?* -^ V ' f t. ^-l^*^' 1 ''^ :^" ''■4 /^ A .a. vv ■^•^ *.'" "S*^):?^ *^' <*>> ?:^'. '4!^ "i^it -'-, V 4 i ^v ,. ^^ ,g T* ,^*- ^ *■ ■^ :. ^ V* ^ ♦'>,- * r t ' '^-'^\'-l i "»'> v,??= *. i-^^ 1£i *. t jsf ^•» ■■ ' it' ' * » «t ' /^ V ^ *, ^ J ^'^ . -»« V*- CENTRAL CIRCULATION BOOKSTACKS The person charging this material is re- sponsible for its renewal or its return to the library from which it was borrowed on or before the Latest Date stamped below. You may be charged a minimum fee of $75.00 for eacii lost booic. Thaftf mutilotieiif and underlining of books or* roosons for dlaciplinory action and may result in dismissal from the University. TO RENEW CALL TELEPHONE CENTER, 333-8400 UNIVEItSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN OCT 4 1 When renewing by phone, write new due date below previous due date. L162 ^-••■--^^'^^ '^ ^*' > ''^'^^n-. SPEECH.A^^r^^^i •^% O F PATRICK DUIGENAN, L.L.D. IV THE IRISH HOUSE OF COMMONS, # WEDNESDAY, PEB. 5, 1800, ON THK OF iH£ SUBJECT OP AN INCORPORATING UNION SJCTWEEN GREAT-BRITAIN AND IRELAND. LONDON: PRINTED FpR J. WRIGHT, PICCADILLY. 1800» 3'- i .. 1. 4 *Vif ^'^^ ' d SPEECH, &c. &c. &c. »9*M>*4 X AM unwilling to give my vote in support of a measure of such importance, as the consolida- tion of the realms of Great-Britain and Ireland by an Incorporating Union, without explaining J to my countrymen the reasons which have in- ;^, j fiuenced me to contribute my weak assistance to ,^ so momentous a measure. I shall endeavour to compress them into as small a compass as possible : ^ premising, however, that I feel no inconsider- able pprtion of dissatisfaction and regret, in per- ^ ceiving that my sentiments on this occasion are . B ( 2 ) different from those of many able men, as re- markable for their public spirit, as for integrity, extent and strength of talents, natural and ac- quired, and with whose political opinions, since I took any part in public business, I have hereto- fore generally concurred. I confess that I feel some consolation in observing, that I differ also in opinion, on the present business, from other Gentlemen, with whose political opinions I never did nor ever will concur ; and that although there is a division among the loyal and staunch friends of the Constitution on the present question, yet there is an entire coincidence of opinion upon it among all Jacobin traitors throughout the king- dom : they, to a man, are hostile to it ; their principles I abhor : and I cannot refrain from ex- pressing my uneasiness at perceiving many loyal citizens of Dublin, in this particular, dupes to the practices and deceptions of that dangerous, anarchical, blood-thirsty crew. I am fortified in my opinion on this occasion by reflecting, that not- withstanding the hostility of some able, honest men to the measure, men of equal integrity and ability support it, and I think the persons of that des- -■' -" ■ >'^' •" C 3 ) cription, friends to it, are much more numerous than those of the same description, who appear in the ranks of the adversary. I shall first make a few obser\'-ations on the pre- sent state of the natural and political connection between Great-Britain and Ireland. The latter kingdom, from its geographical situation, is shut out from all intercourse with the northern parts of Europe, except by the permission of Great- Britain : and as Great-Britain lies between it and all parts of Europe, from Brittany to the Nor- thern Pole, so it is in its power to prevent, in a great measure, its communication with all the Southern parts of Europe ; for Ireland, in respect to all Europe, lies as it were behind Great-Britain ; it is also divided from Great-Britain by a narrow channel only, extending the whole length of Ire- land from North to South, in some places not above six leagues wide. Its political connection with Great-Britain I shall take up on the basis of its settlement in 1782, which is now insisted upon by the adversaries of an Incorporating Union, as a final settlement between the two king- B2 ( 4 ) dpms, never to be changed or altered. Ireland is connected with Great-Britain by having on& branch of its Legislative Power, to wit, the regal branch, and the whole of its Executive Power, in common with Great-Britain ; and the person invested with its whole Executive Power, and with a part of its Legislative Power, endowed with a veto on all deliberative resolutions of the other two brjinches of the Legislative, resides in Great-Britain : By the settlement of 1782, no bill, after it has passed the two Houses of Parlia- ment in Ireland, can become a law, until after it has been sent into Great-Britain, under the Great Seal of Ireland, and is returned from thence under the Great Seal of Great-Britain ; that is, in fact, until after it has been approved of by his Majesty, and his British Cabinet Council ; so that under the settlement of 1782, the British Mi- nistry can prevent the enadlion of any law what- soever in this kingdom ; and it seems to me that there is some inaccuracy in stating the Legisla- ture of this kingdom to be independent under these circumstances. Certain I am, that I have heard grievous complaints of the control of the ( « ) British Cabinet exercised over the Legislature of thi5 kingdom, and the disastrous effects pn this kingdom of a double Cabinet, English and Irish, very pathetically insisted upon by Gentle-, men, who now oppose an Incorporating Union on the principle of its subverting the settlement of 1782, and the independence of this kingdom. I have been somewhat surprised at finding this House so frequently amused with declamations on the point, whether the settlement of 1782 was intended by the two kingdoms as a final ad- justment of all matters then in dispute, so as ef- fectually to secure that perpetual connection ne- cessary to the happiness, almost to the existence of both as free States, and to preclude all future possibility of separation. I look on the question, whether that settlement, at the time it was con- cluded, was considered or intended to be final or- not, as totally immaterial. Debates upon it put me in mind of the conduct of lawyers on a suit» as described by that sagacious observer of man-, kind. Captain Lemuel Gulliver : " In pleading,** say^ the Captain, " they studiously avoid entering. tc ( 6 ) " into the merits of the cause, but are loud; *' violent and tedious in dwelling upon all cir- " cumstances which are not to the purpose ; *' for instance, if my neighbour claims my cow, they never desire to know what title my adversary has to my cow, but whether the said cow were red or black, her horns long or " short, whether the field I graze her in were " round or square, and the like." The true question on the settlement of 1782 to be resolved by this House, is. Whether that Settlement be such as does effectually secure the perpetual connection of the two kingdoms ? and not whether it was considered as final at the time it was entered into. Sir, the present connectfon between Great Britain and Ireland is such as has no parallel in the history of the world : it contains in it ano- malies heretofore unknown to the law of nations, and the seeds of dissolution ; these anomalies must be corrected, and these seeds must be eiFec- taally prevented from striking root ; which can ( 7 ) be only effected by an Incorporating Union of tbe two kingdoms. Separations or rather aii un- successful ^attempt at, separatapfi) which will be attended with the utt^r ruin and desolation of this kingdom by civil war,, will be the unavoida- ble and necessary consequence of the rejection of that only effectual remedy* -; r > The present conjiection between these two kingdoms is not similar to an alliance offensive and defensive between two independent Nations, which depends on stipulations entered into by the two contracting parties for mutual defence and security ; for, if the conditions of the al- liance arc not performed by one of them, the- other may break off from the alliance, and look to other security, or take such measures as it may think proper for its own defence, and may at any time enter into leagues and treaties with other Powers, not inconsistent with its offensive and defensive alliance ; and either party has a right to proclaim war or make peace on reasonable terms, and to call on the other to assist in war with its stipulated quota, or to concur in a pacification i 8 ) on xeasonable terms, or such as it may deem rea-^ sonable; but the case is quite otherwise with -Iceland in respeiQt^ Great Britain ; proclanfatioh of war on the pdrtof Orealt Britain^ against any Power whatsoever, immediately iftvolyes Ire- land in hostilities, as part of the British Empire, and Great Britain may make Peace without con- sulting in any manner with Ireland on the terms or conditions, and without stipulating in any manner for her indemnity or compensation for ^er losses in the ^ar.^ Ireland cannot enter into any treaty whatsoever, either commercial or otherwise, with an]^ foreign Power, but is bound by all the treaties into which Great Britain enters, without being even consulted on the expedien- cy of them. Surely, Sir, these are great badges of depen- dency. I have heard Gentlemen on the other side of the House complain bitterly of them ; and, whilst they assert the independence of this Nation on Great Britain, and assert that such in- dependence was secured by the settlement of 1782, and on that score striJggle to support that settle- •«ppn^lipi|P|Plpi(«^«PMnpiiiiii J mx ( ) Settlement as final j, and reprobate all alteratioHi and consequently an Incorporating Union, they .cannot but admit the present connection be- tween the two Nations, as settled in 1782, to be a connection degrading, and in a high degree detrimental to this Nation^ and that it contains within itself a mine of combusti- bles, which^ one day or other, will be sprung, and involve the country in confusion, ruin and desolation, which it will take a century to re- pair* Exclusive of the aforesaid great imperial sources of discontent and animosity between the two Nations, arising from the very nature of their present connection, are there no other causes of disunion interwoven with it ? What loud complaints have we repeatedly heard in this House of the shackled state of our commerce by ©ur present connection with Great Britain since the year 1782 ? Are these causes removed ? It is admitted, that the Settlement of 1782 was not final with respect to the Tariff between the two Nations ; we rejected the Commercial Proposi- C ( 10 ) tioHS «inc« 1 782, "v^hkh were designed to settfe that Tariff, with disdain, on a Supposition that they trenched on our imaginary independence ; professing that we would not barter Constitution for Commerce. Is the Channel Trade between Great Britain and Ireland yet settled to our satis^ faction ? Is the India Trade ? Are numberless other causes of discontent, jealousy and emulation on the point of trade between these two com- mercial and adjacent nations, yet removed ? Are the mouths of our ranting Patriots, continually bellowing in our ears, that the interests and pursuits of the two nations in point of trade are incompatible and irreconcileable, and that the animosity of the inhabitants of the two countries is instinctive, yet closed ? Or are they ever likely to be closed in the present state of correspondence and brittle connection of the two countries ? — surely not, the present connection between them is rather a fatithlest truce, insidia inducia ! than a permanent state of harmony and peace. Federal Unions, such as was that of the United Provinces, being an union of a number of small Republics for mutual defence, the present Union ( 11 ) of the several States of Americit, and of th» Germanic Body, have been always accounted weak and inefficient; we know -by ex;perience. they are so; look to Germany, loojf. tp the United. Provinces ; they will all in proces9;e suhstaniive independence of a kingdorriy uncon- fiected, with any other Nation, save hy treaties of /unity containing reciprocal obligations entered into between equals, and possessing an Imperial Govern- ment within itself; it is pretty pkin to common understandings, that Ireland, in that sense, i^ not now an independent Nation ; for Ireland is a Province of the British Empire. The Crown of Jreland is not an Imperial Crown ; it is insepa- rably united, annexed to, and dependent upon the Imperial Crown of England (now the Impe- rial Crown of Great Britain); and whoever is King of Great Britain, is, ipso facto. King of Ireland. Such is the language of our own Statute law, repeated over and over again in our Statute books unre:pealed, and which never can be re- pealed ; because His Majesty of Great Britain D ( 38 ) can never give his royal assent to any law autho- rising the spoliation of his royal diadem, by tearing the most valuable jewels from it ; — unless compelled to it through necessity, and the suc-» ccssful issue of Rebellion ; which Heaven avert ! But should it even be admitted that Ireland is an independent Nation, how can it be inferred or proved that she would lose her independence, or any degree of independence which she may now enjoy, by an Incorporating Union with Great Britain ? By such Union she becomes one body with Great Britain, and consequently must enjoy equal independence with Great Bri^ tain ; they will together form one consolidated independent Empire ; the part of that Empire West of the Irish Channel will be as independent as that part of England South of the Trent, and that part North of the Trent, or that of Great Britain North of the Tweed ; and Ireland will be no more a Province dependent on England than England or Scotland are Provinces depen- dent on Ireland, or on one another. The ob- jection seems to me to be founded on sophistry, { 19 ) Oti this deceitful position, that each pari of the same body, being dependent in some measure upon the rest of the body, the whole, thus composed of parts dependent on each other, cannot be said to form one independent body, because it is composed of dependent particles ; though whilst they ad- here together they form one body detached from all others. The Gentlemen who support such a dogma would do well \o consider how they can, by such reasoning, maintain the indepen- deiice of Ireland ; forj by the same argument, the four Provinces of Ireland being dependent each on the other threCj the four together can- not form one independent body. It is in the second place objected, that the su* perior number of British Members in the Impe- rial Parliament, will give them the power of op- pressing Ireland, and infringing the conditions on which an Incorporating Union may be con- cluded* I admit that there must be a power in all States paramount and supreme, that can alter or abro- D 2 ( ^o •) gate all the laws-and regulations of the State, for the manifest good and advantage of the subjects, and enact new laws for the same purposes; but such supreme power is restrained within the bounds of, reason and justice, and the present ar- gument is founded on a presumption of fraud and ill-faith, which the principles of natural law, as well as the express m.axims of our own muni- cipal law, forbid us to entertain. Our own law tells us that fraud is not to be presumed. When King Henry VIII. consulted the judges, then re- movable at the will of the Crown, on the ques- tion whether a bill of attainder passed against a man by Parliament, then also enslaved, without calling on the object of it to answer, or giving him a trial, would be valid I The judges told him, that such an act, from the transcendant power of Parliament, would be valid ; but they trusted that so great arfd honourable a tribunal as that of Parliament would never degrade itself, and make so flagitious an use of their supreme authority, as to adopt such a proceeding against any man. And an answer of a similar nature might be sufficient to the present objection, tlic ( 21 ) Parliament being now independent ; because there is a niighty difference between power itself, and the just or unjust exercise of it ; arid the ob- jection Can have no weight if we are to presume, as by lawwe are directed, that the Imperial Par- liament will be guided by justice in their proceed- ings. ■ ' - But there still remains a more powerful answer to the objection, and that is, that the condition of an Incorporating Union must be canvassed fully in the two Parliaments of Great-Britain and Ireland, before any Union can be effected ; and it is morally certain that no conditions will be agreed to, which shall not be deemed by these Parliaments, who are supposed to understand the interests of their country, advantageous as well to the nations respectively, as to the empire at large. And when the two Nations shall become one by an Incorporating Union, can it be sup- posed that the Imperial Parliament will ever at- tempt to infringe the conditions promotive of t]ie ■interests of each country in particular, and of the whole body in general ? Such a proceeding with ( 22 ) respect to cither country^ would injure the whok body, and would be therefore contrary to the in* terest of the infringers ; as it would be destruc* tivc of the sanity and strength of the whole hu* man body, for all the parts, the leg excepted^ to conspire to wither the leg ; therefore there can be no apprehension of the breach of the conditions of an Incorporating Union by the Imperial Par- liament, to the prejudice of Ireland.; Unless we shall suppose that the British Members shall all become blind, as well to justice as to their own interest. Besides, it may be stipulated in the Treaty of Union, that any breach of the condi- tions shall be deemed a dissolution of the Union, as was done in the Treaty of Union of England and Scotland ; and experience has proved, that no attempt at a breach of the conditions of that Union was ever made. I can only conceive one case in which the conditions of an Incorporating Union of Great Britain and Ireland may be al- tered, and that is, when all or a very great ma- jority of the Representatives of one of the con- tracting Nations shall petition for an alteration of any of the articles which peculiarly affects one ( 23 ) of them, without any special interest in the other to resist such a change ; in that case, I appre- hend an aheration might be justly made on the principle of vohnti non fit injuria. It is objected thirdly, That Ireland, by an Incorporating Union will become subject to the heavy taxes and debt of Great Britain. This objection may be entirely done away by inserting stipulations in the Treaty of Union, that Ireland shall be only liable to such portion of the public burthen as is suitable to her means and finances. Such stipulations in favour of Scotland have been inserted in the Treaty of Union between England and Scotland, and have never been violated. But this objection is in truth founded on de- ception ; for it is founded on the baseless as-r sumption, that Ireland, after an Incorporating Union shall take place, will remain in its present situation, or a worse in point of trade, improve- ment and opillence. Whereas, it is obvious, that Ireland, possessing as fertile a soil as Great Britain, and being, when incorporated with that (24 ) Nation, as advantageously situated for commerce, must become in time, and not at a very remote period, equal to Great Britain, in local popula- tion, commerce and wealth. Her inhabitants be- ing then on an exact level with those of Great Britain, intermixed with them, and becoming one people with them, the present industrious habits and pursuits of the one Nation, its com-* merce and its manufactures must be speedily com- municated to the other, and become common to both : and when we contemplate the happiness, wealth and comforts of life which the inhabitants of Great Britain enjoy at present in a much superior degree (though liable to the present heavy debts and taxes) to the inhabitants of Ire- land, what Irishman would repine or have cause to complain, if the inhabitants of Ireland were put on an exact level in all these particulars with the inhabitants of Great Britain ? If we shall, in case of an Incorporating Union, have heavier taxes, they will be no grievances if we shall have more ample sources of wealth, a greater capacity - of paying, and greater funds remaining to expend on our comforts and enjoyments, I am ( 25 ) I am aware that it has been asserted by a very great and truly respectable authority, that the Trade of Ireland cannot and will not be increased by an Incorporating Union ; and it has been at- tempted to be proved that the Trade of Ireland could not l^e injured by Great Britain, if she should design to injure it, for that Ireland has other and as lucrative markets for her commo^- dities as Great Britain : my own want of skill in commercial affairs, and my settled opinion of the at>ility and extensive information of the asserter of these doctrines, to me at kast novel, induced me, after their publication, to consider them with great attention, to examine the documents on which they were founded, and to read the several answers to them which have appeared, as well ia the English as in the Irish prints, and after the very best and most mature consideration of them, I profess I canxiot acquiesce in them; for, in the first place, as the proportionate commerce and opulence of Great Britain vastly exceed those of Ireland, I cannot well conceive, when Ireland, situated as she is, and possessing as fertile a soil as Great Britain shall form one and the same body wirk IE ( 26 ) Great Britain by an Incorporating Union, that part of that body shall continue in the greatest health and vigour, and that another part with all the vital juices in full and free circulation, with-* ,out any obstruction whatsoever to impede their course, shall remain in a debilitated and withered state : on the contrary, I am clearly of opinion, that the wealth and commerce of Great Britain must by an Union be communicated to Ireland, and that Ireland will thereby acquire a propor- tionate and local equality in trade with Great Bri- tain and every part of it. In the second place, I am convinced that Ire- land is indebted for almost her whole commerce to Great Britain ; she has opened to Ireland the trade of her colonies ; she has shielded her princi- pal manufactures, to which she has opened her ovm markets, with bounties, and restrained the importation of manufactures of the same nature from other countries by duties. At no other markets on the face of the globe could the manu- factures of Ireland be disposed of to the same ad- vantage ; she affords a ready market, ready sale, and speedy return for the commodities of Ireland, ( 27 ) which no other nation could afford, and which few would offer : nor could Irish capitals support the same trade with other nations, who would re- quire longer credits. British fleets secure the foreign commerce of Ireland throughout the globe, and the hostility of Great Britain to Ire- land would at once annihilate almost all Irish commerce and manufactures ; and the balance of trade between Great Britain and Ireland is much in favour pf the latter kingdom. It is objected, that the City of Dublin will be depopulated and injured, and its trade ruined by an Incorporating Union. Of all the objections against the measure, this has the greatest weight with the mass pf the people, and yet it is infinitely the weakest. Such has been the power, of decep- tion, that this fallacious argument has imposed upon and mislead the loyal citizens of Dublin, whoin the late atrocious Rebellion so courageously spod forth the champions and the bulwarks of the Constitution in Church and State, and has so far blinded their understandings as to render them careless even of their own preservation, E2 ( 2-8 ) of their liberties and properties, and induced theifi to permit themselves to be made the dupes and tools of the sanguinary Jacobin traitors, who sD lately deluged their country with the best Pro- testant blood of the Nation. I'he Conspirators who originally planned that bloody insurrection, and the ruffians employed in the massacres with which it was accompanied, and whose carcases, justly forfeited to the law, have been bailed from the executioner, by what Las been stiled the lenity of Grovernment, now openly and triumphantly appear, leading the de- luded citizens to the altars of rebellion, conspi- racy and sedition, there to enter into engagements for the subversion of the constitution, and to affix their signatures, at the desire of the pardon- ed and ungrateful traitors, to the manifestoes of threatened and meditated insurrection. Bound as I am from general, and in many instances person- al attachment, gratitude and interest, to promote, to the extremity of my abilities the welfare and prosperity of the city of Dublin, in which though not my native place, I have been nurtured and ( 29 ) educated from my early infancy; and which comprehends so many of tny closest and most valuable connections, I cannot view with indif- ference this fatal delusion of many of its most loyal and worthy citizens. I heartily deplore it, and shall use my endeavours to awaken them to the calls of loyalty, honour, security and peace. I have already, I trust, proved that the trade and wealth of Ireland must be increased by an Union, which will ©pen sources of commerce yet unknown in this country; it will iocrease wealth in the same proportion, and capital must increase by the additional security which the lives and properties of the inhabitants of Ireland will acquire by such Union ; and the city of Dublin, must participate largely in the increased com- merce, wi^lth and capital of the Nation at large. Dublin is situated about midway in the Irish Channel. Its port, though not accessible by ships of as great burthen as that of Liverpool, yet is a much better port than that of the latter phce^ much more easily accessible, and ships of ( 30 ) three or four hundred tons, large enough for car- rying on commerce to any part of the globe, may resort to it. Dublin is capable of receiving great improvements as a commercial city, suffi- cient to secure to it for ever a decided superiority in point of trade over every other town in Ireland ; and if an annual sum shall be appropriated out of the treasury for compleating the two canals which communicate with it on the North and South (already far advanced), under proper re- gulations, ^80 as to finish the water carriage from Dublin in the Shannon, it will extend into Con- naught, and may be further extended in that province by means of the river Suck. Such an improvement will for ever secure to Dublin the exclusive import and export trade of this island, in a tract of country the best in the. kingdom, of near one hundred miles broad, and reaching al- most from the Channel to the Western Ocean. The compleating these canals, at the .public ex- . pence, may be made one of the articles of the Union, and will alone compensate tenfold for any partial loss which it is suggested that Dublin may suffer by it ; for it is not even pretended that the ( 31_.) Nation at large will suffer by an Union, in point of commerce ; all that is attempted to be proved (and the proof has totally failed) is, that Ireland will not gain in point of trade by this measure. Other advantages to the city of Dublin, not pre- judicial to the kingdom at large, may be stipu- lated for in the Treaty of Union. " We are now to consider what the loss is, that it is suggested the city will sustain by an Incorpo- rating Union. It is suggested, that many other port towns will rise in commerce on the ruins of that of Dublin in case of an Union : I cannot see any reasonable ground for such suggestion ; but if there is any, I have already pointed out an effectual method, not only to secure Dublin in its present trade, but to increase it to a degree hitherto never experienced or hoped for. It is next suggested, that Dublin will decay as well in population as trade, by its ceasing to be the annual place of meeting of Parliament ; and that absentees will be increased, as well from Dublin as from the rest of the kingdom^ by an ( 3-2 ) Union, which will therefore drain the kingdom in general, and Dublin in particular, of great sums of money annually. I cannot think that the kingdom in general, or Dublin in particular, will be drained of great sums of money by the increase of absentees, which, it is supposed, will happen on an Union taking place, for I do not think that it will cause any very material increase of absentee^. Already our absentees, and most of them of very great landed estates, are very numerous, and most of our Nobility and consi- ' derable Gentry, who are reputed residents, spend their summers, or a considerable part of them, in England, either in or near London, or at the se- veral watering places in England. Thirty of our Peers, and one hundred of our Commoners, are to sit in the Imperial Parliament ; of these Com- moners sixty-four are to be elected for the coun- ties at large, eighteen more for cities or towns* which are also counties, and the remainder for corporate towns, considerable for their population and extent : so that almost the whole of the Irish Representatives in the Commons of the Imperial Parliament, will be returned on popular elec- tions. ( 33 ) tioiis. And ill, such persons, to secure their inttf- rests in the counties and towns which they repre- sent, will be obliged to spend their summers (the seasons of recess of the Imperial Parliaments) ^mong their Irish constituents, instead of spend- ing them, as they now do, in England. Of the thirty Peers, who are to represent the Irish Peerage in the Imperial Parliament, many will be such as at present spend their whole time, or al- most the wholcj in England ; from whence I infer, that Ireland in general will not suffer considerably, perhaps not at all, by an Union. The city of Dublin will certainly lose the partial residence of some of the Members of Parliament annually, but not of all ; for many persons who are now Members of the Irish Parliament, such as the whole body of lawyers now in Parliament, and many others who always reside in or near Dublin, and who will not be of the number elected to the Imperial Parliament, will continue to reside in their usual places of abode. The city will continue the metropolis of the kingdom, the seat of the Courts of Justice, and of the Viceroy ; F ( 34 ) and upon the whole, cannot, by any computa- tion, suffer any greater annual loss than about fifty thousand pounds, perhaps less, by an Union ; and will certainly be a gainer of several hun- dreds of thousands annually by the means I have suggested, and by other stipulations in its favour, which may be inserted in the Treaty of Incorpo- rating Union. And the city of Dublin will be certainly increased, as well in wealth as popula- tion, by such a measure. Pending the treaty for an Union between Eng- land and Scotland, the same methods for inflam- ing the inhabitants of Edinburgh to oppose that measure, were adopted by a discontented party in that kingdom, as are now made use of to in- flame the citizens of Dublin. Yet Edinburgh, in 1^55 than a century since that Union took place, has been more than doubled in extent and in po- pulation ; and in trade, wealth and magnificence, improved tenfold. My arguments are therefore warranted, not by reason only, but experience : and the citizens of Dublin will soon have good cause to reprobate and execrate the fraudulent ( 35 ) and' sanguinary Jacobinical assassins, by whdni they are at present so fatally misled. It is in the fifth place objcded> that the Irish Pariiament is not competent to enter inta and conclude a treaty with the Sister Kingdom for an Incorporating- Union. The comiJetency of the Irish Parliament to-such a meaiurc, has been so fully and ably proved by an Honourable* Member of this House, in his Speech on the expediency of an Union in the last Session of Parliament, which Speech has-been since print- ed*: and the futility and ineptitude of the ob- jection so fully exposed, that it is not necessary for me to be at much trouble in scouting' that phantom of forensian quibbling^ inanity out of this House. A brief examination of this doiSlrinc of incompetency of Parliament on the present occasion, may however be not amiss. The best writers on the British Constitution, * Speech ofW. Smith, Esq. on the Subject of a I-egislatiye Union, Thursday, January 24, 1799. F2 ,'V.*» ( 36 ) and those who have wound up their ideas of true political liberty to the highest tone which can consist with any harmony or stability of Govern- ment, Mr. Locke in particular, lay it down as a maxim, that each member of the commonwealth has surrendered to the state, or supreme legislative power, and vested in it all his rights under the law of nature. In the 1 1th chapter of Mr. Locke's Treatise on Government, is to be found the fol- lowing passage : " The supreme legislative power in every commonwealth is the joint power of every member of the society, given up to that person or assembly which is legislator, and is *' what those persons had in a state of naturae *' before they entered into the society, and gave *^ up to the community." A little farther on he adds, " This power, in the utmost bounds of " it, is limited to the public good of the so- *' ciety." And in the close of the 1 gth chapter he writes thus, ** The power which every indj . " vidual gave the society, when he entered into *' it, can never revert to the individual again, as *' Jong as the society lasts, but will always remain " in the community ; because without this there ^ can he jio community, no commonwealth. a \ \ ( 37 ) a (C (C (C which is contrary to the original agreement. " So also, when the society hath placed the Le " gislative in any Assembly of men to continue '* in them and their successors, with direction *' and authority of providing such successors, *' the Legislative (which he in all places styles the Supreme Power) can never revert to the People whilst that Government lasts : Because " having provided a Legislative with power to continue for ever, they have given up their political power to the Legislative, and can *' never resume it." Montesquieu, in the 6th Chapter of his iJth Book, where he treats of the English Constitution, lays it down as a maxim : " That the People ought to have no " share in the Government, but for the choos- " ing of Representatives, which is within their '* reach." It is notorious, that a man in a state of nature has full authority and power to join any other man or set of men, and to form with them a community, or to connect himself with a community already formed, and become a member of that community which is willing to receive him as a member. This natural right each man has given up to the community, and ( 38 ) the Supreme Legislative Power of the commu- nity is invested with that right, and consequently is competent to join any other community or commonwealth in an Incorporating Union, and to bind all the subjects- of the State to that in- corporation ; and that power of the Legislative is bounded only by the public good of the so- ciety, of which it is a better judge than tumul- tuous, unconstitutional, and illegal assemblies of= the people, and of which, the members of the commonwealth, when they ele6led them their Bjepresentatives, supposed them to be the best judges. • Mr. Locke published his Treatise on Govern- ment in the year 169O: he had been the Secre- tary and Confidant of the famous Earl of Shaftes- bury ; and had been educated at Oxford, during the domination of the republican fanatics, and was brought up in the extremity of Whig prin- ciples, and published his work at the time civil dissensions were at the highest, for the purpose of justifying the Revolution, at that time a recent transacSlion not compleatly and fully established. ( 39 ) One principfal accusation against the abdicated family was, that they designed to subjugate the kingdom to France. This design was princi- pally attributed to Charles the Second and his Ministry, and was one of the accusations of Lord Shaftesbury, the patron of Mr, Locke, against the Court in the reign of that Monarch. Mr. Locke, therefore, in his iQth Chapter on the Dissolution of Governments, states, rather too lar^y, " that the alteration of the Legislative *• is a dissolution of Government :" And then ,^ubjoins, " that the delivery of the People into " the subje^lion of a foreign Power, either by " the Prince, or the Legislative, is certainly a " change of the Legislative, and so a dissolution '' of the Government." In respect to the first position of Mr. Locke, that a change of the Legislative is a dissolution of Government, I believe the Gentlemen who oppose this measure, will scarcely subscribe to the truth of it : for they have for a series of years been preaching up the necessity of a change in the Legislative, as well by abolishing most of ( 40 ) the Boroughs, as by new-modelling the remainder; and by extending the Eledtive Franchise to large bodies of the People, heretofore disqualified by the laws of the commonwealth : Some of which pretended reforming schemes have succeeded, and all which would immediately operate as alte- rations in the Legislative Body. But it is necessary to advert to the second po- sition of Mr. Locke, and to try whether th Con- clusion of a Treaty of Incorporating Union with Great Britain by the Irish Legislature, on terms of absolute equality and communication of all privileges, can be deemed a delivery of the Irish Nation into a subjection to a foreign Power. It is to be observed in the first place, that Great Britain in respect to Ireland is not a foreign Power ; both 'Nations compose one Empire, whose interests with respect to all other Nations are one and the same. Secondly, the Legislatures of ^he two Nations are not distinct and separate in their present condition: for one branch of the Legislative, and the Supreme Executive, is one and thg same in hot h. Thirdly, the Irish Legis- lative ( 41 ) lative is. not a. supreme power in Ireland,, for th^, exercise of its authority may be at all times cramped and impeded by the English Cabinet in many and most instances; and it has no- fede- rative or imperial authority respecting foreign, nations, nor has its Executive any suqh authority,- as derived from the Irish Legislature ; and if the Irish Legislature vested their whole legislative authority in the British Legislature, such a pro- ceeding would not amount to the subjection of the Irish Nation ta a foreign Power, even on Mr. Locke's principles, and to a consequent dis-r •solution of Government. But an Incorporating Union with Great Bri- tain admits of no such interpretation, as the de- livery of the Irish Nation to a subjection to Great Britain. Irish Peers and Irish Represjcntatives of the Commons will sit in the Imperial Parliament with .equal privileges, liberties, and immunities with British Peers and British Representatives ; the superior numbers of the latter classes to those 9f the former, arising from the superior extent an4 opulence of the British Nation, can never, as I G ( 42 ) trust I have already proved, operate to the pe- culiar disadvantage of Ireland; there can be no inequality of interest between the limbs of the same body, and consequently no subjection, ex- cept tlie due subordination of all the parts of a body, to serve in their respective functions for the general and common advantages of the whole, be subjection. The Representative form of Qfl^- vernment will be preserved in its puritv and vigour, under the same Sovereign^ the same Exr jccutive; and no objection on the score of change of the Legislature can, as I apprehenji, come with any degree of consistency from the opposite side of the House, founded on th,e diminution, or rather annihilation, of the Irish Borough Repre- sentation in the new system, which Representation they have so often declaimed against, nor froni the junction of the Peerage and Representatives of the Commons in both Katjons in the same Houses, upon perfe6l terms of equality ; bound together by the ties of common interest, to pro- vide for the safety and prosperity of the whole Empire in general^ and of each Nation in par- ticular. ( 43 ) The last obyection which I have heard urged against ati Incorporating Union, is, that Ireland will be thereby reduced to the condition of a de- pendent Province. To this it is a full answer, that Ireland, by an Incorporating Unionj will become, from a really dependent Province, a part of the British Empire, equally independent with every other part of it ; that England and Scotland are Provinces of the British Empire, and Ireland will be a Province no more depend- ent on any Power whatsoever, than England and Scotland are ; all the Provinces of an Empire, such as the British, the very basis of whose Go-* vernment is political Liberty, are so far depend- ent, the one on the other, as that they are all obliged to concur in the means for their common preservation, and without such concurrence they would all yield to a foreign Power: in such light^ but in no other, are they dependent, the one on the other, for mutual defence and security : and may they ever continue in that sense dependent, and be for ever indissolubly United ! G2 C 44 ) Jt is worth while now to bestow a little .consi- deration on vvhM will be the fate of Ireland, in case an Incorporating Union be rejedled. In ithe iirst place it is evident, from the various causes of dispute and animosity between Great Britan and Ireland, now subsisting under their present system of precarious and imperfect connection, and from the turbulence, avarice and ambition pf some, and the Jacobinical, anarchical, revolu- tionary principles of other agitators, with whom the country is at present cursed ; who have falsely ^ssuped, and thereby debased and degraded the title of Patriots ; and from the bitter and malig- nant spirits of a great portion of the lower order of our inhabitants, inspired by the principles of a glcx^my, unsociable, unrelenting, sanguinary su- perstition, -tiiat the t#i'o Nations cannot be kept to- gether for any considerable time by their present frail and brittle bonds of connection. Separa- tion, therefore, or rather an attempt at separation, ifom. Brijtain, will be the certain consequence o£ 'Ihe rejedlion of ihis measure. I will first assume, that a sufficient attempt at separation shall be effected, it must, if at all, be effedled by Ke- ( 45 ) bellion and the assistance of a French army : thd civil war will waste this unhappy country from one extremity to the other ; and exclusive of the miserable slaughter attendant on a civil war, the whole moveable property of the nation, and all its improvements, will be destroyed and ruined, and the successful surviving rebel will have the miserable triumph of subjecting himself and his posterity to the bondage of France, and becom- ing a member of a wretched, impoverished, de- mocratic Republic, which will itself be a slave to the French democracy. I." Ye Protestants of Ireland ! let me call your attention to what will be your lot in such an event. No successful attempt at separation can" be made without your assistahce and co-operation ; you are now possessed of infinitely the greatest portion of the wealth and property, moVeabje and immoveable, of the Nation. You will there- fore be infinitely the greatest losers by aReb^llion, which will' be a gulf to swallow up all property ;. you must associate yourselves and be companions in' arms with the hungry French assassins, and ( 48 ) murderous crew of United Irishmen ; you do hot amount to more than one-third of the inhabitants of Ireland, the other two-thirds are your mortal enemies, as well on the score of your religion, as your riches : when you shal> have assisted in your own ruin, and separated yourselves from Bri- tain, and concurred in establishing a democratic j[rish Republic ; when you shall be reduced to the same equality of indigence which in such case must be the lot of all, when perfe6l equality of beggary is introduced, and the Irish Nation is become the vassal of France, do you expeft that you will have any security for your lives ? Will the descendants of the Irish murderers in l64l, who massacred in cold blood such multitudes of your ancestors, now double your numbers, and on a level with you in all other respedls, and as- sisted by the sanguinary French robbers in the event of successful Rebellion, abstain from their habits of murder? Does their recent conduct at Scollabogue, at Wexford, at Vinegar-Hill, in- spire you with hopes of safety, when they shall have you in their power ? As well may the trem- bling hind, inclosed in the paws of the ravenous ( «j y hungry tiger, hope for mercy ! The pjke and the skeine will soon dispatch such of you as may sur-r vive the horrors and miseries of even a successful Jlebellion, And you, ye deluded Citizens of Dublin I ivhom traitors have found means to detach from your true interests, have you ever considered what is to be the unavoidable fate of your City in case of a separation from Great Britain — ivhich, as I have already stated, can never be cfFecSfed except by rebellion and desolation ? Even one year's war between Great Britain and Ireland would annihilate your trade, as well as the trade of the whole Eastern coast of Ireland.— The naval force of Liverpool alone, which in the war before the present almost annihilated the trade of France, would completely lock up all the Irish ports in the Channel, and would not suffer one ship to sail in or out of them ; and iq case of a separation of the two Countries, as they would certainly be in a state of almost perpetual war, whatever trade Ireland would enjoy, and it pould Idc very little, its Western ports would en- ■.WM!# "■■ ( 49^ y grdss^itr, in<} DiiGlih wmild bfe effeaually mined: Such a state df ^epSrjftidrt, effefled by a successful •rebellion, would, in fitSt,. in the first place de- solate the kingdom, and destroy one-half of its inhabitants; and in the next place would deprive the whole Nation of almtost all trade, thereby pre- vent its recovery, and reduce it to, and keep it ihy the most miserable situation that any nation coold possibly be reduced to/ Ail that 1 have here mentioned would be the inevitable consequences of a successful rebellion^ and consequent separation ; but what would be the eiFe6ls of an unsuccessful rebellion in the ca«se of meditated separation ? For it is nK)rally certain that such rebellion and such attempt would be unsuccessful. No person who knows the si- tuation natur-al and political of Great Britain and Ireland, can deny, that Ireland of itself is unable to cope with Great Britain, 'even if the inhabi- tants of Ireland were unanimous : but it is noto- rious, in case a rebellion was to break out for separation, that the country would . be divided, jii^d that before such rebellion copld rage, for one year ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ' ' -^' y V ' ( 49 ) year, all the Protestants of Ireland, that is, almost the whole property of the kingdom, would find it their interest to join the King*s standard. The t)Ipgdy, remorseless qruelty, and insatiable thirst foF pljup^cr, of the rest of their countrymen^ ^Qul.d soon convince them of the necessity of psjng their arms against them. The pre- gent feeble state of the French marine, and thf> es:hausted state of that wretched nation in general, would deprive the rebels of any efFedlual assistance from that quarter. When the whole Irish Nation, (a handful of Protestants in the North of the kingdom excepted) took arms in the year 1688 in favour of King James the Se- cond, and the French Monarch, Louis the Four- teenth, at that time in the zenith of his glory, sent a French army, and an irhmense supply of military stores to their assistance, and when his navy rode triumphant on the ocean, England re- duced the whole kingdom to the most abject sub- misson intwo campaigns ; and similar would be the event of any Irish Rebellion undertaken in the cause of separation ; but it will be attended - H '% ■ '-y^ l: ' ( 50 ) with infinite calamity to the inhabitanta of txd^ land of all descriptions. We have i^ow our choicb; whctfecrx^i will rush on our own ruin, or embrace with joy the measure of an Incorporating Usion, the sure pledge of national Happiness^ Prosperifjr, and Security. Unconne^t^ as I am with the Government, or its Ministers, both in England and Ireland, and attached to it only as a good and loyal subject, in spite of clamour and fa