nity. He was far from fuppofing that troops were fent to Ireland for the purpose of over-awing the deliberations of the parliament of the country; but, certainly, while they were there, they might be confidered as having the effect of an intimidation, with respect to the people at large. Mr. Sheridan faid, that he had heard Mr. Canning's fpeech with much fatisfaction, because it was fo little applicable to the queftion. He had not ftated that the Irish parliament deliberated under intimidation; but that there was a kind of negative intimidation, while fo great a military force remained in the country; and, that Ireland was placed in a fituation in which the could not help herself. Offence had been taken at the term French incorporation, and it was faid that the countries, which the French compelled to unite with them, were not admitted to the participation of fuch advantages as were held out to Ireland by an union with Britain. But the question was, not a comparison of bleffings, but the mode in which the measure was to be carried into effect. Would it be faid that this country was to compel Ireland to agree to an union, because we were certain that it was for their advantage? Mr. Pitt, though he did not think it neceflary to enter fully into the important details, which the fubject before them naturally fuggefted, could not pafs over with indifference fome topics which had been alluded to in the courfe of Mr. Sheridan's 1peech. The honourable gentle, man, in bringing forward his amendment, appeared to Mr. Pitt to furnifh but one argument in fupport of the conclufion which he had la boured to establish, namely, that there was no power which could make the refult of the deliberation, for adjufting the reciprocal interefts of both kingdoms, effectual. If the parliament of Ireland had no right to incorporate with the legislature of this country, without the fense of the people of Ireland, as little had the parliament of Great Britain a right to follow the fame meafure with that of Ireland; as little had the parliament of Scotland a right to agree to the terms of the union, which had been effected; as little had the parliament of England a right to ratify that uuion under which England had fo eminently flourished. The honourable gen tleman had talked of a wish to carry the measure propofed by furprize. Mr. Pitt hefitated not to say, that, if any blame was imputable to miniftry, it was that of having acted with too much caution. It had been diftinctly recommended, from the throne, to adopt fuch falutary means as might improve and perpetrate a connection effential to the common fecurity and interefts of both countries. His majefty's minifters, in conformity to that communication, had only ftated the time of laying before the house the materials neceffary for forming an opinion, and added, that a proper interval would take place before they took the fenfe of parliament, "In fhort," faid Mr. Pitt," the queftion now is, fhall we, after the ex piration of a proper interval, difeufs and come to a determination on the fubject; or fhall we, in the first inftance, and on the mere outfet of the bufinefs, without taking a juft review of the confiderations on both fides, pofitively declare that the meafure is either unneceffary, or so impracticable impracticable as to prevent any hopes of realizing it?" The evils with which Ireland was afflicted, Mr. Pitt obferved, lay deep in the fituation of the country. They were to be attributed to the manners of its inhabitants, to the flate of fociety, to the habits of the people at large; to the inequal distribution of property, to the want of civilized intercourfe, to the jarring difcord of party, and above all, to the prejudices of religious fects. This deplorable fituation of the country was not to be remedied by any act of the Irish parliament, but by gradual, fober, and difpaffionate improvement and civilization; by the circulation of capital, by the focial intercourfe naturally flowing from trade and commerce, by the diffufion of focial habits, by the diffemination of liberal fentiment, by removing party diftractions, by fuppreffing factious affociations, by allaying hereditary feuds between two nations fubfifting in the fame iland, and by the extinction of religious prejudices. For fuch remedies we muft look to the provifions of an independent legiflature, removed from the immediate feat of the complicated difeafe, which fhould not be partial to either party, but the fair arbiter and kind parent of both; which should not be liable to local influence, nor subject to popular incitement, and which hould be fully competent to make head against the lawless inroads of deftructive innovation and anarchy. Mr. Pitt did not deny that even the deformed resemblance of the British conftitution was fuperior to any proceeding from the new fyftem; but, the imperfection of the Irifh conftitution was admitted, and to that the complicated grievances and defects in the ftate of the country at large. With refpect to the confinement of property in a few hands, the extraordinary difparity of rank, and the fcanty means of focial improve ment, all producing in a proportionate degree mifery in one extreme, and oppreffion in the other, how could thefe grievances be remedied but by a clofer connection with Great Britain? The fituation of Ireland muft also be remedied by an influx of capital, and the circu lation of wealth, and whence were thefe neceffary ingredients to be fupplied, but by affimilating it with Great Britain? He did not merely fay, let Ireland be united; let her be blended with us, let her partake of every folid benefit, of every eminent advantage that could refult from fuch incorporation.. fwer to what had been faid by Mr. Sheridan, about a final adjustment, Mr. Pitt undertook to fate that this final adjustment was made under the pretence of redreffing grievances, without looking to future confequences, or taking a general view of circumftances: it was dictated by the fpirit of momentary popularity, and was not founded in the folid interefts of the country. Having created two diftinct parliaments, equally able and competent to decide and dictate, on questions of peace and war, and all points of trade and commerce-it left them as divided on all material points, about which nations might contest, as any two powers on the continent. In an When the act was paffed, Mr. Pitt observed, which gave independence to Ireland, it was accompanied by a refolution, ftating that it was the opinion of the houfe, that the connection between both kingdoms fhould be confolidated by future meafures or regalations, founded on on the bafis of mutual confent.The existence of the refolution being proved, by extracts from the journals of the houfe, Mr. Pitt, on the authority of that refolution, af fumed it as an established fact, that no final fettlement, in 1782, had, as was alleged, been made with Ireland. And nothing, he added, had been fince attempted to provide for that defective fettlement, but the partial and inadequate measure of the Irish propofitions, which were defeated by the perfons who framed the refolution, but who found no fubftitute in their room. Was there no probable cafe in which the legislatures of both kingdoms might differ? Had not one cafe actually arifen, and that within the fhort space of fixteen years? He meant that of the regency. The difference of principle was evident, for the Irifli parliament decided upon one principle, and the British parliament upon another. They both led to the appointment of the fame perfon, but that was accidental, for that perlon must have governed the two kingdoms upon different principles. The office of regent, on grounds equally juftifiable, might have been vefted in two diftinct perfons. Could any man, with fo inftructive an example be fore his eyes, talk with fincerity of a final adjustment? Would Mr. Sheridan pretend to maintain, that, when the habit of difcuffing the foreign relations of the empire fhould take place, the parliament of Ireland might not, as it might naturally think itself entitled to do, proceed to inquire into treaties and alliances., And, on a fuppofed difference of local intereft, was it impoffible that the parliament of. Ireland might take one step in giv. VOL. XLI. ing advice to the fovereign, and the parliament of Great Britain another? If, in the prefent contest, the oppofition were to have as much influence in Ireland as they formerly had, a vote for peace might be paffed, and the efforts of Great Britain paralyfed? Ireland, in fuch a cafe, might neutralize its ports, prevent the railing of recruits for the army and navy, and endanger the very exiftence of the empire.It was true that the influence of the oppofition party in Ireland had beent lefs prevalent than ever. The influence of the great patriot of Ireland was extinct, nearly in the fame way that the reputation of the other great patriots here in England had expired. But if the house wished to render the connection between Great Britain and Ireland perpetual, and to make the ties indiffoluble, they would not do their duty. to either country if they neglected to bring forward fome propofition, that might provide for the fafety and profperity of Ireland, and remedy the miferable imperfections of the arrangement made in 1782. Mr. Martin thought, that if, on the future difcuffion of the fubject before the houfe, it fhould appear that an union with Ireland was a measure which would contribute to the advantage of both countries, it ought to be agreed to. As the houfe feemed to acquiefce in the opinion, Mr. Sheridan withdrew his amendment, and the original motion was put and carried. Soon after this, intelligence was received by the British government, that the propofal for an union, which had been laid before the Irish parliament, had been rejected. On Thurfday, January 31, 1799, the order of the day, for taking [P] his his majesty's meffage, relative to an union with Ireland, into confideration, being read, Mr. Pitt rofe and faid, that when he propofed to the houfe that measure the last time, in order to fix the prefent day for its farther confideration, he indulged a hope that the refult of a fimilar communication, to the parliament of Ireland, would have opened a more favourable profpect than at prefent exifted, of its fpeedy accomplishment. But while he admitted and refpected the rights of the parliament of Ireland, he felt, that, as a member of the parliament of Great Britain, he alfo had a right to exercife, and a duty to perform. That duty, was to exprefs, as diftinctly as he could, the general nature and outline of the plan, which, in his confcience, he thought would tend, in the strongest manner, to enfure the fafety and happiness of both kingdoms. If parliament, after full explanation, and mature deliberation, fhould be of the fame opinion, he would propofe that its determination fhould remain recorded as that by which the parliament of Great Britain were ready to abide, leaving to the legiflature of Ireland to reject or adopt it hereafter, upon a full confideration of the measure. Mr. Pitt proceeded to expaitate, at great length, on the topics on which he had touched in his former fpeech on this fubject the competence of the Irish parliament to accept or reject a propofition of this hature, the neceffity of an intimate and perpetual connection between Great Britain and Ireland, to the interefts of both countries; the defects of what had been called the final adjustment of 1782; the impediments now exifting to the profperity of Ireland, and the advanta ges which that country would derive from an union with Great Britain. He then remarked that the union with Scotland had been as much opposed, and by much the fame arguments, prejudices, and misconceptions, creating the fame alarms, and provoking the fame outrages, as had lately taken place at Dublin: yet the advantages, which that part of the united kingdom had derived from the union, were abundantly apparent, from the general profperity of the capital, manufacturing towns, and the country in general. The refolutions, the principles and tendency of which he had now in general explained, but of which he withed a more detailed difcuffion to be referved to a future day, were, "First, That in order to promote and fecure the effential interests of Great Britain and Ireland, and to confolidate the ftrength, power, and refources of the British empire, it will be adviseable to concur in fuch measures as may best tend to unite the two kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland into one kingdom, in fuch manner, and on fuch terms and conditions, as may be established by acts of the respective parliaments of his majefty's faid kingdoms. "Second, That it appears to this committee that it would be fit to propofe as the first article, to ferve as a basis of the faid union, that the faid kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland fhall, upon a day to be a greed upon, be united into one kingdom, by the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. "Third, That for the fame purpose it appears alfo to this committee, that it would be fit to propose that the fucceffion 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 ftands limited and fettled, according to the exifting laws, and to the terms of the union between Ergland and Scotland. 66 Fourth, That for the fame purpofe it appears alfo to this committee, that it would be fit to propofe that the faid united kingdom be prefented in one and the fame parliament, to be ftyled the parliament of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and that fuch a number of lords fpiritual and temporal, and fuch a number of memhers of the houfe of commons as fhall be hereafter agreed upon, by acts of the refpective parliaments as aforefaid, shall fit and vote in the faid parliament on the part of Ireland, and shall be summoned, chofen, and returned, in fuch manner as fhall be fixed by an act of the parliament of Ireland, previous to the faid union; and that every men ber hereafter to fit and vote in the faid parliament of the united kingdom thall, until the faid parliament fhall otherwile provide, take, and fubfcribe the fame oaths, and make the fame declaration as are by law required to be taken, fubfcribed, and made, by the members of the parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland. tee, that it would be fit to propose that his majefty's fubjects in Ireland fhall at all times hereafter be entitled to the fame privileges, and be on the fame footing, in refpect of trade and navigation, in all ports and places belonging to Great Britain, and in all cafes with refpect to which treaties fhall be made by his majefty, his heirs or fucceflors, with any foreign power, as his majesty's fubjects in Great Britain; that no duty fhall be imposed on the import or export between Great Britain and Ireland of any articles now duty free; and that on other articles there fhall be established, for a time to be limited, fuch a moderate rate of equal duties, as fhall, previous to the union, be agreed upon and ap proved by the refpective parliaments, fubject, after the expiration of fuch limited time, to be diminifhed equally with respect to both kingdoms, but in no cafe to be increafed; that all articles, which may at any time hereafter be imported into Great Britain from foreign parts, fhall be importable through either kingdom into the other, fubject 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 fubject to any internal duty in one kingdom, fuch countervailing duties (over and above any duties on import to be fixed as aforefait) fhall be impofed as fhall be neceflary to prevent any inequality in that refpect: and that all other matters of trade and commerce, other than the foregoing, and than fuch others as may before the union be fpecially agreed upon, for the due encouragement of the agriculture and manufactures of the refpective [P2] kingdoms, |