As a final gesture, the Catholic Committee had issued a declaration calling for parliamentary reform. While this displeased the government, it was seen as poor recompense for those radical Dissenters in the North who believed they had hazarded much to advance the Catholic cause. William Drennan, an original mover of the United Irishmen, complained that the Catholic Committee had "two strings to their bow. One to deal with government, the other to treat with the Society: and its strategy was to go with the one that would promise and deliver the most.
