accomplishment of this desirable end, than " expose this great "transaction to needless and unprofitable hazard by unseasonable pertinacity or impatience," and would be content to leave it to

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before the imperial parliament, from whose justice and liberality they confi dently expected concurrence and support. That the British ministers were sincere in their intentions of bringing forward and confident in their expectations of carrying the question of Catholic emancipation in an imperial parliament, is manifest from certain written communications made by them to some of the leading persons of the Catholic body about the time of their retiring from office, which were to the following effect.

"The leading part of his majesty's ministers finding unsurmountable obsta"cles to the bringing forward measures of concession to the Catholic body, "whilst in office, have felt it impossible to continue in administration under "the inability to propose it with the circumstances necessary to carrying the "measure with all its advantages, and they have retired from his majesty's "service, considering this line of conduct as most likely to contribute to its "ultimate success. The Catholic body will, therefore, see how much their "future hopes must depend upon strengthening their cause by good conduct in "the mean time; they will prudently consider their prospects as arising from "the persons who now espouse their interests, and compare them with those, "which they could look to from any other quarter; they may with confidence "rely on the zealous support of all those who retire and of many, who remain " in office, when it can be given with a prospect of success. They may be "assured that Mr. Pitt will do his utmost to establish their cause in the "public favour, and prepare the way for their finally attaining their objects: and the Catholics will feel that as Mr. Pitt could not concur in a hopeless "attempt to force it now, that he must at all times repress with the same decision as if he held an adverse opinion, any unconstitutional conduct in the "Catholic body.

"Under these circumstances it cannot be doubted that the Catholics will "take the most loyal, dutiful, and patient line of conduct, that they will "not suffer themselves to be led into measures which can, by any construction, “give a handle to the opposers of their wishes, either to misinterpret their "principles or to raise an argument for resisting their claims; but that by "their prudent and exemplary demeanour they will afford additional grounds "to the growing number of their advocates to enforce their claims on proper occasions, until their objects can be finally and advantageously at"tained.

"The Sentiments of a sincere Friend (i. e. Marquis Cornwallis) to the Catholic Claims.

"If the Catholics should now proceed to violence, or entertain any ideas of "gaining their object by convulsive measures or forming associations with men "of Jacobinical principles, they must of course lose the support and aid of "those, who have sacrificed their own situations in their cause, but who would "at the same time feel it to be their indispensable duty to oppose every thing "tending to confusion.

"On the other hand, should the Catholics be sensible of the benefit they pos"sess by having so many characters of eminence pledged not to embark in the "service of government, except on the terms of the Catholic privileges being "obtained, it is to be hoped, that on balancing the advantages and disadvan "tages of their situation they would prefer a quiet and peaceable demeanour "to any line of conduct of an opposite description.

"The originals of these two declarations were handed to Dr. Troy and "afterwards to Lord Fingall on the same day, by Marquis Cornwallis, in the "presence of Lieutenant Colonel Littlehales, in the beginning of May, 1801, "shortly before his departure from the government of Ireland, and before the arrival of Lord Hardwicke, his successor. His excellency desired

the mature deliberation and impartial judgment of the imperial legislature.

The Scots were soon reconciled to the Union of their kingdom with South Britain, and their patriotic feelings expanded to the whole compass of the island; and they did not consider themselves as degraded by their political amalgamation with the other natives of Britain.

If a separate political existence be contrary, nay fatal, to the real interests of the people of Ireland, and if a perfect incorporation and union with the British empire must be productive of security, aggrandizement, and happiness to Ireland, such an Union should, on that single but decisive ground of great and permanent utility, be the first and fondest wish of every Irish heart. If the Irish rejected the offers of Britain, according to every moral probability, the alternative would be union or separation; union or ruin; union with Great Britain, or slavery to France. If the proposal should not be accepted, Ireland would not probably long remain as she then was; her distinctions, her dignity, her independence, would expire; her political extinction would be accomplished; she would become subject to the degrading yoke of the general tyrant and task-master of Europe.

Viewing Ireland as a separate kingdom, it was impossible to disannex from it the idea of its actual and necessary dependance, subordination, and inferiority to Great Britain. The king of Great Britain was, in virtue of that crown, king also of Ireland; and the whole executive government of the latter realm was administered by a viceroy, who was appointed in effect by a British minister, and responsible only to the British tribunals, To these instances of subordination it might be added, that the legislative functions of the sovereign of Ireland could be performed only under the great seal of Britain. Thus the Irish parliament was left dependant for the validity of every one of its legislative acts, first on the chancellor of England, and, through his responsibility, on that very parliament of England, an equal participation in the authority of which it had been lately contended was degrading to Ireland. Another circumstance denoting inferiority was the following: "Ireland must take her part in all the wars of Great Britain: she must bear her share "of their burthens, and must incur all their hazards: she may "lose a province, or may become herself a province of the eneแ my; yet she cannot, by the utmost success of the war, acquire

they should be discreetly communicated to the bishops and principal "Catholics, but not inserted in the newspapers. They appeared, nevertheless, in the English prints soon afterwards, and were copied into the Irish "papers."

"an acre of new territory to the Irish dominion. Every acqui"sition made by the forces of the empire, however great her "share may have been in the danger or exertion, accrues to the crown of Great Britain. Ireland claimed no sovereignty in any one of the foreign possessions or provinces of the British "empire." The Irish parliament had never asserted or conceived the right of legislating for any of the conquests of the king of England, that is to say, of the king of Ireland. Ireland had planted no Irish colonies, but had furnished planters to all those of Great Britain. He defined or at least described an independent sovereignty to be a state, which could make war and peace, which could acquire dominion by conquest, and which could plant colonies and establish foreign settlements? And he described a subordinate and dependant country to be one, which must contribute its quota to all the wars of a neighbouring kingdom, must incur all the risques of those wars, and partake in all their disasters, while all that was acquired by its success fell, like the lion's share, to that country, with which it claimed to be co-ordinate and co-equal.

Ireland, in various instances, had a very small share of the dignity of independence. But, Union would place the two countries on a footing of perfect equality, would necessarily improve the independence and dignity of the inferior, which, no longer subordinate, would then fully participate in all the rights of sovereignty. As to the competency of parliament to adopt the plan, he observed, that the strong and emphatic title of omnipotence of parliament, was not merely a bold figure used by some writers on our government, but seemed to be literally and correctly descriptive of parliamentary supremacy, and of the unlimited sovereignty of the British legislature.

Other topics would have been discussed by Lord Minto, if he had not been conscious of prolixity in the investigation of former points. Having expressed his gratitude for the attention of the peers to his arguments in support of the expediency of the measure and of the competency of parliament to its execution, he concluded with praying for its speedy accomplish

ment.

Lord Boringdon and Lord Hay (Earl of Kinnoul in Scotland) argued on the same side. No one indeed spoke in opposition to the Union, though a protest against it were signed by the Lords Holland and King, and the Earl of Thanet.

The address being voted, a conference was holden with the commons on the following day; and the deputed lords then proposed, that it should be offered to the throne as the joint address of both houses.

Before the commons concurred in the address to the king, they once more brought the plan of Union to a fresh discussion.

On the 22d of April, when Mr. Pitt moved that the house should join in the address voted by the peers, Mr. Sylvester Douglass (now Lord Glenbervie) delivered a long harangue in favour of the Union.

Lord Sheffield spoke also on the same side. Making various commercial calculations with a view of promoting its success, he contended that an infusion of British capital and industry, of British arts and manufactures, would meliorate in every respect the condition of Ireland, but that without an Union such a communication could not be expected.

Sir Francis Burdet conceived Mr. Pitt a very unfit minister to bring the measure to a happy conclusion; all his efforts, he thought, would inflame rather than heal the wounds of Ireland.

Mr. Buxton vindicated the premier from the censures thrown out by the Baronet. The miseries and calamities of Ireland could alone be imputed to those pestilential societies, of whose existence Sir Francis could not be ignorant.

Mr. Hawkins Browne and Major-General Loftus declared themselves friendly to an Union, though the former were doubtful of the expediency of introducing a hundred Irish members into the British House of Commons.

Lieutenant-General Fitzpatrick thought it unnecessary to vote the address, as an appeal to the crown upon the difference between the parliaments would argue a want of delicacy, and might be productive of a fatal discord and division,

Mr. Canning considered the refusal of an answer to a solemn message as a novel mode of showing respect to the crown, and did not regard such silence as more respectful to the Irish parliament. He asked, how the valuable right of impeachment could be exercised by an Irish parliament against the king's ministers in Great Britain, his proper and constitutional advisers in the affairs of Ireland. As to the power of limiting or altering the succession to the crown, Ireland was destitute of that power which Britain enjoyed; and, indeed, the perfect equality and independence, which the parliament of that kingdom was now said to possess, and would resign in the event of an Union, did not appear to him to exist.

He took an opportunity of vindicating Mr. Pitt from the charge of having kindled the rebellion, for the purpose of bringing Ireland more completely under his yoke. He attributed the commotions principally to the influence of jacobinical doctrines, and ridiculed the absurdity of ascribing them to the recal of the Earl Fitzwilliam, or to the machinations and the conduct of the premier. He admitted, that no union but that of affection could be lasting or advantageous.

After some observations in favour of the settlement of 1782, from Lord William Russell, and renewed objections to its fina

lity from Mr. Pitt, the address* was adopted by the commons; and, on the 26th, the sentiments of both houses on the subject were communicated in due form to his majesty.

Whilst the question of Union was pending in the British senate, that of Ireland continued to occupy itself in its other legis lative concerns. Some very long and interesting debates took place upon Mr. Dobbs's motion for a commutation of tithes ; upon the loyalists' claim bill, and on the rebel disqualification bill. On the second reading of which on the 29th of March, Sir H. Langrishe expressed his disapprobation of the spirit of the bill, which he said had been brought in by the members for the city of Dublin, in conformity to the instructions of their constituents; but, as he did not profess to hold the corporation of Dublin in the same degree of respect with those gentlemen, he could not bring himself to approve of the principle on which it had been introduced. He considered the bill as tending to countenance an opinion that parliament was desirous of retract ing the grant of the elective franchise to the Roman Catholics; as interfering with the royal prerogative of pardoning crimes by an ex post facto law, and as taking away from those, who had *The following was the form of the address. "MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN,

"WE, your majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the "lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in parliament assembled, humbly "beg leave to assure your majesty, that we have proceeded with the utmost "attention to the consideration of the important objects recommended to us "in your majesty's message respecting the connection between this country

"and Ireland.

"We entertain a firm persuasion that a complete and entire Union between "Great Britain and Ireland, founded on equal and liberal principles, on the "similarity of laws, constitution, and government, and on a sense of mutual "interests and affections, by promoting the security, wealth, and commerce, "of the respective kingdoms, and by allaying the distractions which have un"happily prevailed in Ireland, must afford fresh means of opposing at all times "an effectual resistance to the destructive projects of our foreign and domestic "enemies, and must tend to confirm and augment the stability, power, and re"sources of the empire.

"Impressed with these considerations, we feel it our duty humbly to lay be"fore your majesty such propositions as appear to us best calculated to form "the basis of such a settlement, leaving it to your majesty's wisdom, at such "time and in such manner as your majesty, in your parental solicitude for the "happiness of your people, shall judge fit, to communicate these propositions "to your parliament of Ireland, with whom we shall be at all times ready to "concur in all such measures as may be found most conducive to the accom"plishment of this great and salutary work. And we trust that, after full and "mature consideration, such a settlement may be framed and established by "the deliberative consent of the parliaments of both kingdoms, as may be con"formable to the sentiments, wishes, and real interests of your majesty's faith"ful subjects of Great Britain and Ireland, and may unite them inseparably in "the full enjoyment of the blessings of our free and invaluable constitution, in "the support of the honour and dignity of your majesty's crown, and in the preservation and advancement of the welfare and prosperity of the whole British "empire." 8 Parl. Eng. Deb. p. 542.

The title of that bill was, for preventing persons, who had ever taken the Oath of the United Irishmen, from voting for members to serve in parliament.