories which made it nearly impossible to spread their propaganda and news. They “disregard the prerogatives of the Irish legislature”, which really upset Swift who was a strong member of the Tory party and was known as a key propagandist (Moore, 684).  To try and fix their own debt and also repay the debt, the British put extreme taxes on the Irish who were already financially hurting country wide. All of their taxes were going straight to fixing the British’s debt instead of trying to fix Ireland’s own debt or their debt to Britain. With their owed tax money, and their grip on the Irish parliament, they forced them to “support “wars necessary to secure profits”, which the Irish were seeing none of (Moore, 680). If the absurd taxing was not bad enough, there was a suggestion made in another pamphlet called “A Modest Defense of Public Stews” by Bernard Mandeville, which involved exploiting women for sex to raise the money to pay the taxes, as if it were no big deal. Moore makes the connection that Swift most likely wrote his insane proposal about the consumption and material use of children, as if it were no big deal to point out how absurd that was and also how ridiculous Mandeville sounded in his proposal. He also did it to stand up for the women’s rights. He specifically brings them up in the beginning when he discusses how awful these women who have all of these children that have to beg because they are too young for her to be able to work are. Shinning a light on it is not their choice and they should not be treated like sex objects and probably would not want as many kids as she has that have put her in the situation she is in. When there are tragedies, the go to plan is to get the “women and children out”. Especially in this time period, women do not have rights and even though they are treated like property, they were still recognized as prized and delicate. So, for Mandeville to suggest a brothel, really upset the conservative and ordained Jonathan Swift. 

Swift was tired of being censored and taxed by a country taking advantage of them. He could not get out any of his information or propaganda, so he finally just went to an extreme and wrote up this proposal. According to Moore, there were three different types of people it was intended for. The first being his fellow Tories who would get a laugh out of it, rally behind him in support, and help spread it all over. The second and third types of people were the British and Whigs. They would fall into one of two types of people. The first being they would recognize it was a satire and see how desperate and angry the Irish people were getting, to write and produce a pamphlet on the act of eating children. The second would be those who thought that Swift was being serious and they were so poor and distraught that people were really suggesting the awful ideas written in the pamphlet. 

England was very progressive at this time. They were conquering new places with their military and even supporting some exploration. Ireland was more conservative and trying to control and maintain their debt and parliament. It makes sense that the Irish born Swift, who was a Tory, was against the more liberal Whigs. At the time Whigs were the majority in England and the Tories were in Ireland. When the Whigs came into power, they mistreated the Tories and made them become outraged. 

These articles by Moore and McGrath helped me understand the time period and meaning behind this pamphlet. Without prior knowledge, this proposal would sound crazy and maybe not even satirical. I now understand that there was extreme social and political unrest during this time period in Ireland. There was abuse of power from the English and the Irish government, which was run by the English. I also understand that even though Swift wrote this essay satirically and to possibly convince people they were that desperate, there were other people suggesting also crazy things to imply that if change did not happen, it could become a reality, in an extreme situation. Through these articles I know how exactly the British gained so much power over Ireland and weaseled their way into their government and all of the things that provoked Swift enough to write this extreme pamphlet and believe it was necessary to get the attention they needed. 
