Catholic emancipation Reaction against this led to riots in Scotland in 1779 and then the Gordon Riots in London on June 2, 1780. Further relief was given by an Act of 1782 allowing the establishment of Roman Catholic schools and bishops. The British Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791 was adopted by the Irish Parliament in 1792–93. Since the electoral franchise at the time was largely determined by property, this relief gave the votes to Roman Catholics holding land with a rental value of £2 a year. They also started to gain access to many middle-class professions from which they had been excluded,
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