SPEECH 
 
 RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 WILLIAM PITT, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 HOUSE OF COMMONS, 
 THURSDA,Y, JANUARY 31, 1799, 
 
 On offering to the Houfe the RESOLUTIONS which he pro- 
 
 pofed as the BASIS OF AN UNION between 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, 
 
 To which are added the SPEECHES of the Right Honourable 
 JOHN FOSTER, on the izth and i$th of Augufr 
 1785, on the BILL for effectuating the INTER- 
 COURSE' and COMMERCE between Great 
 Britain and Ireland, on permanent and 
 equitable Principles? for the mutual 
 Benefit of both Kingdoms. 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN EXSHAW, 98, GRAFTON-STREET. 
 1799.
 
 SPEECH 
 
 P68* 
 
 
 Right Hon. William Pitt, 
 
 &c. &c* 
 
 The Speaker having read His MAJESTY'S 
 MESSAGE, viz. 
 
 GEORGE REX. 
 
 His Majefty is perfuaded thai the unremitting induftry 
 " with which our enemies perfevere in their avowtd de- 
 " fign of effecting the Separation of Ireland from this 
 " Kingdom, cannot fail to engage the particular attention 
 ** of Parliament ; and His Majefty recommends it to this 
 " Houfe to confider of the mod effectual means of counter- 
 " acting and finally defeating this defign ; and he trufts 
 " that a review of all the circumftances which have 
 " recently occurred (joined to the fentiment of mutual 
 " affeflion and common intereft,; will difpofe the Parlia- 
 " ment of both Kingdoms to piovide, in the manner 
 B " which 
 
 11
 
 [ 2 J 
 
 " which they ftull judge mod expedient, for fettling fuchr 
 " a complete and final adjuftment as may beft tend to inV 
 " prove and perpetuate a Connexion eflential for their 
 " common fecurity, and to augment and confolidate the 
 " Strength, Power, and Refources of the Britifli Empire." 
 
 G. R. 
 
 Mr. PITT rofe, and J 'poke as follows : 
 SIR, 
 
 I propofed to the Hpufe, the laft time 
 this fubject was before them, to fix this day for the 
 further confideration of His Majefty's Meffage, I 
 certainly indulged the hope that'the refult of a limi- 
 ]ar communication to the Parliament of Ireland 
 would have opened a more favourable Profpedl than 
 at prefent exifts, of the fpeedy accomplifhment of 
 a meafure which T then ftated, and which I ftill cori- 
 fider, to be of the greateft importance to the power 
 the liability, and the general welfare of the Empire ; 
 to the immediate interefts of both kingdoms and 
 more particularly to the peace, the tranquillity, 
 and the fafety of Ireland : in this hope, I am forry 
 to fay, I have for the prefent been disappointed, by 
 the proceedings of the Irifh Houfe of Commons, of 
 
 which
 
 [ 3 ] 
 
 which we have been informed fince this iubjedft 
 was laft under confederation. 
 
 I feel and know that the Parliament of Ireland 
 pofTefles the poner, the intire competence, oh the 
 behalf of that country, alike to accept or reject 
 a propofition of this nature a power which I am 
 by no means inclined to difpute. I fee that at 
 the prefent moment one Houfe of Parliament 
 in Ireland has expreiTed a repugnance, even to the 
 
 confederation of ihis meafure. Feeling, Sir, 
 
 as I have already ftated, that it is important, not 
 only as it tends to the general profperity of 
 the Empire of Great Britain, but (what, under 
 every fituation, muft always be to me an object of 
 the greateft moment) feeling that it was deilgned 
 and calculated to increafe the profperity and en- 
 fure the fafety of Ireland, I muft hive feen with 
 the deepeft regret that, at the very firft moment^ 
 and before the nature of the meafure could be 
 known, it was fo received. 
 
 But whatever may have been my feelings upon 
 
 this fubject, knowing that it is the undoubted 
 
 B 2 right
 
 r 4. } 
 
 right of the Legiflature of Ireland to rejeft or to 
 adopt fuch meafures as may appear to them in- 
 jurious or beneficial, far be it from me to fpeak 
 of its deteYmination in any other terms but thofe 
 of refpecl. Let it not, therefore, be imagined 
 that I am inclined to prefs any fentiment, how- 
 ever calculated it may appear to me to benefit 
 every member of the Empire, in any manner 
 \vhich may lead to hoftile difcuffion between two 
 kingdoms, vvhofe mutual happinefs and fafety 
 depend upon their being ftriftly and cordially 
 united. But while I admit and refpecl the rights 
 of the Parliament of Ireland, I feel that, as a 
 Member of the Parliament of Great Britain, I 
 alfo have a Right to exercift, and a Duty to per- 
 form. That Duty is to exprefs, as diftindtly as I 
 can, the general nature and outline of the Plan, 
 which, in my confrience, I think would tend in 
 the ftrongeft manner to e. fure the fafety and the 
 happinefs of both kingdoms. 
 
 While I feel, therefore, that as long as the Houfe 
 of Commons of Ireland view the fubjccT: in 
 the light they do at prefent, there is no chance 
 
 of
 
 L 5 .1 
 
 bf its adoption, I do not think that I ought on 
 that account to abftain from fubmitting it to the 
 confideration of this Parliament ; on the contrary 
 I think it only the more neceflfary to explain 
 diftinclly the principles of the Meafure, and 
 to ftate the grounds upon which it appears 
 to me to be entitled to the approbation of the 
 Legiflature. 
 
 If Parliament, when it is in poffeilion of the 
 bans upon which this Plan is founded, and of its 
 general outline, fhould be of opinion with me, 
 that it is founded upon fair, juft, and equitable 
 principles, calculated to produce mutual advan- 
 tages to the two Kingdoms if Parliament, I fay t 
 upon full explanation, and nfcer mature delibera- 
 tion, fhould be of that opinion, I {hould propofe 
 that its determination .fl-ould remain recorded as 
 that by which the Parliament of Great Britain 
 were ready to abide, leaving it to the Legiflature 
 of Ireland to reject or to adopt hereafter, upon a 
 full confideration of the fubjedl. 
 
 There is no man will deny that in a great 
 queftion of this nature, involving in it objects 
 
 which,
 
 [ 6 ] 
 
 which, in the firft inftance, are more likely to be 
 decided upon by paflion than by judgment ; in a 
 queftion in which an honeft but, I muft be allowed 
 to fay, a miftaken fcnfe of National Pride is fo 
 likely to operate, that much mifconftrudHon and 
 mifconception muft inevitably happen. It therefore 
 becomes the more neceflary that the intentions 
 of the Government which propofes the Meafure 
 and the principles of the Meafure itfelf, fhould be 
 diftin&ly underftood. But, Sir, in ftating that 
 intention and thofe principles, I look to fomething 
 more than a mere vindication of Government for 
 having propofed the Meafure. I do entertain a 
 confidence, even under the apparent difcourage 
 ment of the opinion expreffed by the Irifh Houfe 
 of Commons, that this Meafure is founded 
 upon fuch clear, fuch demonfirable grounds of 
 utility, is fo calculated to add to the ftrength 
 and power of the Empire, (in which the fafety 
 of "Ireland is included, and from which it never 
 can be feparated) and is attended with fo many 
 advantages to Ireland in particular, that all that 
 can be neceflary for its ultimate adoption is, that 
 it fhould be Hated ciiilindrly, temperately, and 
 fully, and that it fhould be left to unpreju- 
 diced,
 
 [ 7 ] 
 
 diced, the difpaffionate, the fober judgment of 
 the Parliament of Ireland. I wifh that thofe 
 whofe interefts are involved in this meafure 
 fhould have time for its consideration I wifh 
 that time (hould be given to the Landed, to the 
 Mercantile and Manufacturing Intereft, that they 
 ihould look at it with all its bearings, and that they 
 fhould cooly examine and fift the popular argu- 
 ments by which it has been oppofed, and that 
 then they Ihould give their deliberate and final 
 judgment. 
 
 I am the more encouraged in this hope of the 
 ultimate fuccefs of this meafure, when I fee, not- 
 withftanding all the prejudices which it has excit- 
 ed, that barely more than one-half of the mem- 
 bers that attended the Houfe of Commons were 
 adverfe to it; and that in the other Houfe of Par- 
 liament in Ireland, containing, as it does, fo large 
 a portion of the property of the kingdom, it was 
 approved of by a large majority. When I have 
 reafon to believe that the fentiments of a large part 
 of the People of that Country are favourable to it ; 
 and that much of the Manufacturing, and of the 
 Commercial Intereft of Ireland are already fenfible 
 
 how
 
 [ 8 ] 
 
 how much it is calculated to promote their advan- 
 tage, I think, when it is more deliberately exami- 
 ned, and when it is feen in what temper it is here 
 propofed and difcuffed, that it will Mill terminate 
 in that which can alone be a fortunate refult. 
 
 It would be vain indeed to hope that a propo- 
 rtion upon which prejudices are fo likely to ope- 
 rate, and which is fo liable to mifconception, 
 fhould be unanimoufly approved. But the appro- 
 bation I hope for is, that of the Parliament of 
 Ireland, and of the intelligent part of the Public 
 ot that Country. It is with a view to this objeft 
 that I think it my duty to bring this meafure for- 
 ward at prefent ; not for the fake of urging its 
 immediate adoption, but that it may be known 
 and recorded ; that the intention of the Britifh 
 Parliament may be known, in the hope that it 
 will produce fimilar fentiments among our Coun- 
 trymen in Ireland. With this view it is my inten- 
 tion not to go at prefent into any detailed ftate- 
 ment of the plan, becaufe (hould it ultimately be 
 adopted, the minuter parts muft neceflarily be- 
 come the objects of much diflincl difcuflion ; but 
 to give fuch a general ftatement of the nature of 
 
 the
 
 C 9 ] 
 
 the meafure as will enable the Houfe to form a 
 correct judgment upon it. 
 
 I mall therefore, Sir, before i fit down, open 
 to the Houfe a firing of Refolutions, comprifing 
 the general heads of this plan. It will be necef- 
 fary for me, for the purpofe of difcuffing thofe 
 Refolutions with regularity and convenience, to 
 move that the Houfe mould refolve itfelf into a 
 Committee. And I have already dated, that it is 
 not my intention then to prefs the Committee to 
 come to an immediate decifion upon the Refolu- 
 tions ; but if, upon full and deliberate examina- 
 tion, the Refolutions which I (hall have the honour 
 to propofe, and which contain as much as is ne- 
 ceffary for an outline of the plan, (hall be approv- 
 ed, my opinion is, that nothing can contribute 
 more to obviate any doubts and diflatisfacliou 
 which may exift, than that Parliament fhould 
 adopt thofe Refolutions, and that it mould then 
 humbly leave them at the foot of the Throne, leav- 
 ing it to His MAJESTY'S wifdom to communicate 
 them to the Parliament of Ireland, whenever 
 circumflances fhould appear favourable to fuch 
 a Meafure. I fhali therefore, Sir, proceed as 
 C fhortly
 
 C 10 ] 
 
 fhortly as I tan to ftate to the Houfe the nature 
 of the Resolutions, and of the Addrefs which 
 I fhall propofe to accompany them, if it 
 fhould be the pleafure of the Houfe to adopt 
 them. 
 
 ' v 
 Having nov\% Sir, explained to the Houfe the 
 
 mode I mean to purfue, and my reafons for per- 
 fifling, under the prefent circumftances, in fub- 
 mitting this Meafure to the confideration of Par- 
 liament, I will endeavour to ftate the general 
 grounds on which it refts s the general arguments 
 by which it is recommended, and to give a fliort 
 view of the particulars of the Plan. 
 
 As to the general principle upon which the 
 whole of this Meafure is founded, I am happy to 
 obferve, from what pafled upon a former occa- 
 fion, that there is not a probability of any dif- 
 ference of opinion. The general principle, to 
 which both fides of the Houfe perfectly acceded, 
 is., that a perpetual Connection between Great 
 Britain and Ireland was efiential to the interefts of 
 both. The only Honourable Gentleman who, 
 when this fubject was before the Houfe on a 
 
 former
 
 C ] 
 
 former day, oppofed the confideration of the Plan 
 altogether, ftated, in terms as ftrong as I could 
 wifti, the neceflity of preferving the ftri&eft 
 Connection between the two Countries. I moft 
 cordially agree with him in that opinion, but I 
 then ftated, that I do not barely wim for the main- 
 tenance of that Connexion as tending to add 
 to the general ftrength of the Empire, but I wifh 
 for the maintenance of it with a peculiar regard 
 to the local interefts of Ireland, with a regard to 
 every thing that can give to Ireland its due weight 
 and importance, as a great member of the Em- 
 pire. I wifh for it with a view of giving to that 
 Country the means of improving all its great 
 natural Refources, and of giving it a full partici- 
 pation of all thofe bleflings which this Country 
 fo eminently enjoys. 
 
 Confidering the fubjecl in this point of view, 
 and affuming it as a propofition not to be con- 
 troverted, that it is the duty of thofe who wifti 
 to promote the Interetl and Profperity of both 
 Countries, to maintain the flr-ongeft connection 
 between them, let me aik, what is the fituation of 
 Affairs that has called us to the difcuflion of this 
 
 fubjecl ?
 
 c 12 : 
 
 fubjeft? This very connexion, the neceffity of 
 which has been admitted on all hands, has been 
 attacked by Foreign Enemies, and by Domeftic 
 Traitors. The diifolution of that connexion is 
 the great object of the hoftility of the common 
 Enemies of both Countries, it is almoft the only 
 remaining hope with which they now continue the 
 conteft. Baffled and defeated as they have 
 hitherto been, they nill retain the hope, they are 
 (till meditating attempts, to difiblve that connec- 
 tion. God grant that in this inftance the fame 
 favour of Divine Providence, which has in fo 
 many inftances protected this Empire, may again 
 inter pofe in our favour, and that the attempts of 
 the Enemy to feparate the two Countries, may 
 tend ultimately to knit them more clofely to- 
 gether, to flrengthen a Connection, the belt 
 pledge for the happinefs of both, and fo add to 
 that power which forms the chief barrier to the 
 civilized world, againft the deftruftive principles, 
 the dangerous projects, and the unexampled ufur- 
 pation of France. This Connection has been 
 attacked not only by the avowed Enemies of both 
 Countries, but by internal Treafon, acling in con- 
 cert with the defigns of the Enemy. Internal 
 
 Treafon,
 
 [ 13 ] 
 
 Treafon, which ingrafted Jacobinifm on thofc dif- 
 eafes which necefiarily grew out of the State and 
 Condition of Ireland, 
 
 Thinking, then, as we all rauft think, that a 
 clofe Connection with Ireland is effential to the 
 interefts of both Countries, and feeing how much 
 this Connection is attacked, let it not be infinu- 
 ated that it is unneceflary, much lefs improper, 
 at this arduous and important crifis, to fee whe- 
 ther fome new arrangements, fome fundamental 
 regulations, are not necefTary, to guard againft 
 the threatened danger, The foreign and domeftic 
 Enemies of thefe kingdoms have fhewn, that 
 they think this the vulnerable point in which they 
 may be mcft fuccefsfully attacked ; let us derive 
 advantage, if we can, from the hoftility of our 
 Enemies let us profit by the defigns of an 
 Enemy, who, if his conduct difplays no true u if- 
 dom, at leaft poffcfles in an eminent degree that 
 fpecies of wifdom which is calculated for the pro- 
 motion of mifchief. They know up6n what foot- 
 ing that Connection refts at this moment between 
 the two Countries, and they feel the moft ardent 
 hope, that the two Parliaments will be infatqafed 
 
 enougli
 
 [ 14 ] 
 
 enough not so render th^ir deSgns abortive, by 
 feing that Coitne<5lion upon a more folid bafis. 
 
 Tfzefe eircumfianees I am fare will not be 
 denied. And if upon other grounds we had any 
 ffoubt, thefe eireumft'anees alone ought to induce 
 us, deliberately and difpaffionately, to review the 
 tuation of the two Countries, and to endeavour 
 to find out a proper remedy for an evil, the ex- 
 iftence'of which is but too apparent. It requires 
 Iwt z moment's reflection, for any man who has 
 marked the progrefs of events, to decide upon the 
 sru fiate and charaler of this Connection, It is 
 evidently rie which does not afford that fecurity 
 which', even in times leis dangerous and lefs criti- 
 cal than the prefect, would have been necefiary, 
 to enable the empire tQ avail itfelf of its ftrength. 
 and Its. refources., 
 
 When I laft addrefEed the Houfe on this fub- 
 je^fcj I ilaied that tite fettlement,, which was made 
 m 1782, fa far from deferving the name of a 
 mal Adju^ment, was one that left the Connec- 
 tion between- Great Britain and Ireland expoied to 
 all tlic attacks of Party, and all the erTels of 
 
 accident.
 
 [ 15 ]' 
 
 accident. That Settlement confifted in the cfe- 
 molition of the Syftem which before, held the two 
 Countries together. Let me not be underftood as 
 expreffing any regret at the termination of that 
 Syftem. I difapproved of it, becaufe I thought it 
 was one unworthy the liberality of Great Britain, 
 and injurious to the intercfts of Ireland. But to 
 call that a Syfteni in itfelf to call that a glorious 
 fabric of human wifdora which is no more than 
 the mere demolition of another Syftem is a per- 
 verfion of terms which, however prevalent of late, 
 can only be the effect of grofs inifconception, or 
 of great hypocrify. We boaft that we have done 
 every thing, when we have merely deftroyed all 
 that before exifted, without fubftituting any thing 
 in its place. Such was the Final Adjujlment of 
 1782 ; and I can prove it to be fo, not only from 
 the plaineft reafoning, but I can prove it by the 
 opinion exprefTed by the Britilh Parliament at thai 
 very time. I can prove it by the opinion ex- 
 prefled by thofe very Minifters by whom it was 
 propofed and conducted. I can prove it by the 
 opinion of that very Government who boaft of 
 having effected a Final Adjuftment. I refer, far 
 what I have faid, to proofs which they will find it 
 
 very
 
 very difficult to anfwer ; I mean their own acts, 
 which will plainly mew that they were of opinion 
 that a new Syftem would be neceflary. But, Sir, I 
 will go farther I will alfo produce the authority 
 of one of thofe whofe influence, on the prefent oc~ 
 cafion, has been peculiarly exerted to prevent the 
 clifcumon of the queflion in Ireland of one, of 
 whom I do not wifh to fpeak but with refpect, 
 but for whom, neverthelefs, I ihould convey an 
 idea of more refpect, than I can now feel to be 
 due to him, if I were merely to defcribe him as 
 the perfon who fills the fame fituation, in the 
 Houfe of Commons of Ireland, which you, Sir, 
 Bold among us, and of which on all occafions you 
 difcharge the duties with a dignity and impartia- 
 lity which reflects fo much credit on yourfelf, and 
 fb well fupports the character and authority of 
 the Houfe. 
 
 On a former night, I read an Extract from 
 the Journals, to mew what was the opinion even 
 of thofe by whom the Final Adjuftment was pro- 
 pofed, of that Meafure. It would there appear, 
 that the Meffage was fent to the Parliament of 
 Ireland, recommending to them the adoption of 
 
 fome
 
 C 17 ] 
 
 fome Plan for a Final Adjufrment \ tvz&nttys 
 two Countries, and w import- , 
 the ground? of the gri: - 
 
 plained. In anfwer to this IV' 
 of Ireland ft-ated certain grievances, -tbo priuci.ril 
 of which was, the p~>wer claimed .by the- P 
 ment of Great Britain of making Laws to bind I/e- 
 land ; but, with refpect to that part of the Mef- 
 fage which related to the propriety of adopting 
 fome Meafures for a final adjuftraent between the 
 two Countries, they were wholly filent. This 
 Addrcfs was laid before the Parliament of Great 
 Britain, to whom a fimilar MeiTige hid been 
 fent, and on that ground was moved the Repeal 
 of what was called the Declaratory Ac!, which 
 Motion was aflented to by the Britifh Fariiar-.e-t. 
 This fatisfadion was complete to Ireland, as far as 
 related to the grievance of which her Parliament 
 had complained, viz. the Power of the Britifh 
 Parliament of making Laws for Ireland, becaufe, 
 by the Repeal of the Declaratory A<5r, that power 
 was given up. But fo far was the Minifter of 
 that day from considering that the Repeal of that 
 Law finally terminated all differences, and elu- 
 blifhed the Connection between the two Coun- 
 D tries
 
 tries tipo\i a folid ban's, that he thought it necef- 
 fary to move that a farther Settlement was indif- 
 penfable for the maintenance of that Connection. 
 
 [Mr. SHERIDAN acrofs the Table, defired that thar part 
 of the Journals to which -Mr. PITT alluded, might be re^cL] 
 
 Mr. PITT continued. Sir, I have fhted the 
 fubftance of the Journals correclly ; they were 
 read on a former night, and the Honourable Gen- 
 tleman may, if he choofes, have them read again. * 
 If he does he will find that they fully juftify the 
 ftatement I have made, but I beg that at prefent 
 I may not be interrupted. I do maintain, that 
 upon a reference to the Journals of the period to 
 which I have alluded, it will appear that a farther 
 agreement between Great Britain and Ireland is 
 there ftated, in the opinion of the Adminiftration 
 of the day, to be abfolutely necelfary. 
 
 I beg farther to ftate, that after the Bill of 
 which fo ranch has been faid, was paffed, an Ad- 
 drefs to His MAJESTY was moved and carried, 
 praying him to take Inch further meafures as to 
 him feerned proper, to ftrengthen the Connection 
 
 * Vide Appendix. 
 
 between
 
 [ '9 ] 
 
 between the two Countries. His MAJESTY'S 
 inoft Gracious Anfwer, ftating, that in compli- 
 ance with the Addrefs, he would immediately take 
 fiich meafures as might be neceffary for that pur-- 
 pofe, was delivered to the Houfe by an Honour- 
 able Gentleman who then filled the office of Se- 
 cretary of State, and whom we have riot lately 
 . feen in the Houfe, though he ftill continues to be 
 a Member of it. I do afiert, without the leaft 
 fear of contradiction from any Gentleman what- 
 ever, that it was in the contemplation of the Go- 
 vernment of that day, to adopt fome meafures of 
 the nature alluded to in the Addrefs; fince that 
 period, however, no fuch meafure has been taken. 
 I do alfo maintain, that that very fyftem which 
 by thefe very Miniftersr who brought it forward 
 was found to be imperfect, even for the purpofe 
 of maintaining the Connection between the two ] 
 Countries, remains at this moment in the fame 
 imperfect ftate. It leaves the two Countries with 
 feparate and independent .Legiflatures, connected 
 only with tliis tie, that the Third Eftate in both 
 Countries is the fame that the Executive Go- 
 vernment is the fame that the Crown exercifes 
 its power of aflenting to Irifh Acts of Parliament 
 D 2 under
 
 [ .0 ] 
 
 under the Great Seal of Great Britain, and by the 
 advice of Britifh Minifters. 
 
 This is the only principle of Connection which 
 is left by the Final Adjuftinent of 1782. Whether 
 this is a fufficient tie to unite them in time of 
 Peace ; whether in timex>f War it is fufficient to 
 Confolidate their ftrength againft a Common Ene* 
 my ; whether it is fufficient to guard againft thofe 
 local jealoufies which muft necefTarily fometimes 
 exift between countries fo connected ; whether it 
 is calculated to give to Ireland all the important 
 commercial and political advantages which fhe 
 would derive from a clofer Connection with Great 
 Britain ? whether it can give to both Nations 
 that degree of ftrength and profperity which muft 
 be the refult of fuch a Meafure as the prefent, I 
 believe need only to be ftated to be decided. 
 
 But I have already faid, that I have upon this 
 point, the authority of an opinion to which I be- 
 fore alluded an opinion delivered upon a very 
 important Meafure, very foon after the Final Ad- 
 juftment of 1782. The Meafure to which I refer, 
 was that of the Commercial Proportions which 
 
 wer*
 
 C 21 ] 
 
 were brought forward in 1785. I .am not now 
 going to enter into a difcuflion of the merits of H 
 * that Meafure. The beft, perhaps, that can be 
 faid of it is, that it went as far as circumftanccs 
 would then permit, to draw the two Countries to a 
 clofer Connecliouj But thofe who think that the 
 .Adjuftment of 1782 was final, and tha.t it con- 
 tained all that was necefiary for the eftablifhment 
 of the Connection between the two Countries 
 Upon a firm bafis, can hardly contend that the 
 Commercial Propofitions of 1785 were rvecefiary 
 to prevent the danger of feparation between the 
 two Countries, and to prevent the conflicting 
 operation of Independent Legiflatures. Yet, if I 
 am not miftaken, there will be found, upon a re- 
 ference to better Records than thofe in which 
 Parliamentary Debates are ufually ftated (I mean 
 abatement of what paflcd in the difculFion upon 
 thofe Propofitions fourteen years ago, made, as I 
 have underftood, by fomcof the principal parties 
 themfclves) that the CHANCELLOR of the Ex- 
 GHEQJUER of that day in Ireland, in a Debate upon 
 the Trim Propofitions, held this language" If 
 " this infatuated Country gives up the prefent of- 
 " fer, fhe may look for it again in vain." Here the 
 
 < Right
 
 C ] 
 
 Right Honourable Gentleman was .happily irJf- 
 taken ; Ireland has again had the offer of the 
 fctme advantages, but more complete, and in all 
 refpedts better calculated to attain their objecl: ; 
 and this offer the Right Honourable Gentleman 
 lias exerted all his influence to'rejec"r. But he 
 goes on to fay " THINGS CANNOT REMAIN AS 
 " THEY ARE Commercial jealoufy is roufed 
 t( it will ertcreafe with ?wo independent Legijlatures 
 " -and without an united intereft in commerce, 
 " in a commercial Empire, political Union will 
 *' receive many fhocks, and ftparation of mtereft 
 " muft threaten frparation vf Connetthn, which 
 " every Koneft Irijhman muft fhudder to look at, 
 " as a poffible event." 
 
 Gentlemen will have the goodnefs' to obferve, 
 that I am not now quoting thefe expreffions as 
 pledges given by that Right Honourable Gentle- 
 man that he would fanport a propofal for a Union 
 between the two Countries, but lam adducing 
 them to prove that the fituation of the two Coun- 
 tries after the Final Adjuflment of 1782, was 
 fuch, in his opinion, as led to the danger of a fe- 
 paratron between them. lam not now arguing 
 
 that
 
 C "-3 ] 
 that aLcpifhtiveUmon is the only meafure which 
 
 O - 
 
 Can poifibly be adopted, but I am contending that 
 the Adjuftment of 1702. was never confidered as 
 final, by thofe who now ftate it to be fo as an ar- 
 gument againft the coni] deration of the prefent 
 meafure. How the Honourable Gentleman on the 
 other fide of the Houfe will evade this authority 
 I do not know ; an authority too, which, I muft 
 obferve, he feems much more inclined to trca$ 
 with refpe<5t than he was formerly. 
 
 But, Sir, it does not ftop there. What is the 
 .evil to which he alludes ? Commercial jealoufies 
 between two Count: ies ailing upon the laws of 
 two independent Legiflatures, and from the dan- 
 ger of thofe Legiflatures acting with jealoufy to 
 each other. How can this evil be remedied ? By 
 two means only; either by fomc Compadl entered 
 into, by the Legiflatures of the two Countries 
 refpecting the mode of forming their commercial 
 regulations, or elfe by blending the two Legifla- 
 tures together; thefe are the only two means. 
 I defy the wit of man to point out a third. The 
 mode of compact was propofed'in 1785, but un- 
 fortunately, in fpite of that Right Honourable 
 
 Gentleman's
 
 L *4 ] 
 
 Gentleman's eloquence and authority, who then; 
 ftated the importance of guarding againft the evil, 
 it fo happened that doctrines, derived chiefly 
 from this fide of the water, fucceeded in convin- 
 cing the Parliament of Ireland, that it would be 
 inconliftent withtheir independence, (center into 
 any compact whatever. We have then the autho- 
 rity of that Rt. Honourable Gentleman to whom 
 I have fo often alluded, that the unfettled ftate 
 in which the matter was left, would give, " Poli- 
 tical Union many mocks, and lead to a fepara- 
 tion of Connection." The experiment of a mu-, 
 tual Compact has been tried without fuccefs ; the 
 arrangement of that fort, which was propofed in 
 1785, in order to obviate the inconveniences 
 ftated by the Right Honourable Gentleman, was 
 then attacked with the fame fuccefs againft hia 
 authority, as another and more effectual remedy 
 has recently experienced under his aufpices. The 
 refult then is, you muft remain in the ftate, which 
 that Right Honourable Gentleman has defcribed, 
 with the feeds of reparation in the fyftem now ef- 
 tabliflied, and with the Connection, on which the 
 mutual profperity of both Countries depends in 
 dangerofbeing hourly diflblved, or you muftagain, 
 
 recur
 
 recur to the propofal of a compact fimilar to that 
 rejected in 1785, or you mud refort to the beft 
 
 and molt effectual remedy, -A LEGISLATIVE 
 
 UNION. 
 
 I have dwelt longer, perhaps, upon this part of 
 the fubject than was abfolutely neceflary, becaufe 
 1 believe there is fcarcely any man who has ever 
 afked himfelf, whether there is a folid, perma- 
 nent fyftem of Connection between the two 
 Countries, who could, upon reflection 3 anfwer the 
 queftion in the affirmative. But befuies the au- 
 thorities of the perfons who made the arrange- 
 ment in 1782, and of thofe who have fmce treated 
 of it, to (hew that it was not deemed to be final 
 and complete ; I have further the teft of expe- 
 rience to mew how imperfect it was, and how 
 inadequate in practice to the great object of ce- 
 menting the Connection, and placing it beyond 
 the danger of being diffblved. In the fingle in- 
 ftance, which has occurred (and that a melancholy 
 one which all of us deplored) in v. hich we could 
 feel the effects of two jarring Legiflatures we 
 di4 feel it. On that occafion, it might have 
 the moft fignal calamities, had we not 
 E been
 
 . r ^ ] 
 
 been^refcued from its danger by an event, to which 
 no man can now look back without feeling the 
 utmoft joy and exultation ; feelings, which fubfe- 
 quent circumftances have ferved to heighten and 
 confirm. Every Gentleman will know, that 1 
 mufl allude to the Regency. With two inde- 
 pendent Legiflatures, acting upon different prin- 
 ciples, it was accident alone that preferved the 
 identity of the Executive Power, which is the 
 bond and fecurity of the Connection : And even 
 then the Executive authority, though veiled in 
 one perfon, would have been held by him by two 
 different tenures, by ane tenure in England, by 
 another in Ireland, had not the interpofition of 
 Providence prevented a circumftance pregnant 
 with the moft imminent perils, and which 
 might have operated to a feparation of the two 
 kingdoms. 
 
 After feeing the recorded opinion of Parliament, 
 of thofe who made the arrangement of 1782, and 
 after the decided teftimony of experience on the 
 fubjed, within the fhort period of fixteen years, 
 perhaps, it is hardly neceflfary to appeal to farther 
 
 proofs
 
 C 7 J 
 
 proofs of its inadequacy, or to defirc Gentlemen to 
 look forward to poflible cafes, which I could eafily 
 put, and which will naturally fuggeft themfelves to 
 the minds of all, who chufe to turn their attention 
 to the fubjecl:. .,, ". JG 
 
 IT 
 
 But when we confider the diftincl: powers pof- 
 fefied by the two Legiflatures on aH the great 
 queftions of Peace and War, of alliances and con- 
 federacies, (for they each have in principle, a 
 right to difcufs them and decide upon them, 
 though one of them has hitherto been wifely re- 
 flrained by difcretion, from the exercife of that 
 right), have we not feen circumftances to induce 
 us to think it poflible, at leaft, that on fome of 
 thefe important queftions the opinions and deci- 
 fions of the two Parliaments might have been at 
 variance ? Are we talking of an indiflbluble Con- 
 nection, when we fee it thus perpetually liable 
 to be endangered ? Can we really think that 
 the interefts of the Empire, or of its different 
 branches reft upon a fafe and folid bafis at pre- 
 fent ? I am anxious to difcufs this point clofely 
 with any man, either here or in Ireland. Will 
 2 .it
 
 [ * ] 
 
 it be faid, that the Parliament of the latter Coun- 
 try is bound by our deciiion on the queftion of 
 Peace or War ? And if not fo bound, will any 
 man, looking at human Nature as it is, contend, 
 that there is a fufficient certainty that the deci- 
 fion on that important fubject will always be the 
 fame in both countries ? I mould be glad to re- 
 ceive a diftinct anfwer to this queftion, from the 
 Honourable .Gentleman who has declared himfelf 
 to be as warm a friend to the Connection between 
 the two Countries as I am. 
 
 Suppofe, for inftance, that the prefent war, 
 which the Parliament of Great Britain confiders 
 to be juft and neceffary, had been voted by the 
 Irifii Parliament, to be unjuft, unneceflary, ex- 
 travagant, and hoftile to the principles of huma- 
 nity and freedom. Would that Parliament have 
 been bound by this Country ? If not j what fecu* 
 rity have we, at a moment the moft important to 
 our common intereft and common falvation, that 
 the two Kingdoms fhould have but one friend and 
 foe ? I repeat it ; I am eager to hear what can be 
 faid in j unification of a bafis fo imperfect and un. 
 
 found;
 
 C *9] 
 
 found, and liable to be fhaken by fo many acci- 
 dents. I have already obferved, that "in the pe- 
 culiar circumftances of the prefent moment, we 
 may find ftrong reafons to prove the neceflity of 
 correcting the fyftem of Connexion between this 
 Country and Ireland, of fupplying its imperfec- 
 tions, and ftrengthening its weaknefs, than are to 
 be found at any former period. 
 
 Having thus ftated, and I think fufficiently 
 proved, that the Settlement of 1782, in every 
 point of view in which it can be confidered, is 
 imperfect, and inadequate to the object of main- 
 taining the connection between the two kingdoms, 
 I proceed next to the circumftances which peculi- 
 arly call upon us at the prefent moment to remedy 
 that imperfection. 
 
 This Country is at this time engaged in the 
 mod important, and momentous conflict that ever 
 occurred in the Hiftory of the World; a conflict 
 in which Great Britain is diftinguifhed for having 
 made the only manly and fuccefsful ftand againil 
 the common enemies of civilized fociety. We 
 fee the point in which that Enemy think us the 
 
 mofl
 
 f 
 
 C 30 ] 
 
 moft affailable Are we not then bound in policy 
 and prudence, to ftrengthen that vulnerable point, 
 involved as we are in a corned of Liberty againft 
 Defyotimi of Property againft Plunder and Ra- 
 pine of Religion and Order againfl Impiety and 
 Anarchy ? There was a time when this would 
 have been termed declamation ; but, unfor- 
 tunately, long and bitter experience has taught us 
 to feel that it is only the feeble and imperfect re- 
 prefentation of thofe calamities (the refult of 
 f rench Principles and French Arms) which are at- 
 telted by the wounds of a bleeding world. 
 
 Is there a man who does not admit the import- 
 ance of. a meafure which, at fuch a crifis, may 
 augment the ftrength of the Empire, and thereby 
 enfure its fafety ? Would not that benefit to 
 Ireland be of itfelf fo folid, fo ineftimable, that, 
 in comparifon with it, all Commercial Interefts, 
 and the prefcrvation of local habits and manners, 
 would be trifling, even if they were endangered 
 by the prefent meafure j which they undoubtedly 
 are not ? The people of Ireland are proud, I be- 
 lieve, of being aflbciated with us in the great 
 contefl in which we are engaged, and muft feel 
 
 the
 
 C 3' ] 
 
 the advantage of augmenting the general force of 
 the Empire. That the prefent meafure is calcu- 
 lated to produce that effect, is a proportion which 
 I think cannot be difputed. There is not in any 
 Court of Europe a Statefman fo ill informed as 
 not to know, that the general power of the Em- 
 pire would be increafed to a very great extent 
 indeed, by fuch a confolidation of the ftrength 
 of the two kingdoms. In the courfa of the 
 Century every writer of any information on the 
 fubject has held the fame language, and in the 
 general ftrength of the Empire both Kingdoms 
 are more concerned than in any particular inte- 
 refts which may belong to either. If we were to 
 afk the Minifters of our Allies, what meafure 
 they thought the mod likely to augment the powef 
 of the Britifh Empire, and confequently increafb 
 that ftrength by which they were now protected 
 if we were to afk the Agent of our Enemies, 
 what meafure would be the moft likely to render 
 their defigns abortive the anfwer would be the 
 fame in both cafes, viz. the firm confolidation 
 of every part of the Empire. 
 
 Taere
 
 C 3* 3 
 
 There is another confideration well worth at- 
 tention. Recoiled what are the peculiar means 
 by which we have been enabled to refill the un- 
 eqnalled and eccentric efforts of France, without 
 any diminution, nay, with an increafe, of our 
 general profperity what, but the great Commer- 
 cial Refources which we poffefs ? A Meafure, 
 then, which muft communicate to fuch a mighty 
 Limb of the Empire as Ireland, all the Com- 
 mercial advantages which Great Britain pofieffes, 
 which will open the markets of the one Country 
 to the other, which will give them both the com- 
 mon ufe of their Capital, muft, by diffufmg a 
 large portion of wealth into Ireland, confiderably 
 increafe the Refources, and confequently the 
 ftrength, of the whole Empire. 
 
 But it is not merely in this general view, that 
 I think the Queftion ought to be confidered. 
 We ought to look to it with a view peculiarly 
 to the permanent Intereft and fecurity of Ireland. 
 "When that Country was threatened with the dou- 
 ble danger of hoflile attacks by Enemies without, 
 and of Treafon within, from what quarter did fhe 
 
 derive
 
 C 33 ] 
 
 derive the means of her deliverance ? from the 
 Naval Force of Great Britain from the volun- 
 tary exertions of her Military of every defcription, 
 not called for by Law and from her pecuniary 
 refources, added to the loyalty and energy of the 
 Inhabitants of Ireland itfelf ; of which it is im- 
 poffible to fpeak with too much praife, and which 
 mews how well they deferve to be called the 
 Brethren of Britons. Their own courage might, 
 perhaps have ultimately fucceeded, in repelling 
 the dangers by which they were threatened, but 
 it would have been after a long conteft, and after 
 having waded through feas of blood. Are we 
 fure that the fame ready and effectual affiftance 
 which we have happily afforded, on the prefent 
 occafion, will be always equally within our power ? 
 Great Britain has always felt a common intereft 
 in the fafety of Ireland ; but that common intereft 
 was never fo obvious and urgent as when the 
 Common Enemy made her attack upon Great 
 Britain, through the medium of Ireland, and when 
 their attack upon Ireland went to deprive her of her 
 Connection with Great Britain, and to fubftitute 
 in ftead, the new Government of the French Re- 
 public. When that danger threatened Ireland, 
 F the
 
 [ 34 ] 
 
 the purfe of Great Britain was open for the wants 
 of Ireland, as for the neceflities of England. 
 
 I do not, Sir, (late thefe circumftances, as up- 
 braiding Ireland for the benefits we have confer- 
 red j far from it j but I ftate them with pleafure, 
 as mewing the friendfhip and good will with 
 which this Country has acted towards her. But 
 if ftruggles of this fort may and muft return 
 again, if the worit dangers are thofe which are yet 
 to come, dangers which may be greater from being 
 more difguifed if thofe fituations may arife when 
 the fame means of relief are not in our power, 
 what is the remedy that reafon and policy point 
 out ? It is to identify them with us it is to make 
 them part of the fame Community, by giving 
 them a full mare of thofe accumulated bleilings 
 which are diffufed throughout Great Britain ; it is, 
 in a word, by giving them a full participation of 
 the Wealth, the Powers and the Glory of the 
 Britiih Empire, If then this Meafure comes re- 
 commended not only by the obvious defects of 
 the fyftem which now exifts, but that it has alfo 
 the pre-eminent recommendation of increafmg the 
 general power of the Empire, and of guarding 
 
 againfl
 
 C 35 ] 
 
 againft future danger from the Common Enemy, 
 we are next to confider it as to its effects upon the 
 internal condition of Ireland. 
 
 I know perfectly well, that as long as Ireland is 
 feparated from Great Britain, aj|y attempt on 
 our part to provide meafures wh||h we might 
 think falutary, as refpecling questions of con- 
 tending fets or parties, of the clajwned rights of 
 the Catholics, or of the precautions necefiary for 
 the fecurity of the Proteftams I know that all 
 thefe, though they may have been brought for- 
 ward by the very perfons who.are the advocates 
 of the Final Adjuftment in 1782, were, in fad, 
 attacks upon the Independence of the Irifh Parlia- 
 ment, and attempts to ufurp the Right of deci- 
 ding on points which can only be brought within 
 our province by compact. Until the Kingdoms 
 are united, any attempt to make regulations here 
 for the internal ftate of Ireland muft certainly 
 be a violation of her Independence. But feel- 
 ing as I do, for their interefts and their welfare, 
 I cannot be inattentive to the events that are 
 patting before me ; I muft therefore repeat, that 
 whoever looks at the circumftances to which I 
 have alluded whoever confiders that the Enemy 
 F t have
 
 C 36 3 
 
 have fhewn by their conduct, that they confidered 
 Ireland as the weakeft and moft vulnerable part 
 of the Empire j whoever reflects upon thofe dread- 
 ful and inexcufable cruelties inftigated by the Ene- 
 mies of both Countries, and upon thofe lament- 
 able feverities by which the exertions for the de- 
 fence of Ireland were unhappily, but unavoidably, 
 attended, and the necefiity of which is itfelf one 
 great aggravation of the Crimes and Treafons 
 which led to them, muft feel that, as it now ftands 
 compofed, in the hoftile divifion of its Sects, in 
 the animofities exifting between ancient Settlers 
 and original Inhabitants, in the ignorance and want 
 of Civilization, which marks that Country more 
 than almoft any other Country in Europe, in the 
 unfortunate prevalence of Jacobin Principles, 
 arifing from thefe caufes, and augmenting their 
 malignity, and which have produced that diftrefled 
 flate which we now deplore j every one, I fay, 
 who reflects upon all thefe circumftances, muft 
 agree with me in thinking, that there is no cure 
 but in the formation of a General Imperial Legif- 
 lature, free alike from terror and from refent- 
 ment, removed from the danger and agitation, and 
 uninflamed by the prejudices and paflions of that 
 
 diftraded Country. 
 
 I know
 
 C 37 ] 
 
 I know that it is impoflible, if we wifli to con- 
 fider this fubjeft properly, to confider it in any 
 other point of view than as it affects the Empire 
 in general. I know that the interefts of the two 
 Countries muft be taken together, and that a man 
 cannot fpeak as a true Englilhman, unlefs he 
 fpeaks as a true Irifhman, nor as a true Irimman, 
 unlefs he fpeaks as a true Englifhman : But 
 if it was poflible to feparate them, and I could 
 confider myfelf as addrefimg you, not as inte- 
 refted for the Empire at large, but for Ireland 
 alone, I mould fay, that it would be indifpenfably 
 necefiary, for the fake of that Country, to com- 
 pofe its prefent diffractions, by the adoption of 
 another fyflem : I mould fay, that the eftablilh- 
 ment of an Imperial Legiflature was the only 
 means of healing its wounds and of reftoring it 
 to tranquillity. I muft here take the liberty of 
 alluding to fome topics which were touched upon 
 during the difcuflion of the former night. 
 
 Among the great and known defects of Ireland, 
 one of the moft prominent features is, its want 
 of industry and a capital ; how are thofe wants to 
 be fupplied, but by blending more clofely with 
 
 Ireland,
 
 Ireland, the induftry and the capital of this Coun- 
 try. But, above all, in the great leading diftinc- 
 tions between the People of Ireland, I mean their 
 religious diftindions, what is their fituation? 
 The Proteflant feels that the claims of the Ca- 
 tholics threaten the exigence of the Proteftant 
 afcendancy ; while, on the other hand, the great 
 body of Catholics feel the eftablimment of the 
 National Church, and their exclufion from the 
 exercife of certain rights and privileges, a griev- 
 ance. Between the two, it becomes a matter of 
 difficulty in the minds of many perfons, whether it 
 would be better to liflen only to the fears of the 
 former, or to grant the claims of the latter. 
 
 I am well aware that the fubjeft of religious 
 diftinttion is a dangerous and delicate topic, ef- 
 pecially when applied to a country fuch as Ireland; 
 the fituation of which is different in this refpecl 
 from that of every other. Where the eftablifhed 
 religion of the State is the fame as the general 
 religion of the Empire, and where the property 
 of the Country is in the hands of a compara- 
 tively fmall number of perfons profefling that 
 eftablifhed religion, while the religion of a great 
 
 majority
 
 C 39 ] 
 
 majority of the people is different, it is not eafy 
 to fay, on general principles, what fyflem of 
 Church Eftablifhments in fuch a Country would 
 be free from difficulty and inconvenience. By 
 many I know it will be contended, that the reli- 
 gion profefled by a majority of the people, would 
 at lead be entitled to an equality of Privileges. 
 I have heard fuch an argument urged in this 
 Houfe ; but thofe who apply it without qualifi- 
 cation to the cafe of Ireland, forget furely the 
 principles on which Englifh Intereft and Englifh 
 Connection has been eftablifhed in that Country, 
 and on which its prefent Legiflature is formed. 
 No man can fay, that, in the prefent (late of 
 things, and while Ireland remains a feparate king- 
 dom, full concefiions could be made to the Ca- 
 tholics, without endangering the State, and making 
 the Conftitution of Ireland to its centre. 
 
 On the other hand, without anticipating the 
 difcumon, or the propriety of agitating the quef- 
 tion, or faying how foon or how late it may be 
 fit to difcufs it ; two proportions are indifputable: 
 Firft, When the conduct of the Catholics mall be 
 fuch as to make it fafe for the Government to 
 
 admit
 
 C 40 ) 
 
 admit them to the participation of the privileges 
 granted to thofe of the Eftablifhed Religion, and 
 when the temper of the times mail be favourable 
 to fuch a meafure. When thefe events take 
 place, it is obvious that fuch a queftion may be 
 agitated in an United, Imperial Parliament, with 
 much greater fafety, than it could be in a feparate 
 Legiflature. In the fecond place, I think it cer- 
 tain that) even for whatever period it may 
 be thought neceffary, after the Union, to with- 
 hold from the Catholics the enjoyment of thofe 
 advantages, many of the objections which at pre- 
 fent arife out of their fituation would be removed, 
 If the Proteftant Legiflature were no longer fepa- 
 rate and local, but general and Imperial ; and 
 the Catholics themfelves would at once feel a mi- 
 tigation of the moft goading and irritating of their 
 prefent caufes of complaint. 
 
 How far, in addition to this great and leading 
 confideration, it may alfo be wife and practicable 
 to accompany the meafure by fome mode of re- 
 lieving the lower orders from the prefiure of 
 Tithes, which in many inilances operate at pre- 
 fent as a great practical evil, or to make under 
 
 proper
 
 [ 41 ] 
 
 proper Regulations, and without breaking in on 
 the fecurity of the prefent Proteftant Eftablifh- 
 ment an effectual and adequate provifion for the 
 Catholic Clergy, it is not now neceffary to difcufs. 
 It is fufficient to fay, that thefe and all other fub- 
 ordinate points connected with the fame fubject, 
 arc more likely to be permanently and fatisfacto- 
 rily fettled by an United Legiflature, than by any 
 local arrangements. On thefe grounds I contend, 
 that with a view to providing an effectual remedy 
 for the diftractions which have unhappily prevail- 
 ed in Ireland, with a view of removing thofc 
 caufes which have endangered, and (till endanger 
 its fecurity, the meafure which I am now pro- 
 pofing promifes to be more effectual than any 
 other which can be devifed, and on thefe grounds 
 alone, if there exifted no other, I mould feel it 
 my duty to fubmit it to the Houfe 
 
 But, Sir, though what I have thus ftated re- 
 lates moft immediately to the great object of 
 healing the diflentions, and providing for the 
 internal tranquillity of Ireland ; there are alfo 
 other objects which, though comparatively with 
 this of inferior importance, are yet in them- 
 G felves
 
 [ 42 ] 
 
 felves highly material, and in a fecondary view, 
 well worthy of attention, 
 
 I have heard it afked, when I preffed the mea- 
 fure, what are the pofitive advantages that Ireland 
 is to derive from it ? To this very queftion I 
 prefume the confederations which I have already 
 urged afford a fufficient anfwer. But, in fad, 
 the queftion itfelf is to be confidered in another 
 view ; and it will be found to bear fome refem- 
 blance to a queftion which has been repeatedly 
 put, by fome of the Gentlemen oppofite to me, 
 during the laft fix years. What are the advanta- 
 ges which Great Britain has gained by the prefent 
 war with France ? 
 
 *Fo this, the brilliant fucceffes of the Britifh 
 army by fea and land, our unexampled naval 
 victories over all our enemies, the folid acquifi- 
 tion of valuable territory, the general increafe of 
 our power, the progrefilve extenfion of our con> 
 merce, and a feries of events more glorious than 
 any that ever adorned the page of our hiftory, 
 afford at once an ample and a fatisfactory anfwer. 
 But there is another general anfwer which we 
 
 have
 
 t 43 ] 
 
 have uniformly given, and which would alone be 
 diffident: it is, that we did not enter into this 
 war for any purpofe of ambition ; our object was 
 not to acquire, but to preferve ; and in this fenfe, 
 what we have gained by the war is, in one word, 
 ALL that we fhould have loft without it : it is, the 
 prefervation of our Conftitution, our Indepen- 
 dence, our Honour, our Exiftenee as a Nation. 
 
 In the fame manner I might anfwer the queftion 
 with refpect to Ireland, I might enumerate the 
 general advantages which Ireland would derive 
 from the effects of the Arrangement to which I 
 have already referred, the Protection which me 
 will fecure to herfelf in the hour of danger. The 
 moft effectual means of increafing her Commerce 
 and improving her Agriculture, the command of 
 F.nglifh Capital, the infuiion of Englifh Manners 
 and Englifh Induflry, neceffarily tending to ame- 
 liorate her Condition, to accelerate the progrefs of 
 internal civilization, and to terminate thofe feuds 
 and diflentions which now diftract the Country, 
 and which fhe does not poffefs, within herfelf, the 
 power either to controul or to extinguifh. She 
 would fee the avenue to Honours, to diftinctions, 
 (* 2 and
 
 [ 44 ] 
 
 and exalted Situations in the general feat of Em- 
 pire, opened to all thofe whofe abilities and talents 
 enable them to indulge an honourable and laudable, 
 ambition. 
 
 But, independent of all thefe advantages, I 
 might alfo anfwer, that the queftiqn is not what 
 Ireland is to gain, but what fhe is to prefcrve : 
 not merely how fhe may bed improve her fitua- 
 tion, but how fhe is to avert a prefllng and imme- 
 diate danger. In this view, what fhe gains is the 
 prefervation of all thofe bleffmgs arifing from- the 
 Britifh Conflitution, and which are infeparable 
 from her Connexion with Great Britain. Thofe 
 Bleffings of which it has long been the aim of 
 France, in conjunction with domeftic traitors, to 
 deprive her, and on their ruins to eftablifh (with 
 all its attendant miferies and horrors) a Jacobin. 
 Republic, founded on French Influence, and ex- 
 ifting only in fubferviency to France. 
 
 Such, Sir, would be the anfwer, if we direct 
 our attention only to the queflion of general ad- 
 vantage. And here I fhould be inclined to ftop ; 
 but fince it has alfo been more particularly afked, 
 
 what
 
 [ 45 ] 
 
 what are the advantages which /he is to gain., i^ 
 point of Commerce and Manufactures, I am de- 
 fvous of applying my anfwer more immediately 
 and diftinctly to that part of the fubje<5t : and, as 
 I know that the ftatement will carry more con- 
 viction with it, to thofe who make the inquiry, 
 if given in the words of the Right Honourable 
 Gentleman, to whom, and to whofe opinions, I 
 have had more than one occafion to advert in the 
 courfe of this night, I will read you an extract 
 from his recorded fentiments on the fubject, in the 
 year 1785, on this fame memorable occafion of 
 the Commercial Propofitions. Speaking of a fo- 
 lid and unalterable Compact between the two 
 Countries, fpeaking exprefsly of the peculiar im- 
 portance of infuring the continuance of thofe 
 Commercial benefits, which me at that time held 
 only at the difcretion of this country, he fays - 
 " The exportation of Irilh Products to England, 
 " amounts to Two Millions and a Half annually ; 
 " and the exportation of Britim Products, to Ire- 
 " land, amounts to but One Million." 
 
 He then proceeds to reafon upon the advan- 
 tage which Ireland would derive, under fuch cir- 
 
 cumftances.
 
 [ 46 ] 
 
 cumftances, from guarding againft mutual prohi- 
 bitions ; and he accompanies the flatement, which 
 I have juft read, with this obfervation 
 
 c If, indeed, the Adjuftment were to take 
 Cf away the Benefit from Ireland it would be a 
 ". good caufe for rejecting it ; but, as it for ever 
 <f confirms all the Advantages we derived from 
 " our Linen Trade, and binds England from 
 fc making any law that can be injurious to it, 
 " furely Gentlemen who regard that trade, and 
 * c whofe fortunes and rents defend on Its prosperity, 
 * f will not entertain a moment's doubt about emlra- 
 " cing the offer. 1 ' 
 
 Such was the reafoning of the Irifti CHANCEL- 
 LOR of the EXCHEQUER ; which I confider to have 
 
 . 
 been perfe&ty juft. With reference to his late 
 
 opinions, I do not think I can more forcibly reply, 
 to a perfon who figns his name to Propofitions 
 which declare that the ruin of the Linen Trade 
 of Ireland is likely to be the confequence of an 
 Union, than by oppofing to him his own opinion. 
 I fhall be able to ftrengthen the former opinion 
 of that Gentleman, by ftating, that the progrefs 
 
 that
 
 [ 47 ] 
 
 that has been made in commercial advantages to 
 Ireland, fmce 1785, has been fuch as to render his 
 argument ftill more applicable. What is the na- 
 ture of that Commerce, explained by the fame 
 perfon, in fo concife and forcible a manner, that 
 I am happy to ufe his own ftatement ? He does 
 not confine himfelf to the grofs amount, but gives 
 the articles in detail : 
 
 " Britain," he fays, " imports annually from 
 <c us Two Million Five Hundred Thoufand 
 " Pounds of our Produces, all, or very nearly all, 
 " duty free, and covenants never to lay a duty on 
 " them. We import about a Million of her's, 
 f and raife a Revenue on almoft every article of 
 " it, and referve the power of continuing that 
 " Revenue. She exports to us Salt for our 
 " Filheries and Provifionsj Hops, which we 
 <f cannot grow; Coals which we cannot raife; 
 " Tin, which we have not ; and Bark, which we 
 " cannot get elfewhere : and all thefe without re^ 
 " ferving any duty." 
 
 I will not tire the patience of the Houfe, by 
 reading farther extracts ; but the Right Honour- 
 able
 
 [ 43 ] 
 
 able Gentleman's whole Speech, in like manner^ 
 points out the advantages of the Commercial 
 Propofitions (at that time under confideration) as 
 a ground-Work of a Compact between the two 
 Countries, in 1785, on Commercial fubjects. * 
 But how Hands the cafe now ? The trade is at 
 this time infinitely more advantageous to Ireland. 
 It will be proved, from the documents which I 
 hold in my hand, as far as relates to the mere 
 interchange of manufactures, that the manufac- 
 tures, exported to Ireland from Great Britain, 
 in 1797, very little exceeded a Million flerling 
 (the articles of produce amount to nearly the fame 
 fum) while Great Britain^ on the other hand, im- 
 ported from Ireland to the amount of near Three 
 Millions in the manufactured articles of Linen and 
 Linen Yarn, and between Two and Three Mil- 
 lions in Provifions and Cattle, befides Corn and 
 other articles of produce. 
 
 In addition to thefe Articles, there are other 
 circumftances of advantage to Ireland. Articles 
 which are effential to her trade and to her fubfif- 
 tence, or ferve as raw materials for her manufac- 
 tures, are fent from hence free of duty. It is ex- 
 
 prefsly
 
 [ 49 ] 
 
 prefsly ftated on the fame authority, that all that 
 we take back from Ireland was liable to a Duty 
 in that country on their exports ; fo that in fome 
 inftances we gave them a preference over our- 
 felves. 
 
 The increafing produce of the chief article of their 
 manufacture, and four-fifths of her whole export 
 trade, are to be afcribed, not to that Independent 
 Legljlature> but to the liberality of the Britifh Par- 
 liament. It is by the free admiffion of Linens for 
 our market, and the Bounties granted by the 
 Britifh Parliament on its re-export, that the 
 Linen-Trade has been brought to the height at 
 which we now fee it. To the Parliament of this 
 Country, then, it is now owing, that a Market 
 has been opened for her Linen to the amount of 
 three millions. By the Bounty we give to Ireland, 
 we afford her a double market for that article, and 
 (what is flill more ftriking and important) \ve 
 have prevented a competition againfl her, arifing 
 from the fuperior cheapnefs of the Linen-Manu- 
 faclures of the Continent, by fubjecting their im- 
 portation to a Duty of thirty per cent. Nothing 
 would more clearly fliew what would be the danger 
 II to
 
 [ So ] 
 
 to Ireland from the Competition in all its princi- 
 pal branches of the Linen-Trade, than the limple 
 fact, that we even now import foreign Linens, un- 
 der this heavy duty, to an amount equal to a 
 feventh part of all that Ireland is able to fend us, 
 with the preference- that has been ftated. By this 
 arrangement alone, we muft therefore be confider- 
 ed, either as foregoing between feven and eight 
 hundred thoufand pounds per annum in revenue, 
 which we fliould collect if we chofe to levy the 
 fame duty on all Linens, Irifii as well as Foreign, 
 or on the other hand, as facrificing perhaps at 
 leaft a million flerling in the price paid for thofe 
 articles, by the fubjects of this Country, which 
 miglit be faved, if we allowed the importation of 
 all Linen, Foreign as well as Irifh, equally free 
 from Duty. 
 
 The prefent mcafure is, however, in its effects 
 calculated not merely for a confirmation of the 
 advantages on which the perfon to whom I have 
 alluded has in fitted. It is obvious that a fuller 
 and more perfect connexion of the two countries, 
 from whatever caufe it may arifc, muft produce 
 a greater facility and freedom of commercial in. 
 
 tercourfe.
 
 [ 5' ] 
 
 tercourfe. and ultimately tend to the advantage of 
 both. The benefits to be derived to either coun- 
 try from fuch an arrangement muft indeed, in a 
 great meafure, be gradual ; but they are not on 
 that account the lefs certain, and they cannot be 
 ftated in more forcible language than in that ufed 
 in the fpeech to which I have referred. 
 
 " Gentlemen undervalue the reduction of Bri- 
 " tifli Duties on our Manufactures. I agree with 
 " them it may not operate foon, but we are to 
 " look forward to a final fettlement, and it is im- 
 " poffible but that in time, with as good climate, 
 " equal natural powers, cheaper food, and fewer 
 <c taxes, we'IIiuft be able to fell to them. When 
 " commercial jealoufy fhall be banimed by final 
 " fettlement, and trade take its natural and fleady 
 * f courfe, the Kingdoms will ceafe to look to 
 " rivalfhip, each will make that fabrick which it 
 " can do cheapeft, and buy from the other what 
 <c it cannot make fo advantageoufly. Labour 
 " will be then truly employed to profit,, not di- 
 * e verted by Bounties, Jealoufies, or Legiflative 
 " Interference, from its natural and beneficial, 
 " courfe. This fyftem will aitain its real object, 
 
 " coa-
 
 C 5* ] 
 
 te confolidating the ftrength of the remaining 
 " parts of the Empire, by encouraging the com- 
 *' munications of their market among themfelves 
 ' with preference to every part againft all 
 " ftrangers!" 
 
 I am at leaft, therefore, fecure from the defign 
 of appearing to deliver any partial or chimerical 
 opinion of my own, when I thus ftate, on the 
 authority of aperfon the beft informed, and who 
 then judged difpaffionately, both the infinite im- 
 portance to Ireland of fecuring permanently the 
 great commercial advantages which fhe now holds 
 at the difcretion of Great Britain, and the addi- 
 tional benefit which flie would derive from any 
 fettlement which opened to her gradually a ftill 
 more free and compleat commercial intercourfe 
 with this country. And while I ftate thus ftrongly 
 the commercial advantages to the fifter kingdom, 
 I have no alarm left I mould excite any fenti- 
 ment of jealoufy here. I know that the inhabi- 
 tants of Great Britain wifh well to the profperity 
 of Ireland ; that, if the Kingdoms are really and 
 folidly united, they feel that to increafe the com- 
 mercial wealth of one Country is not to diminilh 
 
 that
 
 [ 53 ] 
 
 that of the other, but to increafe the ftrength 
 and power of both. But to juftify that fenti- 
 ment, we muft be fatisfied that the wealth we 
 are pouring into the lap of Ireland is not every- 
 day liable to be fnatched from us, and thrown 
 into the fcale of the enemy. If therefore Ireland 
 is to continue, as I truft. it will for ever, an ef- 
 fential part of the integral ftrength of the Britifh. 
 Empire ; if her ftrength is to be permanently 
 ours, and our ftrength to be hers, neither I, nor 
 any Englifh minifter, can ever be deterred by the 
 fear of creating jealoufy in the hearts of Engliih 
 men, from flating the advantages of a clofer 
 Connexion, or from giving any affiftance to the 
 Commercial Profperity of that Kingdom. 
 
 If ever indeed I mould have the misfortune to 
 witnefs the melancholy moment when fuch prin- 
 ciples muft be abandoned, when all hope of feeing 
 Ireland permanently and fecurely connected with 
 this country fhall be at an end, I mail at leaft have 
 the confolation of knowing, that it will not be 
 the want of temper or forbearance, of conciliati- 
 on, of kindnefs, or of full explanation on our part, 
 
 which
 
 C 54 ] 
 
 which will have produced an event fo fatal to 
 Ireland, and fo dangerous to Great Britain. If 
 ever the over-bearing power of prejudice and 
 pailion {hall produce that fatal confequence, it 
 will too late be perceived and acknowledged, 
 that all the great commercial advantages which 
 Ireland at prefent enjoys, and which are con- 
 tinually increafing, are to be afcribed to the 
 liberal conduct, the foftering care, of the Britilh 
 Empire, extended to the filter kingdom as to a 
 part of ourfelves, and not (as has been fallacioufly 
 and vainly pretended) to any thing which has 
 been done or can be done by the independent 
 power of her own feparate Legiilature. 
 
 I have thus, Sir, endeavoured to ftate to you 
 the reafons, why I think this meafure advifeablej 
 why I wifh it to be propofed to the Parliament 
 of Ireland, with temper and fairnefs ; and why 
 it appears to me, entitled at leaft to a calm and 
 difpaffionate difcuffion in that Kingdom. I am 
 aware, however, that objections have been urged 
 againfl the meafure, fome of which are undoubt- 
 edly plaufible, and have been but too fuccefsful
 
 C 55 1 
 
 in their influence on the Irifh Parliament. O 
 thefe objections I lhall now proceed, as concifely 
 as poflible, to take fome notice. 
 
 The firft is, what I heard alluded to by the 
 Honourable Gentleman oppofite to me, when his 
 Majefty's MefTage was brought down ; namely 
 That the Parliament of Ireland is incompetent 
 to entertain and difcufs the queftion, or rather, 
 to act upon the meafure propofed, without 
 having previoufly obtained the confent of the 
 people of Ireland, their Confiituents. But, Sir, 
 I am led to fuppofe from what the Honourable 
 Gentleman afterwards dated, that he made 
 this objection, rather by way of deprecating 
 the difcuflion of the queftion, than as enter- 
 taining the fmalleft doubt upon it himfeHv 
 If, however, the Honourable Gentleman, or 
 any other Gentleman on the other fide of the 
 Houfe, mould ferioufly entertain a doubt on the 
 fubjeft, I fhall be ready to difcufs it with him 
 diftinctly, either this night or at any future oppor- 
 tunity. For the prefent I will affume, that no 
 man can deny the competency of the Parlia- 
 ment of Ireland (rcprefenting as it does, in the 
 
 language
 
 c 56 i 
 
 language of our Conftitution, " lawfully fully, 
 and freely, all the eft ate s of the people of the realm") 
 to make Laws to bind that people, unlefs he is 
 difpofed to diftinguifh that Parliament from the 
 Parliament of Great Britain ; and, while he 
 maintains the independence of the Irim Legifla- 
 ture, yet denies to it the lawful and eflential 
 powers of Parliament. No man who maintains 
 the Parliament of Ireland to be co-equal with our 
 own, can deny its competency on this queftion, 
 unlefs he means to go the length of denying, at 
 the fame moment, the whole of the authority of 
 the Parliament of Great Britain to fliake every 
 principle of legiflation and to maintain, that 
 all the acts pafled, and every thing done by Par- 
 liament, or fanctioned by its authority, howe- 
 ver facred, however beneficial, is neither more 
 nor lefs than an act of ufurpation. He muft 
 not only deny the validity of the union between 
 Scotland and England, but he muft deny the 
 authority of every one of the proceedings of the 
 limited Legiflature fmce the Union ; nay, Sir, 
 he muft go ftill farther, and deny the authority 
 under which we now lit and deliberate here, as a 
 Houfe of Parliament. Of courfe, he muft deny 
 the validity of the adjuftment of 1782, and call 
 
 in
 
 [ 57 ] 
 
 in qu eft ion every meafure which he has hirafelf 
 been the moft forward to have enforced. This 
 point, Sir, is of fo much importance, that I think 
 I ought not to fuffer the opportunity to pals, 
 without iiluftrating more fully what I mean. IF 
 this principle of the incompetcncy of Parliament 
 to the decifion of the Meafure be admitted, or 
 if it be contended, that Parliament has nolegfc 
 timale authority to difcufs and decide upon it, 
 you will be driven to the neceflity of recognizing 
 a principle, the moft dangerous that ever was 
 adopted in any civilized State. 1 mean the prin- 
 ciple, that Parliament cannot adopt any mea- 
 fure new in its nature, and of great importance, 
 without appealing to the conftituent and dele- 
 gating authority for diretions. ' If that doc"lrine 
 be true, look to /what an extent it will carry you. 
 If fuch an argument could be let up and main- 
 tained, you acled without any legitimate autho- 
 rity when you .created the representation of the 
 Principality of Wales, or of either of the Coun- 
 ties Pala^ne of England. Every Law that Par- 
 liament ever made, without that appeal, either 
 -as to its own Frame and Conftitution, as to the 
 qualification of the electors or the elected, as to 
 I the
 
 [ 58 ] 
 
 the great and fundamental point of the fucceffion 
 to the Crown, was made without due authority. 
 
 If we turn to Ireland itfelf, what do Gentlemen 
 think of the power of that Parliament, which, 
 without any frefh delegation from its Proteftant 
 conftituents, affociates to itfelf all the Catholic 
 electors, and thus deftroys a fundamental diftinc- 
 tion on which it was formed ? God forbid, that 
 I fhould object to or blame any of thefe Mea- 
 fures ! I am only ftating the extent to which 
 the principle (that Parliament has no autho- 
 rity to decide upon the prefent Meafure) will 
 lead ; and, if it be admitted in one cafe, it 
 inuft be admitted in all. Will any man fay, 
 that (although a Proteftant Parliament in Ire- 
 land, chofen exclufively by Proteftant Con- 
 ftituents, has by its own inherent power, and 
 without confulting thofe conftituents, admitted 
 and comprehended the Catholics who w : cre 
 till then, in fal, a feparate community) that 
 Parliament cannot aflbciate itfelf witk another 
 Proteftant community, reprefentecl by a Protef- 
 tant Parliament, having one intereft with itfelf, 
 and fimilar in its Laws, its Conftitution, and its 
 
 Eftablifhed
 
 [ 59 3 
 
 Eflabliflied Religion? Wha,t mud be faid by 
 thofe who have at any time been friends to any 
 plan of Parliamentary Reform, and particularly 
 fuch as have been mod recently brought forward, 
 either in Great Britain or Ireland ? What- 
 ever may have been thought of the propriety 
 of the Meafure, I never heard any doubt, of 
 the competency of Parliament to confider and 
 difcufs it. Yet I defy any man to maintain the 
 principle of fhofe plans, without contending that, 
 as a Member of Parliament, he pofTeffes a right 
 to concur in disfranchifmg thofe who fent him to 
 Parliament, and to felect others, by whom he 
 was not elected, in their (lead. 1 am fure 
 that no fufficient diftinftion, in point of princi- 
 ple, can be fuccefsfully maintained for a fmgle 
 moment , nor mould I deem it neceflary to dwell 
 on this point, in the manner I do, were I not 
 convinced that it is connected in part with all 
 thofe falfe and dangerous notions on the fub- 
 jecl of Government which have lately become 
 too prevalent in the world. It may, in fad, be 
 traced to that grofs perverfion of the principles 
 of all political fociety, which refts on the fuppo- 
 l^tion that there exifts continually in every Go- 
 I 2 vernment
 
 C o ] 
 
 vernment a Sovereignty in abeyance (as it were) 
 on the part of the People, ready to be called forth 
 on every occafion, or rather, on every pretence, 
 when it may fuit the purpofes of the party or 
 faction who are the advocates of this do&rine to 
 foppofe an occafion for its exertion. It is in thefe 
 falfe principles that are contained the feeds of all 
 the mifery, defolation, and ruin, which in the 
 prefent day have fpread themfelves over fo large a 
 proportion of the habitable Globe. 
 
 Thefe principles, Sir, are, at length, fo weil 
 known and underflood in their practical efFeds, 
 that they can no longer hope for one enlightened 
 or intelligent advocate, when they appear in their 
 true colours. Yet, with all the horror we all feel, in 
 common with the reft of the World, at the effecl: 
 of them, with all the confirmed and increafmg 
 love and veneration which we feel towards the 
 Conflitution of our Country, founded as it is, 
 both in Theory and Experience, on principles di- 
 re&ly the reverfe ; yet, there are too many 
 among us, who, while they abhor and rejeft fuch 
 opinions, when prefented to them in their naked 
 deformity, fuffer ihem in a more difguifed fhape 
 
 to
 
 t I 3 
 
 to be gradually infufed into their minds, and In* 
 fenfibly to influence and bias their fentiments and 
 arguments on the greateft and moft important 
 difcuffions. This concealed poifon is now more 
 to be dreaded than any open attempt to fupport 
 fuch principles by argument or to enforce them 
 by arms. No fociety, whatever be its particular , 
 form, can long fubfift, if this principle is once 
 admitted. In every Government, there mud refide 
 fomewhere a fupreme, abfolute, and unlimited au- 
 thority. This is equally true of every lawful Mo- 
 narchy of every Ariftocracy of every pure De- 
 mocracy (if indeed fuch a form of Government 
 ever has exifted, or ever can exift) and of thofe 
 mixed Conflitutions formed and compounded from 
 the others, which we are juftly inclined to prefer 
 to any of them. In all thefe Governments, in- 
 deed alike, that power may by poflibility be abuf- 
 ed, but whether the abufe js fuch as to juflify 
 and call for the interference of the people col- 
 ledively, or, more properly fpeaking, of any por- 
 tion of it, muft always be an extreme cafe and a 
 queftion of the greateft and moft perilous re- 
 fponfibility, not in Law only, but in Conscience 
 and in Duty, to all. thofe who either aft upon it 
 
 themfelves^
 
 [ 62 ] 
 
 themfelves, or perfuade others to do fo. But no 
 provifion for fuch a cafe ever has been or can 
 be made before-hand ; it forms no chapter in 
 any known code of laws, it can find no place in 
 any fyflem of human jurifprudence. But, above 
 all, if fuch a principle can make no part of any 
 eftablifhed Conflitution, not even oi thofc where 
 tflb Government is fo framed as to be moft liable 
 to the abufe of its powers, it will be prepoflerous 
 indeed to fuppofe that it can he admitted in one 
 where thofe powers are fo diftributed and bala'nc* 
 ed as to furnifh the beft fecurity againft the pro- 
 bability of fuch an abufe. Shall that principle be 
 fan&ioned as a neceflary part of the beft Govern- 
 ment, which cannot be admitted to exift even 
 as a check upon the word ! Pregnant as it is 
 \vith. danger and con fu (ion, {hall it be received 
 and eftabliihed in proportion as every reafon which 
 can ever make it neceflary to recur to it is not likely 
 to exift ? Yet, Sir, I know not how it is, that, 
 in proportion as we are lefs likely to have occafion 
 for fo defperate a remedy, in proportion as a 
 Government is fo framed as to provide within 
 itfelf the beft guard and control on the exercife 
 of every branch of authority, to ftirnifh the means 
 
 of
 
 t 63 ] 
 
 of preventing or correcting every abufe of power, 
 and to fecure, by its own natural operation, a 
 due attention to the intereft and feelings of every 
 part-of the community, in that very proportion 
 pcrfons have been found perverfe enough to 
 imagine, that fuch a Conftitution admits and re- 
 cognizes, as a part of it, that which is incon- 
 fifteut with the nature of any Government, and 
 above all, inapplicable to our own. 
 
 I have faid more, Sir, upon this fubjec~l than 
 I mould have thought neceffary, if I had not 
 felt that this falfe and dangerous mockery of the 
 Sovereignty of the People is in truth one of the 
 chief elements of Jacobinifin, one of the fa- 
 vourite impoftures to miflead the underftanding, 
 and to flatter and inflame the paffions of the 
 mafs of mankind, who have not the opportu- 
 nity of examining and cxpofing it, and that as 
 fuch on every occafion, and in every mcpe in 
 which it appears, it ought to be combated and 
 refifted by every friend to civil order, and to 
 the .peace- and happinefs of mankind. 
 
 Sir, the next and not the leaft prevalent ob- 
 jection, is one which is contained in words which 
 are an appeal to a. natural and laudable, but what 
 
 Imuft
 
 t 64 ] 
 
 I muu call an erroneous and miftakcn lenfe of 
 national pride. It is an appeal to the generous 
 and noble paffions of a nation eafily inflamed un- 
 der any fuppofed attack upon its honour, I mean 
 the attempt to reprcfent the qucftion of a Union 
 by compact between the Parliaments of the two 
 Kingdoms as a queflion involving the Inde- 
 pendance of Ireland. It has been faid, that no 
 compenfatjon could be made to any country for 
 the furrcnder of its National Independance. Sir, 
 on this, as well as on every part of the queftioE, 
 I am defirous Gentlemen fhould come elofelyto 
 the point, that they fhould fift it to the bottom, 
 and afcertain upon what grounds and principles 
 their opinion really refis. Bo they mean to 
 ftiaintainthat in any humiliating, in any degrading 
 fenfe of the word which can be a6led upon pracli- 
 cally as a rule, and which can lead to any ufcfut 
 conclufion, that at any time when the Govern- 
 ment of any two feparate Countries unite in 
 forming one more exteniive empire, that the in- 
 dividuals who comp ofe either of the former nar^ 
 row focieties are afterwards lejs members cf ail 
 independant country, or to any valuable and ufe- 
 ful purpofe lefs poflefTed of political freedom cr 
 
 civil
 
 [ 65 I 
 
 civil happinefs;than they were before. It muft 
 be obvious to every Gentleman who will look 
 at the fubjecl, in tracing the hiftory of all the 
 countries, the moft proud of their prefent ex- 
 ifting independance, of all the nations in Eu- 
 rope, there is not one that could exift in the 
 ftate in which it now ftands, if that principle 
 had been aled upon by our forefathers ; and 
 Europe mull have remained to this hour in a 
 (late of ignorance and barbarifm, from the per- 
 petual warfare of independent and petty ftates. 
 In the inftance of our own Country, it would 
 be a fuperHuous wafle of time to enumerate the 
 fteps by which all its parts were formed into 
 one Kingdom ; but will any man in general 
 affert, that in all the different Unions which 
 have formed the principal ftates of Europe, 
 their inhabitants have become lefs free, that 
 they have had lefs of which to be proud, lefs 
 fcope for their own exertions, than they had in 
 their former fituation. If this doctrine is to be 
 generally maintained, what becomes of the fitu- 
 ation at this hour of any one county of England, 
 or of any one county of Ireland, now united un- 
 der the independent Parliament of that Kinor. 
 dam ? If it be pufhed to its full extent, it is ob- 
 vioufly incompatible with all civil fociety. As 
 K the
 
 L 66 J 
 
 the former principle of the Sovereignty of ttie 
 people ftrikes at the foundation of all govern- 
 ments, fo this is equally hoftile to all political 
 confederacy, and mankind muft be driven 
 back to what is called the ftate of nature. 
 
 But while I combat this general and abftracl 
 principle, which would operate as an objection 
 to every union between feparate ftates, on the 
 groundof the facrificeof independance, do I mean 
 to contend that there is in no cafe juft ground 
 for fuch a ftatement ? Far from it : it may be- 
 come, onmanyoccaiions, the firft duty of a free 
 and generous people. If there exifts a country 
 which contains within itfelf the means of mili- 
 tary protection, the naval force necefiary for 
 its defence, which furnifhes objets of induftry 
 fufficient for the fubfiftence of its inhabitants, 
 and pecuniary rcfources adequate to maintain- 
 ing, with dignity, the rank which it has attained 
 among the nations of the world ; if, above all, 
 it enjoys the bleffings of internal content and 
 tranquillity, and poffefles a diftinclconftitution of 
 its own, the defeds of which, if any, it is within 
 itfelf capable of correcting, and if that conftitu- 
 tion be equal, if not fuperior, to that of any 
 other in the world, or (which is nearly the fame 
 
 thing)
 
 thing) if thofe who live under it believe it to be 
 fo, and fondly cherifh that opinion, I can indeed 
 well underftand that fuch a country mull be jea- 
 lous of any meafure, which, even by its own con- 
 fent, under the authority of its own lawful go- 
 vernment, is to afTociate it as a part of a larger 
 and more extenfive empire. 
 
 But, Sir, if, on the other hand, it mould 
 happen that there be a country which, againft the 
 greateft of all dangers that threaten its peace 
 and fecurity, has not adequate means of pro- 
 tecting itfelf without the aid of another nation ; 
 if that other be a neighbouring and kindred na- 
 tion, fpeaking the fame language, whofe laws, 
 whofe cultoms, and habits are the fame in prin- 
 ciple, but carried to a greater degree of perfec- 
 tion, with a more extenfive commerce, and more 
 abundant means of acquiring and diffufing na- 
 tional wealth ; the (lability of whofe government 
 the excellence of whofe conftitution is more than 
 ever the admiration and envy of Europe, and of 
 which the very Country of which we are fpeaking 
 can only boaft an inadequate and imperfect re- 
 femblance ; under fuch circumftances, I would' 
 alk, what conduct would be prefcribed by every 
 K 2 rational
 
 [ 63 ] 
 
 rational principle of dignity, of honour, or of in- 
 tereft ? I would afk, whether this is not a faith- 
 ful defcription of the circumftances which ought 
 to difpofe Ireland to a Union ? Whether Great 
 Britain is not precifely the nation with which, on 
 thefe principles, a Country, fituated as Ireland is, 
 would defire to unite ? Does a Union, under 
 fuch circumftances, by free conftnt, and on juft 
 and equal terms, deferve to be branded as a pro- 
 pofal for fubjecling Ireland to a foreign yoke ? 
 Is it not rather the free and voluntary aflbciaticn 
 of two great Countries, which join, for their 
 common benefit, in one Empire, where each 
 will retain its proportional weight and importance, 
 under the fecurity of equal laws, reciprocal af- 
 fection, and infeparable interefts, and which want 
 nothing but that indiflbluble Connection to ren- 
 der both invincible. 
 
 Non ego nee Teucris Italos parere jubebo 
 
 Nee nova regna peto ; paribus fe Itgibus ambz 
 
 Invi&as gentes seterna in faedera mictant. 
 
 Sir, I have nearly Hated all that is neceflary 
 for me to trouble the Iloufe with ; there are, 
 however, one or two other objections which I 
 will) not entirely to pafs over : One of them is, a 
 
 general
 
 [ 69 ] 
 
 general notion that a Union with Great Britain 
 mud neceffarily increafe one of the great evils of 
 Ireland, by producing depopulation in many parts 
 of the Country, and by increafmg greatly the 
 number of abfentees. I do not mean to deny 
 that this efFeft would, to a limited extent, ta*ke 
 place during a part of the year ; but I think it 
 will not be difficult for me to prove, that this 
 circumftance will be more than counterbalanced 
 by the operation of the fydem in oilier refpecls. 
 
 If it be true that this meafure has an inevitable 
 tendency to admit the introduction of that Britifli 
 Capital which is mod likely to give life to all the 
 operations of Commerce, and to all the improve- 
 ments of Agriculture ; if it be that which above 
 all other confiderations is moil likely to give 
 fecurity, quiet, and internal repofe to Ireland ; 
 if it is likely to remove the chief bar to the in- 
 ternal advancement of wealth and of civilization, 
 by a rrore intimate intercourfe with England; 
 if it is more likely to communicate from hence 
 thofe habits which diftinguim this Country, 
 and which, by a continued gradation, unite the 
 higheft and the loweft orders of the community 
 v;khout a chafm in any part of the fyftem j if it 
 
 is
 
 c 7 d 
 
 
 is not only likely to invite (as I have already 
 
 faid) EnglHh Capital to fet Commerce in motion, 
 but to offer it the ufe of new markets, to open 
 frefh refources of wealth and induftry ; can 
 vreahh, can induftry, can civilization increafe 
 among the whole bulk of the people without its 
 much more than counterbalancing the partial 
 effecl of the removal of the fevMndividuals who, 
 for a fmall part of the year, would follow the 
 feat of Legiflation ? Will it be fuppofed that the 
 mere abfence of Parliament from Dublin, if it 
 would ftill remain the centre of Education and of 
 the internal commerce of a country increafing in 
 improvement ; if it would ftill remain the feat of 
 legal difcuffion, which muft always increafe with an 
 increafe of property and occupation, what ground 
 is there to fuppofe, with a view even to the inte- 
 refts of thofe whofe partial interefts have been moft 
 fuccefsfully appealed to ; what reafon J s there to 
 fuppofe that, with a view either to the refpeclabie 
 Body of the Bar, to the Merchant, or Shopkeeper 
 of Dublin (if it were poffible to fuppofe that a 
 tranfaclion of this fort ought to be referred to that 
 fingle criterion) that they would not find their 
 proportionate (hare of advantage in the general 
 
 advantage
 
 t 7* ] 
 
 advantage of the State ? Let it be remembered 
 alfb, that if the transfer of the Seat of Legifla- 
 ture may call from Ireland to England the Mem- 
 bers of the United Parliament, yet, after the 
 Union, property, influence and confideration 
 in Ireland will lead, as much as in Great Britain, 
 ta all the objecls of imperial ambition ; and 
 there muft, confequently, exift a new incite- 
 ment to perfons to acquire property in. that 
 Country, and to thofe who poffefs ir, to refide 
 there and to cultivate the good opinion of thofe 
 with whom they live, and to extend and im- 
 prove their influence and connections. 
 
 But, Sir, 1 need not dwell longeron argument, 
 however it may fatisfy my own mind, becaufe we 
 can on this queftion refer to experience. I fee 
 every Gentleman anticipates that I allude to 
 Scotland. What has been the refult of the 
 Union there? A Union, give me leave to fay, 
 as much oppofed, and by much the fame argu- 
 ments, prejudices, and mifconceptions, as are 
 urged, at this moment, creating too the fame 
 alarms, and provoking the fame outrages, as 
 have lately taken place in Dublin. Look at the 
 
 metropolis
 
 [ 72 ] 
 
 metropolis of Scotland: the population of Edin- 
 burgh has been more than doubled fmce t.he 
 Union, and a new city added to the old. But 
 we may be told, that Edinburgh has engrofied 
 all the commerce of that country, and has thofe 
 advantages which Dublin cannot expecl. Yet 
 while Edinburgh, deprived of its Parliament, 
 but retaining, as Dublin would retain, its Courts 
 of Juftice; continuing, as Dublin would conti- 
 nue, the refort of thofe whofe circumftanccs 
 would not permit them to vifit a diftant metro- 
 polis ; continuing, as Dublin would continue, 
 the feat of national education, while Edinburgh 
 lias baffled all the predictions of that period, 
 what has been the fituation of Glafgow ? The 
 population of Glafgow, fmce 'the Union, has 
 increafed in the proportion of between five and 
 fix to one i look at its progrefs in manufactures; 
 look at its general advantages, and tell me what 
 ground there is, judging by experience in aid of 
 theory, for thofe gloomy apprehenfions whick 
 have been fo induftrioufiy excited. 
 
 There remains, Sir, another general line of 
 argument, which I have already anticipated, and 
 I hope -anfwcred, thai the commercial privileges 
 
 now
 
 L 73 3 
 
 now enjoyed by Ireland, and to which it owes fo 
 much of its profperity, would be lefs fecure than 
 at prefent. I have given an anfwer to that already, 
 by Rating that they are falfely imputed to the in- 
 dependence of the Irifh Parliament, for that they 
 are in fact owing to the exercife of the voluntary 
 difcretion of the Britifh Parliament, unbound by 
 compact, prompted only by its natural difpofition 
 to confider the interefts of Ireland the fame as its 
 own ; and if that has been done while Ireland is 
 only united to us in the imperfect and precarious 
 manner in which it is, while it has a feparate Par- 
 liament, notwithflanding the commercial jealoufies 
 of our own manufactures ; if tinder thefe circum- 
 flances we have done fo, if we have done fo with 
 no other connection than that which now fubfifts, 
 and while Ireland has no {hare in our reprefenta- 
 tion ; what frefh ground can there be for appre- 
 henfion, when me will have her proportionate 
 weight in the Legiflature, and will be united with 
 
 us as clofely as Lancashire or Yjorkfhire, or any 
 
 other county in Great Britain. 
 
 Sir, I have feen it under the fame authority to 
 
 w hich I am forry fo often to advert, that the 
 
 L Linen
 
 [ 74 ] 
 
 Linen Trade would be injured, and that there 
 will be no fecurity for its retaining its prefent 
 advantages. I have already ftated to you (and 
 with that very authority in my favour) thatthofe 
 advantages are at prefent precarious, and that 
 their fecurity can only arife from Compact with 
 Great Britain. Such a Compact, this Meafure 
 would eftablifh in the moft folemn manner; 
 but beiides this, Sir, the natural policy of this 
 Country, not merely its experienced liberality, 
 but the identity of Interefts after a Union, would 
 offer a fecurity worth a thoufand Compacts. 
 
 Sir, the only other general topic of objection 
 is (that upon which great pains have been taken 
 to raife an alarm in Ireland) the idea that the 
 main principle of the Meafure was to fubject 
 Ireland to a load of Debt and an increafe of 
 Taxes, and to expofe her to the confequences of 
 all our alledged difficulties and fuppofed necef- 
 fities. 
 
 Sir, I hope the zeal, the fpirit, and the liberal 
 and enlarged policy, of this Country, has given 
 ample proof that it is not from a pecuniary 
 motive that we feek an Union. If it is not 
 
 clefirable
 
 [ 75 ] 
 
 defirable on the grounds I have ftated, it cannot 
 be recommended for the mere purpofe of Tax- 
 ation ; but to quiet any jealoufy on this fubjecl, 
 here again let us look to Scotland : is there 
 any inftance where, with 45 Members on her 
 part and 513 on ours, that that part of the 
 United Kingdom has paid more than its pro- 
 portion to the general burthens ? Is it then, 
 Sir, any ground of apprehenfion, that we are 
 likely to tax Ireland more heavily when fhe 
 becomes aflbciated with ourfelves ? To tax in 
 its due proportion the whole of the Empire, to 
 the utter exclufion of the idea of the predomi- 
 nence of one part of fociety over another, is the 
 great characterise of Britifh Finance, as Equa- 
 lity of Laws is of the Britilh Conftitution. 
 
 But, Sir, in addition to this, if we come to the 
 details of this proportion, it is in our power to 
 fix, for any number of years which (hall be 
 thought fit, the proportion by which the Contri- 
 bution of Ireland, to the expences of the State, 
 fhall be regulated; that thefe proportionsfhall not 
 be fuch as would make a contribution greater than 
 the neccflary amount of its own prefent neceflary 
 l^ z expences
 
 C 76 ] 
 
 expences as a feparate Kingdom ; and, even after 
 that limited period, the proportion of the whole 
 contribution, from time to time, might be made 
 to depend on the comparative produce, in each 
 Kingdom, of fuch general taxes as might be 
 thought to afford the beft criterion of their re- 
 fpeclive wealth. Or, what I mould hope would 
 be found practicable, the fyftem of internal tax- 
 ation in each county might gradually be fo equal- 
 ized and aflimilated, on the leading articles, as to 
 make all rules of fpecific proportion unneceffary, 
 and to fecure, that Ireland fhall never be taxed 
 but in proportion as we tax ourfelves. 
 
 The application of thefe principles, however, 
 will form matter of future difcuffion ; I mention 
 them only as ftrongly mewing, from the mifrepre- 
 fentation which has taken place on this part of 
 the fubjeft, how incumbent it is upon the Houfe 
 to receive thefe propofitions, and to adopt, after 
 due deliberation, fuch refolutions as may record 
 to Ireland the terms upon which we are ready to 
 meet her. And, in the mean time, let us wait, 
 not without impatience, but without diffatisfadion, 
 for that moment, when the effect of reafon and 
 
 difcuffion
 
 E 77 ] 
 
 difcufiion may reconcile the minds of men, in that 
 Kingdom, to a Meafure which I am fure will be 
 found as necefifary for their peace and happinefs, 
 as it will be conducive to the generalfecurity and 
 advantage of the Britilh Empire. 
 
 Sir, it remains to be my duty to lay thefe Re- 
 lutions before the Houfe, wifhing that the more 
 detailed difcuffion of them may be referved to a 
 future day. 
 
 RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 FIRST. 
 
 That in order to promote and fecure the efiential Interefts 
 of Great Britain and Ireland, and to confolidate the 
 Strength, Power, and Refources of the Britifh Empire, 
 it will be advifeable to concur in fuch meafures as may beft 
 tend to unite the two Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ire- 
 land into one Kingdom, in fuch manner, and on fuch Terms 
 and Conditions as may be eftablifhed by A&s of the refpec- 
 tive Parliaments of His Majefty's faid Kingdoms. 
 
 SECOND. 
 
 That it appears to this Committee that it would be fit to 
 propofe as the firtl Article to ferve as a Bafis of the faid 
 Union, that the faid Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ire- 
 land mall, upon a day to be agreed upon, be united into one 
 Kingdom, by the name of the UNITED KINGDOM OF 
 GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 THIM1,
 
 [ 78 . ] 
 
 THIRD. 
 
 That for the fame purpofe it appears alfo to this Committee* 
 that it would be fit to propofe that the Succeflion to the 
 Monarchy and the Imperial Crown of the faid United 
 Kingdoms, fhall continue limited and fettled, in the fame 
 manner as the Imperial Crown of the faid Kingdoms of 
 Great Britain and Ireland now (lands limited and fettled, 
 according to the exifting Laws, and to the Terms of the 
 Union between England and Scotland. 
 
 FOURTH. 
 
 That for the fame purpofe it appears alfo to this Committee, 
 that it would be fit to propofe that the faid United King- 
 dom be reprefented in one and the fame Parliament, to be 
 ftiled the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, and that fuch a number of Lords Spi- 
 ritual and Temporal, and fuch a number of Members of the 
 Houfe of Commons as mall be hereafter agreed upon by 
 Acts of the refpeftive Parliaments as aforefaid, fhall fit and 
 vote in the faid Parliament on the part of Ireland, and mail 
 be fummoned, chofen and returned, in fuch manner as fhall 
 be fixed by an Aft of the Parliament of Ireland previous to 
 the faid Union ; and that every Member hereafter to fit 
 and vote in the faid Parliament of the United Kingdom 
 lhall, until the faid Parliament fhall otherwife provide, take 
 and fubfcribe the fame Oaths, and make the fame Declara- 
 tions as are by Law required to be taken, fubfcribed and 
 made by the Members of the Parliaments of Great Britain 
 and Ireland.^ 
 
 FIFTH. 
 
 That for the fame purpofe it appears alfo to this Committee, 
 that it would be fit to propofe that the Churches of 
 England and Ireland, and the Do&rine, Worfhip, Difci- 
 pline ; and Government thereof, fhall be preferved as now 
 by Law Ettablifhed. 
 
 SIXTH,
 
 C 79 3 
 
 SIXTH. 
 
 That for the fame purpofe it appears alfo to this Committee, 
 that it would be fit to propofe that His Majefty's Subjefts 
 in Ireland frail at all times hereafter be entitled to the 
 fame privileges, and be on the fame footing in refpeft of 
 Trade and Navigation, in all Ports and Places belonging to 
 Great Britain, and in all cafes with refpeft to which Trea- 
 ties (hall be made by His Majefty, his Heirs or Succtffors, 
 with any Foreign Power, as His Majelty's Subjects in G:eat 
 Britain ; that no Duty mail be itnpofed on the Import or 
 Export between Great Britain and Ireland of any Articles 
 now Duty free : and that on other Articles there (hall be 
 ettabliftied, for a time to be limited, fuch a moderate rate 
 of equal Duties as (hall, previous to the Union, be agreed 
 upon and approved by the refpelive Parliaments, fubjedt, 
 after the expiration of fuch limited time, to be diminiflied 
 equally with refpe& to both Kingdoms, but in no cafe to 
 be encreafed ; that all Articles which may at any time here- 
 after be imported into Great Britain from Foreign Parts, 
 ftiall be importable through either Kingdom into the other, 
 fubje6t to the like Duties and Regulations as if the fame 
 were imported directly from Foreign Parts; that where 
 any Articles, the growth, produce, or manufacture of 
 either Kingdom, are fubjeft to any internal Duty in one 
 Kingdom, fuch countervailing Duties (over and above any 
 Duties on import to be fixed as aforefaid) ftiall be impofed 
 as (hall be necefiary to prevent any inequality in that re- 
 fpect : and that all other matters of Trade and Commerce 
 other than the foregoing, and than Aich others as may 
 before the Union be fpecially agreed upon for the due en- 
 couragement of the Agriculture and Manufactures of the 
 refpedtive Kingdoms, fhall remain to be regulated from 
 time to time by the United Parliament.
 
 8o 
 
 SEVENTH. 
 
 That for the like purpofe it would be fit to propofe, that thr 
 charge arifing- from the payment of the Interttt or Sink- 
 ing Fund for the reduction of the Principal of the Debt 
 kicnrred in either Kingdom before the Union, mall con- 
 tinue to be feparately defrayed by Great Britain and Ire- 
 land refpeftively. That for a number of Years to be 
 limited, the future ordinary expences of the UNITED 
 KINGDOM, in Peace or War, mall be defrayed by Great 
 Britain and Ireland jointly, according to fuch proportions 
 as mall be eftablifhed by the refpective Parliaments pre- 
 vious to the Union ; and that after the expiration of the 
 time to be fo limited, the proportion mail not be liable 
 to be varied, except according to fuch rates and prin- 
 ciples as (hall be in like manner agreed, upon previous to 
 the Union. 
 
 EIGHTH. 
 
 That for the like purpofe it would be fit to propofe, that 
 all Laws in force at the time of the Union, and that alt 
 the Courts of Civil or Ecclefiaftical Jurifdidtion within the 
 refpe&ive Kingdoms, (hall remain as new by Law efta- 
 blifhed within the fame, fubjec~l only to fuch alterations or 
 regulations from time to time as circumftances may ap- 
 pear to the Parliament of the UNITED KINGDOM tore- 
 quire. 
 
 That the foregoing RE-OLUTIONS be laid before His Majefty 
 with an humble ADDRESS, affuring His Majefty that we 
 have proceeded with the utmoft attention to the confidera- 
 tion of the important objects recommended to us in His 
 Majefty's Gracious" MESSAGE. 
 
 That we entertain a firm perfuafion that a COMPLETE AND 
 INTIRE UNION between Great Britain and Ireland, 
 founded on equal and liberal principles, on the fimilarity 
 
 of
 
 [ 8! ] 
 
 of* Laws, Conftitution and Government, and on a fenfe of 
 mutual Interefts and Affections, by promoting the Security* 
 Wealth and Commerce of the refpective Kingdoms, and 
 by allaying the detractions which have unhappily prevailed 
 iri Ireland, muft afford frem means of oppofing at all times 
 an effectual refiftance to the deftructive Projects of our 
 Foreign and Domeftic Enemies, and muft tend to confirm 
 and augment the Stability, Power, and Refources of the 
 Empire. 
 
 Imprefled with thefe confiderations, we feel it our duty hum- 
 bly to lay before his Majefty fuch Propofitions as appear 
 to us* beft calculated to form the bafis of fuch a fettlement, 
 leaving it to His Majefty's wifdom, at fuch time and in 
 fuch manner as His Majefty, in his Parental Solicitude for 
 the happinefs of his People, (hall judge fit, to communicate 
 thefe Propofitions to His Parliament of Ireland, with whom 
 we {hall be at all times ready to concur in all fuch Mea- 
 fures as may be found moft conducive to the accomplifh- 
 ment of this great and falutary Work. And we truft that, 
 after full and mature confideration, ijuch a Settlement may 
 be framed and eftabliftied, by the deliberative- Confent of 
 the Parliaments of both Kingdoms, as' may be conformable 
 to the Sentiments, Wiflies, and real Interefts of His 
 Majefty's faithful Subjects of Great Britain and Ireland, 
 and may unite them infeparably in the full enjoyment of 
 the bleflings of our free and invaluable Conftitutior, in 
 the fupport of the Honour and Dignity of His Majefty's 
 Crown, and in the prefervation and advancement of the 
 Welfare and Profperity of the whole Britifh Empire, 
 
 M APPENDIX.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 The following Mejfage was prefented in the Houfe 
 of Commons by Mr. Fox, Secretary of State , 
 on the qth of April, 1 782. 
 
 GEORGE R. 
 
 AJ.IS Majefty being concerned to find that dif- 
 contents and jealouiies are prevailing among his 
 loyal Subje&s in' Ireland, upon matters of great 
 weight and importance, earneftly recommends to 
 this Houfe, to take the fame into their moft ferious 
 confideration, in order to fuch a Final Adjuft- 
 mcnt as may give mutual fadsfa6tion to both 
 Kingdoms. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 i/? May
 
 83 
 
 i/l May, 1782. 
 
 Mr. Secretary Fox prefented to the Houfe, by 
 His Majefty 's command, 
 
 Copy of the Meflage to the Houfe of Lords 
 and Commons in Ireland, from His Grace the 
 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, delivered the i6th 
 April, 1782 : And alfo, 
 
 Copy of a Refolution of the Houfe of Lords 
 in Ireland, Mercurii, 17" die Aprilis, 1782 : And 
 alfo, 
 
 Copy of a Refolution of the Houfe of Commons 
 in Ireland, Martis, 16 die Aprilis, 1782. 
 
 And the Titles of the faid Copies were read. 
 The faid Copies are as followeth ; w'z. 
 
 Copy of the Meffage to the Houfes of Lords and 
 Commons in Ireland, from His Grace the Lord 
 Lieutenant, delivered the i6th April, 1782. 
 
 PORTLAND, 
 
 I have it in command from His Majefty, to 
 
 inform this Houfe, that His Majefty being con- 
 
 M 2 concerned
 
 [ 84 ] 
 
 concerned to find that difcontents and jealoufies 
 are prevailing among his loyal Subje&s of this 
 Country, upon matters of great weight and im- 
 portance, His Majefty recommends to this Houfe 
 to take the fame into their moft ferious conlide- 
 ration, in order to fuch a Final Adjuftment as 
 may give mutual fatisfa&ion to his Kingdoms of 
 Great Britain and Ireland. 
 
 P. 
 
 Copy of a Refolution of the Houfe of Lords in 
 Ireland, Mercitrii, 17 die Aprilis, 1782. 
 
 RESOLVED, By the Lords Spiritual and Tem- 
 poral in Parliament aflembled Nemine diffentiente, 
 That an humble Addrefs be prefented to His Ma- 
 jefty, to return him our thanks for the moft gra- 
 cious MefTage fent to this Houfe by his Majefty 's 
 command, through the medium of His Grace 
 the Lord Lieutenant, and to affure him of our 
 moft unfhaken loyalty and attachment to His 
 Majefty's peribn and government, and of the 
 lively fenfe we entertain of his paternal care of 
 his people of Ireland, in thus enquiring into the 
 
 difcontents
 
 [ 85 ] 
 
 difcontents and jealouiies that fubfift amongft 
 them, in order to fuch Final Adjuftment as may 
 give mutual fatisfa&ion to his kingdoms of Great 
 Britain and Ireland. 
 
 That, thus encouraged by his Royal Interpo- 
 fition, we fhall beg leave, with all duty and affec- 
 tion, to lay before His Majefty the caufe of fuch 
 difcontents and jealoufies. 
 
 To reprefent to His Majefty, That His Subjects 
 of Ireland are entitled to a free conftitution ; that 
 the Imperial Crown of Ireland is infeparably anr 
 nexed to the Crown of Great- Britain, on which 
 Connection the happinefs of both nations eflenti- 
 ally depends ; but that the Kingdom of Ireland is 
 a diftinct dominion, having a Parliament of her 
 own, the fole Legiflature thereof. 
 
 That there is no power whatfoever competent to 
 make laws to bind this nation, except the King, 
 Lords, and Commons, of Ireland ; upon which 
 exclufive Right of Legislation we confider the very 
 effencc of our liberties to depend, a Right which 
 we claim as the Birth-right of the People of Ire- 
 land,
 
 L 86 j 
 
 land, and which we are determined, in every fitu- 
 ation of life, to affert and maintain. 
 
 To reprefent to His Majefty, That we have 
 feen with concern certain claims, both of legifla- 
 ture and judicature, afFerted by the Parliament 
 of Great Britain, in an Aft pafied in Great Britain 
 in the fixth year of George the Firft, intituled 
 " An "Aft for the better fccuring the Depen- 
 " dency of Ireland upon the Crown of Great 
 "Britain:" 
 
 - That we conceive the faid Aft, and the powers 
 thereby claimed, to be the great and principal 
 caufes of the difcontents and jealoufies that fubfift 
 in this Kingdom : 
 
 To aflure His Majefty, That this Houfe con- 
 fiders it as a matter of conftitutional right and 
 protection, that all Bills which become Law 
 mould receive the approbation of His Majefty, 
 under the Seal of Great Britain ; but we coniider 
 the, practice of fupprcffing our Bills in the Coun- 
 cil of Ireland, or altering them any where, to be 
 a matter which calls for redrefs : 
 
 To
 
 [ 87 ] 
 
 To reprefent to His Majefty, That an AS. in- 
 tituled <c An A61 for the better Accommodation 
 " of His Majefty's Forces ;" being unlimited in 
 duration, but which, from the particular circum- 
 ftances of the times, paflcd into a law, has been 
 the caufe of much jealoufy and difcontent in this 
 Kingdom : 
 
 That we have thought it our duty to lay be- 
 fore His Majefty thefe, the principal caufes of the 
 difcontents and jealoufies fubfifting in this King- 
 dom : 
 
 That we have the greateft reliance on His 
 Majefty's wifdom, the moft fanguine expectations 
 from his virtuous choice of a Chief Governor, and 
 the greateft confidence in the wife and conftitu- 
 tional Council His Majefty has adopted : 
 
 That we have, moreover, a high fenfe and ve- 
 neration for the Britifh Character, and do there- 
 fore conceive, that the proceedings of this country , 
 founded as they are in right, and fupported by 
 conftitutional liberty, muft have excited the 
 approbation and efteem of the Britifh nation : 
 
 That
 
 [ 88 ] 
 
 That we are the more confirmed in this hope, 
 inafmuch as the people of this Kingdom have 
 never expreffed a deiire to ftiare the freedom of 
 Great Britain, without at the fame time declaring 
 their determination to fhare her fate, {landing or 
 falling with the Britim nation. 
 
 Wm. Watts Gayer ) cier. 
 Edw. Gayer f Parliament. 
 
 Copy of a Refolution of the Houfe of Commons In 
 Ireland., Martis, 16 die Aprilis, 1782. 
 
 RESOLVED, That an humble Addi;efs be pre- 
 fented to His Majcfty, to return His Majefty 
 the thanks of this Houfe for his moft gracious 
 meffage to this Houfe, fignified by his Grace the 
 Lord Lieutenant. To affure His Majefty of our 
 unlhaken attachment to His Majefty's Perfon and 
 Government, and of our lively fenfe of his Pa- 
 ternal Care, in thus taking the lead to adminifter 
 content to His Majefty's fubje&s of Ireland ; that 
 thus encouraged by his royal interpofilion, we 
 mall beg leave,, with all duty and affection, to 
 lay before His Majefty the catifes of our difcon- 
 
 tents
 
 tents and jealoufies : To afTure His Majefly, that 
 his fubjeds of Ireland are a free People ; that the 
 Crown of Ireland is an Imperial Crown, infepa- 
 rably annexed to the Crown of Great Britain, on 
 which Connexion the interefts and happinefs of 
 both Nations effentially depend ; but that the 
 kingdom of Ireland is a diftinQ: kingdom, with 
 a Parliament of her own, the fole Legiflature 
 thereof; that there is no body of men competent 
 to make Laws to bind this nation, except the 
 King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland, nor any 
 other Parliament which hath any authority or 
 power of any fort whatfoever in this country, fave 
 only the Parliament of Ireland : To allure His 
 Majefty, that we humbly conceive, that in this 
 Right the very Eflence of our Liberties exift ; a 
 Right whicrwwe, on the part of all the People or 
 Ireland, do claim as their birth-right, and which 
 we cannot yield but with our lives : To allure 
 His Majefty, that we have feen with concern cer- 
 tain Claims advanced by the Parliament of Great 
 Britain, in an a&, intituled, An Aft for the 
 " better fecuring the Dependency of Ireland ;" 
 an- act containing matter entirely irreconcileable 
 to the fundamental Rights of this Nation j that 
 N we
 
 [ 90 ] 
 
 we confider this a&, and the claims it advances, 
 to be the great and principle caufe of the difcon- 
 tents and jealoufies in this Kingdom : To affure 
 His Majefty, that His Majefty's Commons of 
 Ireland do moft fmcerely wifh, that all Bills which 
 become Law in Ireland mould receive the appro- 
 bation of His Majefty, under the Seal of Great 
 Britain ; but that yet we do confider the Practice 
 of fuppreffing our Bills in the Council of Ireland, 
 or altering the fame any where, to be another 
 juft caufe of difcontent and jealoufy : To allure 
 His Majefty, that an Aft, intituled, " An At 
 " for the better Accommodation of His Majefty's 
 '* Forces," being unlimitted in duration, and 
 defective in other inftances (but pafled in that 
 fhape from the particular circumftances of the 
 times) is another juft caufe of difcontent and 
 jealoufy in this Kingdom: That we have fub- 
 mitted thefe, the principal caufes of the prefenr 
 difcontent and jealoufy in Ireland, and remain in 
 humble expeftation of redrefs; that we have the 
 greateft reliance on, -His Majefty's wifdom, the 
 moft fanguine expectations from his virtuous 
 choice of a Chief Governor, and great confidence 
 in the wife, aufpicious > and conftitutional councils 
 
 which
 
 C 9< ] 
 
 which we fee with fatisfaction His Majefty has 
 adopted ; that we have moreover a high fenfe and 
 veneration for the Britifh character, and do there- 
 fore conceive, that the proceedings of this coun- 
 try, founded as they are in right, and tempered 
 by duty, mud have excited the approbation and 
 efleem, inftead of wounded the pride, of the 
 Britifh Nation ; and we beg leave to allure His 
 Majefty, that we are the more confirmed in this 
 hope, inafmuch as the people of this Kingdom 
 have never exprefled a defire to (hare the freedom 
 of England, without declaring a determination to 
 {hare her fate likewife, (landing and falling with 
 the Britifh nation. 
 
 THO. ELLIS, Clcr. Par. Dom. Com. 
 
 ORDERED, That the faid Copies do lie upon 
 the Table, to be perufed by the Members of the 
 Houfe. 
 
 ijth May, 1782. 
 
 RESOLVED, That this Houfe will, immediately, 
 
 refolve itfelf into a Committee of the whols 
 
 N 2 Houfe,
 
 C 9* ] 
 
 Houfe, to take into confiderarion His Majefty's 
 moft gracious Meflage, of the 9th Day of April 
 laft, relative to the State of Ireland. 
 
 ORDERED, That the feveral papers which were 
 prefented to the Houfe, by Mr. Secretary Fox, 
 upon the ift day of this inftant May, be referred 
 to the faid Committee. 
 
 Then the Houfe refolved itfelf into the faid 
 Committee. 
 
 Mr. Speaker left the Chair. 
 
 Mr. Powys took the Chair of the Committee. 
 
 Mr. Speaker refumed the Chair. 
 
 Mr. Powys reported from the Committee, 
 That they had come to feveral Refolutions j 
 which they had directed him to report, when the 
 Houfe will pleafe to receive the fame. 
 
 ORDERED, That the Report be now re- 
 ceived. 
 
 Mr.
 
 [ 93 ] 
 
 Mr. Powys accordingly reported, from the 
 faid Committee, the Refolutions which the Com- 
 mittee had directed him to report to the Houfe, 
 which he read in his place, and afterwards de- 
 livered in at the Clerk's table ; where the fame 
 were read j and are as follows : viz. 
 
 RESOLVED, That it is the Opinion of this 
 Committee, That an Acl, made in the fixth 
 year r of the reign of his late Majefly King George 
 the Firft, intituled, " An Aft for the better 
 " fecuring the Dependency of the Kingdom of 
 " Ireland upon the Crown of Great Britain," 
 
 ought to be repealed. 
 
 / 
 
 RESOLVED, that it is the Opinion of this Com- 
 mittee, That it is indifpenfible to the interefts 
 and happinefs of both Kingdoms, that the Con- 
 nexion between them mould be eftabliflied, by 
 mutual confent, upon a folid and permanent Bafis. 
 
 The faid Refolutions, being feverally read a 
 fecond time, were, upon 'the Queftion feverally 
 put thereupon, agreed to by the Houfe, Nemini 
 Contradicenti* 
 
 ORDERED,
 
 [ 94 ] 
 
 ORDERED, That leave be given to bring in a 
 Bill for repealing an Adi made in the fixth year of 
 the reign of his late Majefty, King George the 
 Firft, intituled < An Ad for the better fecuring 
 " the Dependency of the Kingdom of Ireland 
 " upon the Crown of Great Britain ;" and that 
 Mr. Secretary Fox, Mr. Thomas Pitt, Mr. Powys, 
 and Lord John Cavendifh, do prepare and bring 
 in the fame. 
 
 RESOLVED, That an humble Addrefs be pre- 
 fented to His Majefty, That His Majefty will be 
 gracioufly pleafed to take fuch meafures as His 
 Majefty in His Royal Wifdom (hall think moft 
 conducive to the eftablifliing, by mutual confent, 
 the Connexion between this Kingdom and the 
 Kingdom of Ireland upon a folid and permanent 
 bafis. 
 
 ORDERED, That the faid Addrefs be prefented 
 to His Majefty, by fuch Members of this Houfe 
 as are of His Majefty's moft honourable Privy 
 Council. 
 
 22d May,
 
 [ 95 ] 
 
 22d May, 1782. 
 
 Mr. Secretary Fox reported to the Houfc, That 
 His Majefty had been attended with the Addrefs 
 of this Hotife, of Friday hft, which His Majefty 
 had been pleafed to receive very gracioufly j and 
 that His Majefty had commanded him to acquaint 
 this Houfe, that he will immediately take fuch 
 meafures as may be mod likely to conduce to the 
 eftabliihment of a Connexion between this King- 
 dom and the Kingdom of Ireland upon a folid 
 and permanent bafis. 
 
 N
 
 " 
 
 HOUSE OF COMMONS OF IRELAND. 
 
 Auguft 12, 1785.* 
 
 Ihe Chancellor of the Exchequer [Mr, 
 
 FOSTER] faid, he could not fit filent when he 
 heard a meafure in which he was proud to have 
 had a confiderable part, reprefented by fo many 
 gentlemen as injurious to the independence of the 
 Irifh legiflature, and a barter of the conftitution 
 for commerce. He mould think himfelf, indeed, 
 mnworthy of a feat in that Houfe, or of the 
 name of Irimman, if he could confent to barter 
 an atom of the conftitution of his country for all 
 the commerce in the world ; but he was fo fully 
 fatisfied the prefent meafure did not violate it, in 
 the (mailed degree, that he could not reprefs his 
 furprife at its being fuppofed to do fo. When 
 gentlemen faid, that it violated the conftitution, 
 they forgot that they had recorded a fimilar vio- 
 lation of it in every feffion, fmce the freedom of 
 
 * " That leave be given to bring in a Bill, for efFectuat* 
 c< ing the intercourfe and commerce between Great Britain 
 11 and Ireland, on permanent and equitable principles, for the 
 *' mutual benefit of both Kingdoms." 
 
 their
 
 C '98 ] 
 
 their legiflation had been eftabliflied. His Right 
 Hon. Friend (the Attorney General) had quoted 
 therefolution of that Houfe in 1779. He would 
 now read a part of the ftatute of 1781, made in 
 confequence of that refolution : 
 
 " And whereas fuch part of the trade between this kingdom 
 and the Britifh Colonies in America, the Weft Indies, and 
 Britifh Settlements on the coatt of Africa, as was not enjoyed 
 by this kingdom, previous to the Jaft feflion of Parliament, can 
 be enjoyed and have continuance fo long, and in fuch cafe only, 
 as goods to be imported from the faid Colonies, Plantations, or 
 Settlements into this kingdom, or to be exported from this king- 
 dom to the faid Colonies, Plantations,, or Settlements (hall be 
 liable to equal duties and drawbacks, and be fubject to the fame 
 fecurities, regulations and reftrictions as the like goods are liable 
 and fubjeft to, upon being imported from the faid Colonies, 
 Plantations, or Settlements into Great Britain, or exported from 
 thence to fuch Colonies, Plantations, or Settlements refpe<5tive- 
 ly ; be it enacled by the authority aforefaid, for the advance- 
 ment of the faid trade, that duties, drawbacks, prohibitions, 
 Ice. be granted, &c." 
 
 This ftatute pafTed at a time when the fpirit of 
 the nation was as high as ever it had been, and 
 her jealoufy of the conftitution as great, and has 
 been repeated every feflion fmce. Now, Sir, the 
 condition as to regulating trade is as exprefs in 
 this ftatute as in the prefent bill. \Mr. Grattan 
 
 interrupting.
 
 [ *99 ] 
 
 interrupting, defired to know what trade?] Ths 
 Chancellor proceeded, the Plantation trade the 
 very trade now in agitation ; and if accepting 
 trade on conditions would deftroy the conftitu- 
 tion, our conftitution has been long fmce deftroy- 
 ed, even in the very year of its emancipation. 
 But the Right Hon. Gentleman acknowledges the 
 condition which he inveighs againft as being moil 
 dangerous now, to be fimilar to that one which 
 he then and ever fmce has deemed fo innocent, 
 He only dwells on its extending to foreign trade, 
 that is, tQ foreign colonies, as if the greater or 
 lefs extent could change its conflitutional or un- 
 conftitutional nature; but will Gentlemen confi- 
 der the matter, (tripped of all oratory and decla- 
 mation ? Great Britain has colonies, me offers full 
 communication of her trade to Ireland, on condi- 
 tions of Ireland trading on the fame terms as fiie 
 does herfelf ; one of thofe terms is equal duties 
 and regulations, which the gentlemen admit to 
 be fair and harmlefs, for we have complied with. 
 it in part thefe two feilions ; another of the terms 
 is the giving a like protection, as Great Britain 
 gives to their produce againft the produce of fo- 
 -eign colonies. This too is fair, but it deftroys 
 
 our
 
 *IOO ) 
 
 our conflitution ^what pitiful reafoning! It does 
 not deftroy us to receive a monopoly of their con- 
 fumption ; but to give them a monopoly of our 
 confumption, annihilates our independence. No 
 man of common fenfe can hefitate that it is fair 
 \ve (houl'd receive the trade on tl>e fame terms as 
 Britain. The Colonies are hers (he has a right 
 to annex thofe terms. The trade with them 
 is a gift from her, and the gift is condi- 
 tional ; me offers to take us into partnerfhip 
 in their trade ; (he, an old eftablimed country, 
 raifed by commerce alone to an height above 
 any other European power, invites us to partake 
 of the means that failed her to wealth and great- 
 nefs, to a full and equal {bare in that trade 
 which coft her millions to obtain and will'coft 
 her millions to preferve ; and this (he does with- 
 onf defiring any thing towards that cofc, or for 
 their maintenance., or any return, fave a fmall 
 {hare of what may arife from our profits in that 
 pew partnermip. But when gentlemen argue on 
 bad ground, even their own arguments often 
 make againft them, and an Hon. Gentleman 
 (Mr. Flood) at the fame time that he exerts all 
 his eloquence to perfuade us that the confining 
 
 cnvrfelves
 
 ourfelves to the Britifh Colonies or accepting the 
 trade on fuch conditions is injurious to the con- 
 fliuition, not only admits but contends, that we 
 have done it already, and that we have done it on 
 the folemn faith of compact. Hear his reafon- 
 ing ; he fays, that the tranfaction of 1780 was a 
 compact, and not a gift, and he fays it was a 
 compact, becaufe we gave a confideration ; three 
 confiderations, each of more value than the gift ; 
 we gave monopoly for monopoly, that is, in 
 other words, we' agree to prohibit the goods of 
 other colonies, the very thing that is now held 
 up as a furrender of legiflature, and the fact is, 
 we did, and Hill do prohibit, by heavy duties, 
 the fame as Britain pays, all foreign colony 
 produce. In theory, therefore, we have agreed 
 to whas he now fays cannot be agreed to with- 
 out ruin, and in practice we have actually done 
 the very thing without injury, if not with benefit 
 to the trade. His other confiuerations are curi- 
 ous ; we gave revenue, and that is, we received 
 liberty to import an article, fugars, that would 
 bear a confiderable revenue, which we muft have 
 otherwife impofed, elfe where, and thus he 
 ftrangely conftrues the accepting the means of a 
 
 revenue
 
 [ *,02 J 
 
 revenue into giving one. His third confidera- 
 tion is (till more wonderful ; we gave loyalty. 
 Good Heavens ; in an Irifti Houfe of Commons 
 does tye fay that we gave our duty to our Prince 
 as a partner for a grant of trade ? 
 
 Mr.- Flood interrupted to fay, that he had 
 quoted the Refolution of the Bridfli Parliament, 
 uhen he dated, that the loyalty of Ireland was 
 deemed a confideration. 
 
 'The Chancellor of the Exchequer refumed. 
 
 To fuch wretched mifts are gentlemen driven, 
 who attempt to iupport what is not fupportable, 
 and would varnly endeavour to perfuade you 
 that this meafure trenches on the independence 
 of our Legifiature ; you need not adopt any laws 
 that Gfeat Britain may pufs for the regulation 
 of commerce ; if you do not approve them, you 
 may reject them whenever you think proper ; 
 you do but rejecl the benefit of the condition, 
 and return to the fituation in which you now 
 are ; but the fame Member has proved moft 
 ilrongly the neceffity of introducing the Bill, 
 for when fuch abilities as his can totally mif- 
 
 concei?e
 
 [ 97 1 
 
 conceive its tendency, it ought to be introduced, 
 in order to be fully underftood. He has ob- 
 ferved largely on each Propofition, and nothing 
 was ever fo miftated, mifreprefented and mifun- 
 derftood, as every part of them has been by him. 
 It would be abfurd to follow "him through all 
 his errors, many of them the mod ignorant child 
 would be afhamed to advance ; but I will point 
 out a few, not perhaps fo obvious without exa- 
 mination. 
 
 Let me firft take notice of his having alludecf 
 to me, and laid, that I voted againft a declara* 
 tion of Rights. I deny it; I declared my opi- 
 nion of the independence of our Legifiature, 
 from this very feat, early in the debate on that 
 day; but did he vote for it? He did not, and I 
 repeat the Hon. Gentleman did not vote for it, 
 but lamented that the fubject had, been brought 
 
 in that day. 
 
 - 
 
 1 (halj leave this fubjeft as a lefibn to 
 
 the Hon. Gentleman, never for the future to 
 
 charge fads that are unbounded, I mail now 
 
 proceed to the Hon. Gentleman's oblervations. 
 
 O He
 
 C 98 1 
 
 He fays * 6 mark 'the cunning with which* the 
 Ci refolutions are drawn, to the injury of Ire- 
 " land ; there is no new prohibition to be allow- 
 " ed on the import from one country to ano- 
 " t-her."' This is certainly a great evil, efpeci- 
 ally if we confider that the Exportation of Irifh 
 products to England amounts to .TWO MILLION* 
 ajid an HAI.F annually and the Exportation of 
 Britifh produces to Ireland amount but to ONE 
 MILLION, fo >it is injurious to a country which 
 may by prohibition lofe two millions and an 
 half, to ftipulat'e againft - prohibition*;, and the 
 country that fends more than me takes, is not 
 wife in guarding againft miUual prohibition. 
 
 Another, difcovery * the Hon. Gentleman has 
 
 nudeis that countervailing duties are unfair why ? 
 
 Ikcaufe the Brewery of Ireland will thereby be 
 
 effecluaHy protecled. The Hon. Geiuleman com- 
 
 plaitis ol thf; Report of the Knglilh Privy Coun- 
 
 ',. v.ho fay'that to put Ireland and Englaikl on 
 
 a f< v otii!g of cxacl: reciprocity as to linen, Ire- 
 
 land ought to give a bounty on the Ex-portation- 
 
 ' .:nglifh-. Linens, -becaufe England gives a. 
 
 bounty
 
 [ 99 3 
 
 bounty on the exportation of Irifh Linens. Can 
 any thing be more juft ? Yet England 1 makes no 
 fuch demand, but is ready by this adjuftment to 
 give additional fecurity to our Linen trade for 
 ever. Jf indeed the adjuftment were to take 
 away the benefit from Ireland, it would be a 
 good caufe for rejecting it ; but as it for ever 
 -confirms all the advantages we derive from our 
 Linen trade, and binds England from making 
 any law that can be injurious to it; furely Gen- 
 tlemen who regard that trade, and whofe for- 
 tunes and rent depend on its profperity, will not 
 entertain a moment's doabt about embracing the 
 offer. 
 
 * 
 
 Another of his curious objections is, that as 
 we have not a navy of our own, and if we affift 
 the navy of the empire, England will turn that 
 Tiavy to her own ambitious purpofes. To what 
 ambitious purpofes? To the protection of that 
 commerce, and of thofe colonies which are now 
 to become ours. In the moment that (he gives 
 up her monopoly of colonies, fhe is accufed cf 
 ambitious purpofc, for her feparate aggrandize- 
 ment. 
 
 The
 
 1*> J 
 
 i'be Kon. Gentleman complains, that the Bill 
 now before the Engliih Parliament makes it ne- 
 ceffary thay every proper and authentic docu- 
 ment to prevent fmuggling mould be fent by the 
 revenue officers of this country with any foreign 
 or plantation goods fent from hence to England, 
 but that the fame precaution is not taken with 
 regard to the fame kind of goods fent from Eng- 
 land to Ireland. This is the ftrongeil argument 
 for waiting, the introduction of the Irifh Bill ; it 
 fpeaks the confcioufnefs of the Englifh Parliament, 
 that they could not prefcribe to our revenue offi- 
 cers what documents mould be fatisfaclory to 
 them on receiving goods from England, but that 
 the Irifh Parliament alone in their own Bill, could 
 deterniine that matter. It mews the Hon. Gen- 
 tleman to be totally ignorant of what either is or 
 ought to be the fubftance of the Bill. 
 
 The Hon. Gentleman talks of bounties, and 
 fays, by abolifhing bounties, we mall no longer 
 be able to bring corn to this city ; our inland 
 corn bounties, he fays, are to be turned into Pro- 
 reding 'I)a ties for England. A ft'range concep- 
 tion! But why has he fixed on corn and flour? 
 
 If
 
 [ to. ] 
 
 If he had read the Refolution on which he is 
 arguing, he would have feen that corn and flour 
 are every where exempted. 
 
 Another argument of the Hon. Gentleman is, 
 that the declaring that neither country hereafter 
 can lay any new prohibition on native produc- 
 tions, implies cunningly that it may on foreign, 
 What an argument! when the very firft princi- 
 ples of the fyftem is, that a mutual interchange 
 of foreign commodities is for ever to take place 
 between the two kingdoms, and one even of the 
 Twenty Proportions declares it in precife terms- 
 But, the Hon. Gentleman talks of prohibitions 
 on exports, &c< Would the Hon. Gentleman 
 \vifh to leave it in the power of either nation to 
 prohibit their native commodities from being ex- 
 ported to the other ? would he wifh to leave it'in 
 the power of England to prohibit the exportatiorr 
 of coals, fait, iron,, b.irk, hops, and many other 
 articles, or to raife a revenue on thefe articles 
 when exorted hither. 
 
 Hon. Gentleman tiilks particularly of wool. 
 I admit, if you balance wool agajnfl; wool, that 
 
 his
 
 102 
 
 fiis argument is right ; but the juft w.ay is to bal- 
 ance the* whole of the exports j England en- 
 gages never to prohibit the export of articles 
 xvhich arc necetfary almoft to our exiftence, and 
 we engage not to prohibit the export of articles 
 which bring us in 500,000!. a year. We are to 
 engage not to prohibit the export of Woollen 
 and Linen Yarn, which we have exported for a 
 whole century, and without keeping a market for 
 the redundancy of which by export, we could 
 not enfure plenty for own manufactures. 
 
 The Gentleman too totally miftakes the cafe of 
 patents and copy-rights. Britiflvpatents and copy- 
 rights are protected in Britain by prohibition 
 agninrt import. The Refolutions fay to us, 
 " p-otecT: your's in 'like manner;'* a meafure 
 never yet adopted here, which muft promote ge- 
 nius, printing, and invention in Ireland. 
 
 I am afliamed, Sir, of taking up fo much of 
 your time on a fubject which might be fo eafily 
 underrtodd by the lowed capacity ; I lhall there- 
 fore quit the Hon. Gentleman and come to the 
 queftion of conftitution, which I do not at " all 
 
 think
 
 C -03 ] 
 
 think involved in this fubjecl:. If Great Britain 
 grants us a full partnerfhip in all her trade, in all 
 her colonies/ if me admits us to a full participa- 
 tion in the benefits of her Navigation laws, by 
 which file has raifed herfelf to the greatefl com- 
 mercial power in the world ;. if (he does not call 
 upon us to contribute to the expence of the parcr 
 nerfhip, but merely to receive our (hare of the 
 profits, and fays, we may continue in that part- 
 nerfhip only fo long as we chufe, can any man 
 fay, the conditions of it amount to a furrender of 
 our legiflature? furely not, it is idle fpeculation. 
 Let us then look at the fubjecl:, free from all ima- 
 ginary dread for the conftitution. 
 
 Britain imports annually from us 2.500,6:0?.. 
 ef our products, .all, or very nearlyall^ duty free, 
 and covenants never to lay a duty on them. We 
 import about a 1,000,600!.* of hers, and raife a 
 revenue on'almoft every article of it, and referve 
 the power of continuing that revenue. She ex- 
 ports to us fait for our fifheries and provifions ^ 
 hops which we cannot grow j coals which we can- 
 not raife; tin which we have not ; and bark which , 
 we cannpt get elfewhere; and nil th-efe \vltlicut 
 
 r&fci ving
 
 referving any duty ; or a power to inipofe any on 
 them ; though her own fuhjets pay 2, ?, or 4$, 
 ;i chaldron for her own coals, fent coaftways, and 
 in London 75. We on the contrary charge a 
 duty for our own ufe here on almoft every article 
 we fend to her. So much for exports ; now as 
 ro bounties, (he almoft ruined our manufacture of 
 fciil-cloth, by bounties on export of her own to 
 Ireland. In ,1750, or thereabouts, when her 
 bounty commenced, we exported more than we 
 imported, and in 1784, we exported none, and 
 imported 180,000 yards; me now withdraws that 
 bounty. And let me digrefs here a little on fail- 
 cloth, which although gentlemen affect to defpife 
 when mentioned, will, I truft, be an immediate 
 fource of wealth by this adjuflmem. For i. This 
 bounty is to be removed. 2- The export of fail- 
 cloth to the Indies is to be allowed, and Great 
 Britain exported there, in ^78:2^ about 200,000 
 ells. 3. There is a Britifti law, obliging every 
 Britifh and colony fhip to have its firft fuits of 
 Britifh fail-cloth. Irifti now is to be deemed Bri- 
 tifli. 4. There is a preference of 2d. an 1 ell given 
 by Britim law to Britim fail cloth, over foreign, 
 for the Btitifh navy. Irifli is now to have the 
 
 fame
 
 fame preference. 5. The furplus of the heredi- 
 tary revenue is to be applied in the firft place to 
 the purchafe of Irifh fail-cloth. All thefe give a 
 glorious profpect for that valuable manufadure 
 But to return, were a man to look for the country 
 mofl advantageous to fettle manufacture in, what 
 ^ould be his choice? One where labour and 
 provifions are cheap, that is Ireland ; and what 
 he would next look for ? why to have a rich, 
 extended and fteady market near him, which 
 England, ftretched along-fide affords, and to, 
 efiablifh that market for this country is one great 
 object of this fyftem. Gentlemen undervalue the 
 reduction of Britifh duties on our manufactures ; 
 I agree with them it may not operate foon, but 
 we are to look forward in a final fettlement, and 
 it is impoffible but that in time, with as good cli- 
 mate, equal natural powers, cheaper food, and 
 fewer taxes, we mufl be able to fell to them. 
 When commercial jealoufy (hall be banifhed by 
 final fettlement, and trade take its natural and 
 Heady couife, the kingdoms will ceafe to look to 
 rivalfhip, each will make that fabric which it 
 can c|o cheapeft, and buy from the other what 
 it cannot make fo advantageoufly. Labour will 
 P be
 
 C io6 J 
 
 be then truly employed to profit, not diverted by 
 duties, bounties, jealoufies or legiflative interfer- 
 ence from its natural and beneficial courfe, this 
 fyftem will attain its real object, confolidating 
 the ftrength of the remaining parts of the em- 
 pire, by encouraging the communications of 
 their market among themfelves, with preference 
 to every part againft all ftrangers. 
 
 I need not mention the Navigation Aft, the 
 proper benefits of which we have fo long looked 
 for j I will only obferve, that Great Britain 
 could never agree to receive the Britifh Colo* 
 nies* goods from us, unlefs we prohibited the 
 goods of foreign Colonies as me doe?, which is 
 a powerful argument for that part of the fyf- 
 tem againft the conflitutional phrenfy that threa- 
 tens it. Let us alfo obferve, that now, for the 
 firfl time, Great Britain offers us a right for 
 ever in all prefent and future Colonies, without 
 any reservation of power, to call on us either to 
 procure, fupport, or preferve them; fos main- 
 tains them, lev mare all the profits ; and not 
 only their goods, but all goods of Irifh produce, 
 are to paf through Britain duly free. Can fo- 
 reign
 
 [ ,o 7 J 
 
 reign nations, after this is fettled, make diftinc- 
 tion between Britifh and Irifh goods ? Our manu- 
 factures will be united as our interefts, and we 
 fhall laugh at Portugal folly. 
 
 I could run out for hours into the many bene- 
 fits of this fyftem but I have tired the Houfe too 
 long ; let me only implore you not to reject this 
 meafure, for ill-founded, vifionary objections, or 
 to facrince realities to fhadows. If this infatuat- 
 ed country gives up the prefent offer, me may 
 look for it again in vain ; things cannot remain 
 as they are ; commercial jealoufy is roufed, it 
 will increafe with two independent legifiatures, if 
 they don't mutually declare the principles where- 
 by their powers (hall be feparately employed, in 
 directing the common concerns of trade ; and 
 without an united intered of commerce, in a 
 commercial empire, political union will receive 
 many mocks, and feparation of intereft mud 
 threaten feparation of connexion, which every 
 honed Irimman mud fhudder ever to look at as 
 2 poflible event. 
 
 I will
 
 [ io8 J 
 
 I will only add, that if this meafure be re- 
 fufed, Ireland will, receive more folid injury than 
 from any other evil that ever befei her ; it is in 
 , vain for Gentlemen to think we can go on as we 
 have done for fome years or to expect to cope 
 with England in a deftrutive war of bounties 
 our fituation mud every day become more diffi- 
 cult, and it is impoflible to forefee all the ruin, 
 ous confequ-ences that may enfue. 
 
 AUGUST 15*11, 1785, 
 
 'Sight Hon, Chancellor of the Exchequer [Mr- 
 FOSTER]' I rife to ftate the mifconception of the 
 Right Hon. Gentleman, and if any thing can 
 fhew the rieceffity of curing the people of their 
 infatuation, by publifhing and explaining the 
 Bill to them, it furely is this, that a Gentleman, 
 to whom they look up, and juftly look, as one 
 whofe wifdom and virtue will guard their rights, 
 is fo very much miftaken. 
 
 The Right Hon. Gentleman in his argument 
 has never once adverted to the Bill on your table, 
 
 but
 
 [ 109 ll 
 
 but draws all his conclufions from arguments 
 raifed by his own imagination, on the Britifli 
 Refolutions. He dwells now only on foreign 
 Colony trade and Navigation laws ; the accept- 
 ing a full participation of the Britifh Colony 
 trade, upon terms of equal laws, he gives up as 
 not altering our conftitution, and he even agrees 
 in the innocence of our declaring it as a princi- 
 ple of the treaty. In this he has" fhewn his wif- 
 dom, for it is already declared in the law of Ire- 
 land. The objection then (lands as to a foreign 
 Colony trade, and what fays the Bill, it declares 
 it to be a condition of the treaty, to protect -that 
 trade, in the fame manner as Britain does, againfl 
 the interference of foreign Colony goods. It 
 enacts nothing, and there is the mighty evil 
 which we have introduced, that is to give Bri- 
 tain the regulation of ail our foreign trade with 
 Portugal, with Spain, with all the world. If the 
 Gentleman fo egregioufly miftakes the purport of 
 what he has not read, I truft the good fenfe of 
 the nation will fee his miftakes and judge for 
 themselves ; but the objections to an agreement 
 of rating only the goods from foreign Colonies, 
 fo far only as by protecting our Colonies againft 
 
 them,
 
 znem, is not fo wonderful from him as his objec- 
 tion to the Bill's affecting Navigation and Britifh 
 feamen in general ; from him I fay, for in the year 
 1782 the Right Hon. Gentleman introduced in 
 conjuncUon with the late Chief Baron Burgh, 
 2nd the prefent Chief Baron Yelverton, a Bill, 
 adopting in thegrofs all fuch claufes and provifions 
 of the laws theretofore pafled in England, as ' 
 Conveyed equal benefits and impofed equal re- 
 flridions in commerce, in the moft extended 
 fenfe, to the fubjecls of both countries, and alfo 
 putting the feamen of Ireland on the footing of 
 Britifh feamen. [T/&<? Chancellor -, here read the 
 words.] The Bill now brought in does not go 
 fo far ; he went to commerce in general, and 
 adopted laws without reference to them, or even 
 reciting' their title. What does this Bill do ? it 
 declares with him the principle; it does no 
 more. This Bill declares for a fimilarity of laws, 
 manners, and cuftoms, in toto. Our Bill declares 
 for a fimilarity of Navigation Laws, on our ac- 
 cepting the benefit of the Britim, not for the 
 firft time offered to us. It is idle to believe, 
 even his authority can have weight in fuch un- 
 founded objections : nay, our Bill reaches his, 
 
 to
 
 [ III ] 
 
 to adopt its principles, and he fays our is mif- 
 chievous ; his was the glory of the nation and 
 the joint labour of the greateft friends of li- 
 berty. 
 
 The Right Hon. Gentleman fays, " we might 
 44 have foreign trade, without entering into the 
 " meafure, and that England, as to foreiga 
 " trade, gives us no right which we already have 
 not." As to Colony Trade, he fays, " Hie 
 " gives us what we had before, on the former 
 " conditions, that we give her Colony product a 
 " preference in our market, and therefore, he 
 *' fays, cannot we remain as we now are," 
 
 With refpect to the Colony Trade, I anfwer, 
 we hold it by the gift of Britain, and (he may 
 repeal her act, and reaffume her monopoly. As 
 to Foreign Trade, I have {hewn it is no way 
 affected, except by the preference to be given to 
 Britim Colony goods, againft thofe of Foreign 
 Colonies ; but why does the Gentleman allude to 
 Portugal ? it is the ftrongeft meafure againft him. 
 Portugal has prefumed to diftinguifh between the 
 goods of Great Britain and the goods of Ireland 
 
 (he
 
 [ "2 ] 
 
 ~fhe wjll not receive the latter. But if this fet- 
 tlement is entered into, all our goods fhe can 
 have may go duty free through Britain. The 
 diftin&ion between Britifti and Irifli manufacture 
 is loft as to Foreign Nations, our goods, are 
 made one, phyfically as well as politically, in 
 refpect to foreign, and our Union cemented by 
 fhe freedom of intercourfe. 
 
 The honourable gentleman feems, with others, 
 to undervalue the Britifh markets for our linens, 
 and that if Britain fhall difcourage her import s 
 they will find vent elfewhere, I will not pay him 
 fo fulfome a compliment as to fay he underftands 
 commerce, his genius foars perhaps above fucli 
 reading ; but if he did underftand it, 1 would afk 
 him, where would he expect a market to favour 
 the linens of Ireland ? Where -will he find a, 
 market under Heaven for that manufacture^ 
 which now brings two millions "annually into th 
 kingdom? Will Portugal take them? ( Will 
 Spain take them ? Will France take them ? No ; 
 we know they will not. Will Ruflia, Germany, 
 or Holland take them ? They are your powerful 
 tivals, and able to underfel you. Where then
 
 [ H3 J 
 
 will you find a market, if England fhuts her 
 ports ? Will yoa go to the Weft Indies ? you 
 cannot go to the Englifti Colonies they will be 
 like Britain there you can have no admittance. 
 The French, Spanifh, and Portuguefe have (hut 
 their ports long fince your only market then 
 is in the bankrupt States of North America, that 
 have not money to pay their juft debts, and many 
 provinces of which, if they had the money, have 
 not perhaps the honefty to do it. 
 
 This bankrupt country is to give you the 
 market Britain affords; No, no ; cherifh the 
 market you have, you will never get fo good, 
 fhe ever exports with bounty for you. And here 
 let me obferve the benefits of exporting, duty 
 free, all our fabrics through her ports, which 
 this fettlement fecur-es. You firft found the 
 way for your linens to foreign places through 
 her ports, by her capitals and extent of deal- 
 ing ; do not refufe the like for your other fa- 
 brics the profperity of the linen mould teach 
 you. 
 
 The
 
 C H4 ) 
 
 The gentleman fays England is as dependant 
 on Ireland as Ireland is on England for her 
 produces he inftances the cotton yarn: and other 
 yarn of Ireland. What, call cotton yarn a 
 fabric of Ireland, anld an export to Britain ! It 
 is a miftake of his expreflion, he cannot be fo 
 ignorant of our manufactures. Let us look into 
 the wants Britain fupplies I will take coals 
 firft. 
 
 Do you think it an objeft of no confequence 
 to receive coals from England, for ever, duty 
 free while, the duties on coals in England, 
 brought from one of her own ports to another 
 is very high. I remember when I propofed a 
 {hilling a ton on the importation of coals into 
 Dublin only, in order to raife a fund for extend- 
 ing and beautifying the city, it met with great 
 oppofition ; I was abufed in all the news papers j 
 yet now England may raife four times that fum 
 upon the export of her coals, which will fall 
 upon the confumer, and raife a revenue for her 
 -advantage ; nay were fhe even to raife the revenue 
 on them to you that (he does on her own coaft 
 carriage^ what would become of you ? You 
 
 have
 
 ( "5 ) 
 
 have not Trim coal ; if the prefent bounty, of 2$. 
 a ton to Dublin, added to is. 8d. duty on Britifh, 
 which operates. as 35. 8d. in favour of Irifh coa! ? 
 what /will you do; becaufe no carriage can be fo 
 cheap to you as that acrofs the channel. Rock 
 fait is the next ; 'Where will you get it? (fome 
 one faid from Spain) Rock fait from Spain ! The 
 gentleman mould inform himfelf a little better. 
 
 As to the tanning trade, where will you get 
 bark? From no place in the world but England. 
 We know that it would not bear the freight from 
 any other, and if England was to .prohibit the 
 export of it, that trade muft be at an end; and 
 we muft not forget, that the Britifh manufacturers 
 of leather have already complained, that by get- 
 ting bark from Wales, we are enabled to work on 
 as good terms as England. 
 
 Let him look to hops ; will this country grow 
 them ? On the other hand, what wants do we, 
 fupply for England ? wool and linen yarn, to our 
 
 own great advantage ; but it is in vain to proceed ; 
 
 > 
 the Houfe muft fee that we are talking of a fub- 
 
 jecl not yet undeaftoodj. when known, and Ire- 
 land
 
 [ "6 ] 
 
 land unprejudiced and in her calm reafon, will 
 never reject the many bleffings it holds out to her 
 trade ; it gives wealth and fecurity which I truft: 
 will nevef be refufed from a wild imagination of 
 Utopian Republics, Commonwealths, Monarchies 
 God knows what. 
 
 I will ftand or fall with the Bill, that not a line 
 in it touches your Conftitution ; it is now left to 
 the decifion of the country, it is not abandoned, 
 God forbid it (hould ; and I truft I (hall fee the na- 
 tion afk it at our hands, that we may be able then 
 to obtain it (hall be my prayers the Minifter can- 
 not promife he has done his duty and it will 
 be my pride at a future day, when its real value 
 fhali be known, that I bore a leading {hare in the 
 tranfaclion that I laboured to procure for Ireland 
 folid and fubftantial benefits, which even two 
 years ago no man had an idea of even looking to.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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 is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
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 REC'O ID-URL 
 
 DEC 1 1969 
 
 - 5 1969 
 
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