Sandys’s Authorised Gazette
Queen Anne was monarch, while James Butler, second duke of Ormond, served as lord lieutenant of Ireland. Appointed in 1703 partly because of his powerful Irish connexions and influence in both houses, Ormond presided over the 1705 session at a time when the crown required dependable revenue and political calm. The Irish parliament was not a national representative assembly in any modern democratic sense. Its electorate and office-holding structure were restricted by property, religion and the post-1691 political order; Catholics, who formed the large majority of the population, were excluded from the legislature.