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Series of pamphlets by Jonathan Swift

Drapier's Letters is the collective name for a series of seven pamphlets written between 1724 and 1725 by the Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Jonathan Swift, to arouse public opinion in Ireland against the imposition of a privately minted copper coinage that Swift believed to be of inferior quality. William Wood was granted letters patent to mint the coin, and Swift saw the licensing of the patent as corrupt. In response, Swift represented Ireland as constitutionally and financially independent of Britain in the Drapier's Letters. Since the subject was politically sensitive, Swift wrote under the pseudonym M. B., Drapier, to hide from retaliation. Although the letters were condemned by the Parliament of Ireland, with prompting from the Parliament of Great Britain, they were still able to inspire popular sentiment against Wood and his patent. The popular sentiment turned into a nationwide boycott, which forced the patent to be withdrawn; Swift was later honoured for this service to the people of Ireland. Many Irish people viewed Swift as a hero for his defiance of British authority. Beyond being a hero, many critics have seen Swift, through the persona of the Drapier, as the first to organise a "more universal Irish community", although it is disputed as to who constitutes that community. Regardless of to whom Swift is actually appealing what he may or may not have done, the nickname provided by Archbishop King, "Our Irish Copper Farthen Dean", and his connection to ending the controversy stuck. The first complete collection of the Drapier's Letters appeared in the 1734 George Faulkner edition of the Works of Jonathan Swift along with an allegorical frontispiece offering praise and thanks from the Irish people. Today, the Drapier's Letters are an important part of Swift's political writings, along with Gulliver's Travels (1726), A Tale of a Tub (1704), and A Modest Proposal (1729).

In 1722, hardware manufacturer William Wood was granted letters patent to produce copper coinage of up to £108,000 (around £ as of ) for use in Ireland. The patent was secured by a bribe of £10,000 (around £ as of ) to the Duchess of Kendal, mistress to King George I. Although Wood's copper coins were subsequently alleged to be underweight, undersized, and made from inferior materials, assays had found they were not so, prior to their approval by the Parliament of Great Britain for use in Ireland. The Irish complaint against Wood was not that they had enough copper coins, but that this would introduce too many coins of inferior quality into the Irish economy. These coins would remove valuable silver and gold coins from circulation in the Irish economy, and since the new copper coins would not be minted under Irish authority, no way existed for the Irish to control the quality and amount. Also, Wood's coin was only one example of allegedly unfavourable economic practices that hurt Ireland;

The patent issue soon became a struggle between Prime Minister Robert Walpole (with the authority of the Parliament of Great Britain) and the leaders of Ireland. All attempts by the Irish Privy Council and the Church of Ireland to prevent the release of the coinage proved fruitless. It was soon thought by many that William Conolly’s Commissioners of the Revenue might pay the soldiers stationed in Ireland with the new coin; if the soldiers were paid with the coin, then the merchants of Ireland would be forced to accept the coin from the soldiers or risk military reprisal or a loss of business. This worried the leadership of Ireland and they requested help in challenging Wood's patent and leading a boycott of the coin. Swift was asked by Archbishop King and Lord Chancellor Midleton to contribute to a pamphleteering campaign against Wood's coin. During this time, Lord Carteret, the British Secretary of State whose remit included Ireland, publicly pushed Walpole into defending Wood's patent. However, Carteret privately attempted to destroy the patent to damage Walpole's reputation. Thus, Carteret appeared to the British as a defender of the patent because he seemingly tried to prevent an Irish uprising (especially by finding "Drapier"), but he was really furthering his anti Walpole agenda and aiding the Irish nationalist cause.

Jonathan Swift, then Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, was already known for his concern for the Irish people and for writing several political pamphlets. One of these, Proposal for the Universal use of Irish Manufacture (1720), had so inflamed the British authorities that the printer, John Harding, was prosecuted, although the pamphlet had done little more than recommend that the Irish use the materials they produce rather than export them to England. Also, the Irish authorities knew that Swift's political pamphleteering had been employed by the Tory government of Queen Anne, and that he would use his abilities to undermine the Whig government of Walpole. Swift's pseudonymous choice served two essential purposes: it provided him with an alternate persona which he could use to hide from potential political reprisals, and it allowed him to create an identity that was closely aligned with the common people of Ireland. Regardless of how secret Swift may have wanted his identity to be, most people in Ireland, including members of the Irish Privy Council, certainly knew that Swift was the author of the letters. Unfortunately for the Walpole administration, little legal proof was available of a relationship between the two that would justify them trying Swift as the "Drapier". The claims of treason levelled against the Drapier were of "treason to the English Parliament", which only caused more resentment among the Irish people, who sided with Swift's constitutional argument that the Irish people owed their allegiance only to the king. The letter To the Lord Chancellor Middleton was signed with Swift's name and not collected until Faulkner's 1735 edition. The last letter, An Humble Address, was also published after the conflict had ended.

The Drapier's first letter, To the Shop keepers, Tradesmen, Farmers, and Common People of Ireland, was printed in March 1724. The letter was retitled "Fraud Detected: or, The Hibernian Patriot" by Faulkner's Dublin Journal, which published the piece in 1725. "Fraud Detected" was later used by Faulkner as the title of the collection of the first five letters, published after the patent controversy ended. The Drapier introduces his subject by invoking the duty of his readers as "Christians, as parents, and as lovers of your country". However, the final judgment had not yet come, so the Drapier also included arguments claiming that Wood's halfpence would destroy the Irish economy and the souls of the citizenry. One of the concerns of the Irish discussed in the first letter was over what is now known as Gresham's law: debased coins would cause silver and gold coinage to be hoarded or removed from the country, which would further debase the currency. Even Swift's satire of Wood's character is based on actual evidence and added very little to what Wood provided the public through his words and actions. Although the Drapier emphasises Wood's involvement and not the king's, glosses of the first letter reveal allusions to Wood bribing the Duchess of Kendal that obscure the distinction to the careful reader.

The sixth letter during the Drapier's campaign, To the Lord Chancellor Middleton, is dated 26 October 1724, and was written as a private letter from Jonathan Swift to Alan Brodrick, Lord Midleton (with the misspelling of his title). It is not a true "Drapier" letter, because the author professes to be different from the Drapier, although he was known to be one and the same by Lord Midleton. Sir Walter Scott includes this letter as number five, although Faulkner, Sheridan, Deane Swift, Hawkesworth and Nichols label it as number six. Regardless, Swift wrote the letter to express himself in a way that the Drapier could not: as the dean of a great, Irish cathedral. He asserts his status to verify that the Drapier's intentions must be good. In essence, the letter rehashes many of the previous letters' arguments to draw Midleton into openly supporting the Drapier's actions. Swift also admits to actively working against the patent, and mentions how his "On Doing Good" sermon is similar to the ideas expressed by the Drapier.

The Drapier's last letter, An Humble Address to Both Houses of Parliament, was completed in June 1725. It was written before Wood's patent was defeated, and it was stopped from being printed when word reached Swift that the patent had been withdrawn. Although nothing new would be discovered in an investigation, the letter served the purpose of trying to unite the people of Ireland to fight for further economic freedom. The Drapier refers to Ireland's lack of economic freedom when he claims, the Irish "are altogether Losers, and England a Gainer". Swift's intentions behind the letter are uncertain, and some critics believe that Swift did not desire such an investigation into Wood's supporters while others contend that Swift was serious about promoting a public inquiry into the matter. The topics the Drapier addresses span from absentee land owners to importing of goods from Britain to the favouring of Englishmen over Irishmen for positions in the Irish government. These issues were the many issues that Swift cared about and saw as threatening Ireland before Wood's halfpence controversy. However, these individual issues were not as important as the independence and unity of Ireland: the specifics of independence were less important than self rule. Some argue that Swift, after Wood's patent was withdrawn, removed himself from the political landscape to focus on writing Gulliver's Travels, in which he picked up many of the same ideas.

John Harding published the first four letters before he was arrested and the fifth after his release. The Drapier's Letters were first collected and published in their entirety by Faulkner in 1735. On 9 February 1733, Faulkner advertised his future publication of Swift's collected works in four volumes, the first containing the Drapier's Letters, in the Dublin Journal. However, this edition led to the Motte v Faulkner (1735) lawsuit, since the London bookseller Benjamin Motte had publication rights, under British copyright legislation, to many of the works included in Faulkner's edition. Although the Drapier's Letters were not under copyright, the complete work was legally brought to a halt from being published in England by a ruling on 28 November 1735. It is uncertain if Swift allowed Faulkner to publish the works to allow an Irish publisher to compete against a British publisher or if Swift had no say in the matter and Faulkner published the works against Swift's will.

Although the original printing of the Drapier's Letters resulted in the arrest of Harding and a bounty placed upon the Drapier's head, Swift's actions in defending Ireland were deemed heroic among the Irish citizenry. He was titled the "Hibernian patriot" for his actions. Some residents of Dublin placed banners and signs in the city to recognise Swift's deeds, and images from the letters, such as the Drapier comparing his campaign to David fighting Goliath, became themes in popular literature. Swift did not fully embrace his popularity, but he enjoyed it. On his birthday, 30 November 1727, a large group of men came to St. Patrick's Cathedral to pray and afterwards celebrate throughout the city. This gathering commemorated Swift and his letters and also protested against the British treatment of Ireland. According to Robert Mahony, the Drapier's Letters, especially the fourth letter, were later praised by Irish nationalists. However, as Mahony elaborates, many recent critics have re examined this nationalistic claim and asserted a counterclaim that Swift is speaking more for the Irish Protestants than for the entire nation. R. F. Foster believes that Swift represented "Ascendancy attitudes," but this view a universal one. In overall effect, Fabricant argued that Swift's ability to speak for the whole populace is further suggested by the wide consensus opposed to the coinage plan.