Catholic Church in the United Kingdom was not yet a reality, particularly in Ireland, where the Protestant Ascendancy was still in full force. The Treaty of Union of 1707, like the Act of Settlement, had stated that no "Papist" could succeed to the throne. Restrictions on the civil rights of Catholics only began to change with the passing of the Papists Act 1778, which allowed them to own property, inherit land and join the British Army, although even this measure resulted in the backlash of the Gordon Riots of 1780, showing the depth of continuing anti-Catholic feeling. After 1790, a new mood emerged as thousands of
HMS Monsieur (1780) On 22 January 1780, the "Lively" was sailing from London to Liverpool when she fell victim to the Irish pirate vessel "Black Prince". "Lively" escaped only to fall victim to "Monsieur" two days later. "Monsieur" took all the crew out of "Lively", except for three boys, and put a 13-man prize crew aboard. On 4 February, the boys recaptured the ship while almost the entire prize crew was asleep. The next day they sailed to Kinsale where the letter of marque "Hercules" took possession. On 12 March 1780 the Third Rate "Alexander", under the command of Captain Lord Longford, was