Ireland is too wise a nation not to see that this conduct would be a direct separation. What then can be meant by British connexion, except this-that Great Britain and Ireland shall for ever have the same friends and the same foes, that they shall have a common strength, that this common strength shall be supported by a common purse, to which each shall contribute according to its ability; that this common strength shall be directed by a coincidence, or rather by an identity of councils. that Great Britain shall make no laws injurious to Ireland, nor Ireland any injurious to Great Britain; that there shall be no commercial jealousies, but a constant reciprocation of benefits; in a word, that Great Britain and Ireland shall be like the two arms of the body, never disposed to quarrel with and beat each other, but always ready to unite their efforts in defence of that common body from which both derive their strength and vigour. If all this is meant by British connexion, I see not that it differs except in name and efficiency from British Union; and if less than this is meant, British connexion will be destitute of that stability which is necessary to secure the permanency of Irish prosperity.

The third opinion which prevails in Ire land, on this subject, says, that British connexion and British union are equally and irreconcileably hostile to the interests of Ireland. This opinion may, for aught I know, have been privately entertained by some individuals for many years; but it has not, till lately, been publicly avowed. I am not disposed to call every man a rebel and a traitor who maintains this opinion as a speculative opinion; but let who will maintain it, I must say that it is a preposterous opinion;-that it is not supported by any experience derived from the history of nations;-that it is not bottomed on any knowledge of human nature; and that it is wholly devoid of that first feature of political wisdom-foresight.

I will speak my whole mind on this point. Ireland, as a graft inserted into the stock of the British empire, may throw out branches in every direction, and bear fruit on every twig; but if you separate it from this connexion, and plant it in a soil by itself, it will neither strike root downwards, nor bear fruit upwards, for a hundred years, though it should be left to itself, free from the annoyance of

its neighbours; but this Irish graft cannot be left to itself; it will either be stunted and overshadowed by the mighty branching of the British oak, or it will be poisoned by the pestilential exhalations of the trees of liberty, which France will plant around it;-trees which have hitherto produced no fruit in Europe, or in the world, except the apples of Sodom,-alluring to the eye, but bitter and poisonous to the palate. Ireland cannot stand alone. Would to God! that there was moderation and justice enough in great states to permit lesser states to enjoy their independence, and to prosecute their interests in a state of separation from them; but this is a system of politics more to be wished than expected, in the present condition of Christian morality. Ireland cannot stand alone; she must, of necessity, be connected; nay, she must, for her own safety, in the present convulsed state of European politics, in the present progress of strange political opinions, be united either to Great Britain or France. She is not, indeed, at liberty to make her choice, without withdrawing that allegiance, which the wisest and best men in Ireland have not, I am convinced, any disposition to withdraw; but if she were unfettered by any bond of connexion; at full liberty to make a choice; is there a man in all Ireland, of a good heart and a cool head, who could hesitate in preferring a union with Great Britain to one with France? United with Great Britain, Ireland will soon become a lusty, well-looking, well-fed limb of the British body politic: united with France, she would be a withered, shrivelled, palsied, starved excrescence, which might be cut off and thrown aside, whenever interest or caprice should render a separation necessary.

I foresee, with great satisfaction, the time when, if this union takes place, the whole state of Ireland will be changed. The overflowing of British capital will, on a peace, instead of finding its way into France or America, settle in Ireland. It will, in time, convert the bogs of that country into corn-fields; it will cover its barren mountains with forests; it will dig its mines, cut its canals, erect its fabrics, explore new channels of commerce, and improve the old ones; in a word, by supplying labour, it will render the people industrious, enlightened, contented, and happy. I, my lords, shall not live to see the effects of this measure, for great objects do not attain their full perfection at

sion on my own judgment, and have had the greatest share in determining the opinion I profess in favour of the proposed

that it will defend us from the enemy; | but no human means (I speak in the sincerity of my heart), no human means can be devised more suited to this end than a liberal, cordial, legislative union between Great Britain and Ireland.*

Lord Minto said :-My lords; In yielding to the desire which it is natural for every public man to feel, of delivering his sentiments on this great question, it could not be my intention, at any period of the discussion, to exhaust, or even to touch on all the many and various points of this comprehensive subject, and I must be yet less disposed to such an attempt in circumstances so little favourable as the present, I mean, after the talents, the learning, and the eloquence of two countries have preceded me, and have, indeed, left little for such as me to glean, even in this vast and fertile field. I shall, therefore, confine myself within bounds better suited to my own capacity, as well as to the measure of indulgence which I can have any pretensions to expect from your lordships; and shall content myself with stat ing as clearly, but as shortly as I am able, a few thoughts on the principal and leading topics of this argument, especially such as have made the strongest impres

*"When I had sat down, the bishop of Rochester (Horsley) complimented me with saying, that he had never heard such a speech in the House of Lords, and should never hear such another. I could not but be pleased with having extracted, as it were, this praise from a man who did not like me; but the satisfaction which I received from the bishop's commendation was far inferior to that which the following Note from Dr. Joseph Wharton gave me, to whom I was very little known:

• Nerot's Hotel, April 13, 1799. My lord; Though I feel very strongly the 'impertinence and impropriety I am guilty of, yet I cannot restrain myself from expressing the great satisfaction and pleasure I have received from reading your lordship's 'most eloquent, nervous, convincing, and unanswerable speech on the Union with Ireland. Happy it would be for us if your lordship's counsels and opinions were always fol'lowed and put in execution. With, &c.

Jos. WARTON.' "Though the colouring of this compliment is, I am sensible, overcharged, yet I should belie my feelings if I did not own that it gave me great pleasure; for Dr. Joseph Warton was a scholar, and not only a scholar but a man of taste, but what, at that time, was a rare character indeed, a genuine Whig."Anecdotes of the Life of Bishop Warton, by Himself, Vol. 2, p. 88,

measure.

In deliberating on this question, the first proposition which seems to impress itself on every mind, is the convenience, amounting indeed to a necessity, not merely for the advantage and benefit, but for the preservation and security of both countries, that there should subsist between Great Britain and Ireland, a close and intimate connexion of one description or other. The most disadvantageous situation in which either country can be placed, is that of total disconnection. Indeed when I say disadvantageous, I certainly speak too feebly. I mean that this condition would expose both countries to the greatest quantity and variety of evil, and oppose the most insurmountable barriers to national improvement and prosperity of any that can be imagined. Fundamental as this proposition will be found in the argument, it is nevertheless one on which it is unnecessary to dwell long. I find it, in the first place, conceded on all hands, and I think myself intitled to claim on this point a general or rather universal assent. For I presume it will hardly be required of me, that I should condescend to treat as an exception, worthy of notice, the opinions of those who call themselves united Irishmen, or of those other wretched men, whom the vigilance of government and of parlia ment, has lately exposed to the scorn and execration of a country which they disgrace, under the title of United English

men.

serve with satisfaction their hostility to every species of connexion between Great Britain and Ireland, and most of all to that best and most perfect connexion which is now in contemplation. For when I learn from France, and her worthy Irish and English associates, that the present union between England and Scotland stands in the way of their fraternal views towards Great Britain, and that the union with Ireland is a death's blow to their hopes of annihilating the British empire, I cannot but accept this testimony of the enemy, as the strongest and best confirmation of the favour which I profess towards the measure which they oppose. But I shall not be expected to argue with this kind of adversary. We are engaged with them in a different sort of controversy, and it is the ultima ratio alone that can settle the debate between us. With this exception, however, the necessity of connexion is not only admitted, but warmly asserted by all those who have taken a part in the debate on this question of union, whether their judgments have been favourable or adverse to the measure; and your lordships know, that there is no description of persons who have been more earnest to disclaim and abjure the character of what is called separatist, than those who have opposed the union in Ireland, or in this country.

But if it were not admitted, this proposition is too obvious to require much argument to prove it. A glance on the map, and a moment's reflexion, will satisfy us, that the affairs and interests of these two sister islands are too much the same, in too many points of domestic and foreign concern, not to associate them necessarily in the dangers and business of war, and in the occupations and pursuits of peace. Let us suppose any one brought from another hemisphere, totally unacquainted, not only with the history and concerns, but even with the shape and form of this quarter of the globe, before whom a map of Europe should be laid for the first time; and let such a man be required to conjecture the distribution of the different countries under his eye, into their respective states and governments. Whatever his opinion might be concerning other portions of Europe, I am persuaded we should all anticipate his confident judgment, that the British isles, at least, formed one state. Let us, in effect, cast our own eye, for an instant, on this map-we shall see these two islands not ||

merely contiguous, but lying as it were in the very bosom and embraces of each other-we shall observe, not only their mutual vicinity, but their insulation, and their insulation together, from the rest of Europe; we shall see their relative position with regard to each other, and to every other part of the world, and espe cially their reciprocal dependence, for a secure and undisturbed navigation, in a great part of the circumference of both. These and a thousand other obvious particulars, which I do not enumerate merely to avoid abusing your indulgence with considerations familiar to us all, must convince us, that in a state of total political separation, there could hardly be a single transaction, or an instant of their existence, in which these two countries would not be rivals, and if rivals, enemies. It is easy to conceive the enhanced and aggravated state of warfare waged in this manner between countries possessing each, in a greater degree, the means of offence, and in a less degree, those of defence, than in any other possible situation. We shall also recollect, that if one of these countries should be engaged in war with a third, as Great Britain with France, the other would present advantages to the enemy which it could not otherwise possess; and it will not be difficult to foresee, that in a state of separation, the mutual jealousy and habitual animosity likely to prevail between the neighbours, aided by the intrigues and importunity of the enemy, will, in all probability, draw the neutral island into a direct or indirect participation in these hostilities. Thus will these two countries, instead of contributing to each other's comfort, security, and greatness, as they might do under a wiser and happier system, only harass, enfeeble, and endanger each other, just in proportion to their respective means and resources, exhausting their mutual attention and energy, rather in watching and repressing each other, than in repelling common danger, promoting common interests, or exalting their common greatness and glory. Such a condition, in a word, disturbs the tranquillity of peace, and shortens its duration, while it multiplies, a thousand-fold, the perils and evils of war.

It is manifest that the smaller and weaker country of the two, must experience these disadvantages yet more sensibly than its powerful neighbour. In its differences with the other, if the aid and alliance of a third power be sought,

that service must be purchased by some consideration or other; and we are taught, by reason as well as history, the sort of price that is paid by an inferior, for the proud and politic protection of a powerful state. As the comparatively feeble and poor cannot discharge such a debt in positive force or wealth, it must give what it has, and pay its quota in general subserviency, that is to say, in a base and habitual dependence, little short, either in degradation or ruin, of positive subjection. It appears, in fine, to me, that a smaller country, situated between two great rivals, as Ireland is, can hardly hope for an interval of tranquillity, security, or dignity. Dignity may at once be put out of the question, for having no real and positive force to support it, such a country must live, from day to day, by intrigue, the most degrading species of policy, and that which it seems the most impossible to reconcile with any sense of national pride or honour. It can as little look for tranquillity or security; for besides its own quarrels, the causes of which are infinitely multiplied, in a separate state, by that very vicinity which might otherwise extinguish them; besides, I say, its own quarrels, it will be dragged perpetually into those of both its neighbours, and will indeed generally find itself the bone of contention, to be worried by both, and to endure therefore that double Scourge, that complicated desolation and ruin, which fall on those unhappy countries that are themselves the theatre of wars, in which perhaps they have no interest, or none other than that of being themselves the prize to be fought for, and destined to reward the conqueror, or purchase the peace of the vanquished. We shall perceive, on the other hand, with the same facility and with greater satisfaction, the inducements and advantages of connexion, by which the resources of the one, instead of being to be subtracted from those of the other, flow rather into a general stock, out of which, as from a common heart, strength and prosperity may circulate to the remotest extremities of both, and the right arm of the empire be nourished and fortified, without impoverishing or withering the left. But I will not insist on this conceded point, and shall assume it as a thing proved or granted, that connexion is necessary for the mutual security and happiness of Great Britain and Ireland.

The question then arises, on the best

and most eligible mode, or form of that connexion. On this point also I have a settled opinion, which I consider as a main and principal hinge of this argument. I wish, indeed, to state and to argue it, in the first instance, as a general proposition; but if it be proved, and made out satisfactorily in that form, it seems decisive on the particular question, and will establish, on principle and reason, the same conclusion, to which our judgment may have been led on more practical grounds. The proposition then is this, that when two countries are so circumstanced as mutually to require connexion, the only mode of connexion which can perfectly remove the evils of separation, and fully confer the benefit of union, is a perfect identity and incorporation of their governments. All other relations, of a more partial and imperfect nature, are subject to many inconveniences while they subsist, and are besides of a limited duration. By limited, I do not mean merely precarious. I consider their expiration not merely as possible or probable, but as certain; and besides the perpetual and restless struggles, which are for ever vexing these contentious relations while they last, they appear to me to possess this fundamental and characteristic vice-I mean that of tending gradually, and though perhaps not always rapidly, yet certainly and inevitably, by the very law of their constitution and nature, to a total extinction and dissolution. Nations, then, connected in this manner, will necessarily arrive, at one period or other, at the alternative of separation, towards which they naturally tend, involving probably mutual and perpetual hostility, or that perfect incorporation and unity which is productive, not only of all the blessings of internal tranquillity, but of all the advantages, both in strength and prosperity, which flow from the union of their joint resources, and which are increased, by combination, far beyond the simple addition to their amount.

That such are the properties and defects of these imperfect connexions, we shall easily satisfy ourselves, by a very short and cursory view of one or two of the principal relations of that description, and I shall begin with that which I conceive to stand first also in chronological order— I mean conquest. For I believe it will generally be found, when two countries are situated in such a manner as to invite, by their local positions, a connexion between their governments, the stronger of