main as before, and regulated in the long ufed and acknowledged way. This infinuation therefore, or difavowal of an infinuation, instead of ferving, mars the purpose for which it is infinuated.

There is no reafon then for apprehenfion, that the legiflature of a great nation, like united Britain and Ireland, would facrifice the interefts of one great and ef sential part to thofe of another; nor, if the apprehenfion were rational, can it be conceived, that the executive could countenance fuch abfurd schemes, evidently destructive of the well-being and fafety of the whole over which it prefides, and tending to weaken as well as degrade the government: but even if the vicious folly were poffible, a penetrating and active oppofition, joined to the members for the great portion of the state, against which the weak and wicked confpiracy would be formed, muft expofe and defeat fuch wild attempts.

In the present state of connexion indeed, which be comes neceffarily more flight and precarious as Ireland becomes mighty, mighty to destroy as well as to fupport Great Britain, it would not be furptifing if the British legislature were to confider the intereft of the two countries as incompatible. An invidious spirit has been long carefully kept alive among us; and, whatever has been supposed to serve the interests of Great Britain, has been generally reprefented, for that reason, as baneful to the interests of Ireland. Hence the cry for non-importation agreements, and the demands of prohibitory duties, hoftile bounties, and the like; which, fo far as carried into practice, have hurt our own valuable

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able exports in a far greater degree than they have di minished the imports from Britain; and at the fametime have been productive of jealousy and hoftile regulations on the other fide: a spirit and a conduct on the part of both, no doubt, almost equally destructive.*

. But if we confider the political principles, peculiarly inimical to Britain and the British conftitution, fo fedulously propagated, which have not only poffeffed the unthinking mass of our people, but have put in motion fo many of the educated; if we add the unfortunately divided state of this country as to religion; and then review the destructive progress of France through Europe, and recollect her malignity to Britain as the grand obftacle to her defigns; can any rational understanding conclude, that it remains the intereft of Great Britain, to regard the intereft of Ireland as her own, and to use every mean for the promotion of a distinct profperity, which neceffarily conferring power, may ultimately exalt an implacable foe, upon the ruins of that grand fyftem of civilization, which it has coft induftry, wifdom, and patriotism, ages to erect?

On the contrary, if the reprefentatives from every part of these iflands, conftitute the legislature for the whole of Great Britain and Ireland, all the acts of which equally affect both united kingdoms, then are the interests of all fo bound up together, that the motives which have hitherto influenced the legiflatures for the diftinct kingdoms, to prefer diftinct interests, are wholly taken away nay, the fubject matter no longer remains;

See Lord Sheffield's Obfervations on the Trade of Ireland.

for

for there can be no feparate national interest in any part or member of a confolidated ftate, the national intereft and the common intereft being then one and the fame. The laws cannot operate partially; for the fame laws are made for the whole, and there is no feparate intereft to be promoted. Partial regards and invidious confiderations affect the laws of neighbouring ftates; for the interests of neighbouring states have been, from the beginning of time, almoft conftantly in oppofition: but in one undivided state, the national intereft, the grand object of legiflation, being the fame, partial regards as opposed to a common interest, howfoever they may influence individuals, cannot materially affect the general law. We do not find that partial attachments operate in the legislature of Great Britain, to the detriment of any part, or to the benefit of any part, in oppofition to the common intereft; but, whatever may be the ftruggles of party for political power, and whatever differences of opinion on publick meafures may take place, we never hear of the interest of any particular diftri& being opposed to the national profperity. Partial attachments must ever be various in a numerous legislature, and therefore counteract each other: befides, the fear of fuccefsful oppofition to partial measures; refpect for opinion; regard for a common cause, which the habits of confulting on the grand fubjects of publick policy naturally beget; the ufeful intermixture of opinions, flowing from conftant intercourfe and difcuffion; these, and innumerable combinations of fimilar nature, concur to create, union of views, and union of exertion, to a common good.

In fuch a confolidation of interefts, the profperity and power of every part, form the profperity and power, and contribute to the ftability of the whole. Confequently, in the' United legislature, engaged in advancing the wealth and greatnefs, not of a separate ftate, but of one undivided and infeparable state, every encouragement that an enlightened zeal for national intereft could give, would be extended to every beneficial exertion of every part of the perfectly United Empire. The United parliament would be compofed, not of a narrow ariftocracy attended by a tribe of devoted and uninformed dependents, but of the numerous great interests of the United kingdoms, aided by the various and extenfive information of every profeffion, art, and occupation, of a most active, profperous and enlightened nation. Unembarraffed by the contending claims of distinct and rival states, fuch a legiflature, therefore, would be at once actuated by motive and furnished with ability, to call forth every latent power, and to cherish every rifing effort, in the promotion of particular, and confequently of general, industry and profperity. One part of a great state, from produce, fituation, or habit, is often capable of cultivating a valuable art, which is, both phyfically and morally, beyond reach of another. This fact in an extended territory takes place to manifold effect; and by being skilfully improved, tends to multiply the riches and refources of a country. Such advantages flow, in a confiderable degree, even from intercourse with foreign ftates; but, in far greater proportion, and to happier effect, in the various and multiplied relations of different parts of the fame country, whereby the peculiar industry, and products, and wants, of vari

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ous districts, contribute reciprocally to the prosperity of each, and, in entire effect, to the enlarged profperity of the whole state. Hence, various and extensive interchange of benefits neceffarily begets correfponding intercourfe; real intereft becomes better understood; prejudices fubmit to experience; and amity and fuccefs, going hand in hand, mutually promote each other. And hence may be inferred, the futility of all thofe invidious statements and calculations, which are manufactured by party difputants, for the purpose of fhewing the fuperiour advantage of either kingdom in its intercourse with the other. These are not neceffary to prove that the feparation of Ireland would ultimately ruin Great Britain, or that Ireland could not exist unconnected with Great Britain. All the garbling, mifnaming, and fophiftry, with which fome of them have been introduced and difplayed might eafily have been spared.* Thefe Islands, it appears clearly enough without all this machinery, are formed by nature, by relation, by habit, by common hope and fear, to coalefce and to become perfectly one, in political effence, form, and energy.

But it seems, the woollen, cotton, iron, and pottery manufacturies, are thofe in which British capital is chiefly employed, those for which Great Britain is peculiarly fitted, and in which her people eminently excel; therefore Ireland in all the enriching arts of industry, is to degenerate after Union, British capital will no longer contribute to fupport her trade, and

• See fhamefully fophiftical statements detected in obfervations on that part of the Speaker's Speech which relates to trade, from page 16 to page 29.

British