| cast;-the sun should hide his head; and then, in the darkness that would cover their land, they should acknowledge the anger of the offended deity, whose minister and messenger he was. It could hardly be necessary to inform the House, that Columbus was enabled, by the aid of his pocket almanack, to foretel an eclipse, of which the Indians, not being provided with any similar almanack, were wholly unapprized. And it could scarcely be necessary to add, that upon the eclipse taking place, as Columbus had foretold it, the Indians, convinced of his more than mortal power, hastened to make their peace with him, and to offer every atonement for their former impiety. Now, Sir, said Mr. Canning, Mr. Canning, I conceive that it required. not much more knowledge of moral than Columbus possessed of physical causes, to discover in the situation of Ireland, in the distribution of the different classes of society, in the state and temper of the lower orders of the people, materials, which, if a spark from the dreadful conflagration of the French revolution should lord Fitzwilliam, and the recall of lord Fitzwilliam produced the rebellion according to them. Undoubtedly, he did recall lord Fitzwilliam. Fortunately the world was not now in ignorance as to the causes of that recall. Lord Fitzwilliam was sent to Ireland with instructions not to bring forward the Catholic question nor to allow it to be brought forward at that time, if he could prevent it. The Catholic question was brought forward:-and lord Fitzwilliam was recalled. Undoubtedly, too, there were those who, at the time of that transaction, predicted all sorts of evils to Ireland from the recall of Lord Fitzwilliam. Many evils had, in truth, happened since; but nevertheless he was not inclined to allow that the prediction was fulfilled. He was far from meaning any thing disrespectful either to the worthy and enlightened nobleman whose name was thus brought in question, or to his friends. But when other causes of such dreadful efficacy were manifestly operating in Ireland precisely as they had operated in other parts of Europe, he could not compliment so outrageously and so unseasonably, as to ascribe the distractions of that country to any thing personal to an individual, however highly he might respect him. He could not read the confessions of those self-convicted traitors, who had, as it were, with their own hands, administered the poisoned chalice to their country, he could not read their confession that French principles and French intrigue were the ingredients of that infectious draught, and yet continue to consider the recall of lord Fitzwilliam as the only cause of the malady by which Ireland had been convulsed and almost destroyed. With regard to the predictions which were referred to on this subject, they reminded him of a prediction once very successfully employed by another great viceroy; a man with whom it would be no disparagement to the talents and political sagacity of the respectable nobleman in question, to be compared-he meant Columbus. Columbus, as every body must remember to have read, when the people of Hispaniola, growing weary of their new guests, resolved to drive them away from their coast, and with that view refused to furnish them with any more provisionsColumbus addressed himself to the chiefs, and with an unusual solemnity of tone and deportment, informed them, that on a certain day the heavens should be over upon them, would presently burst into explosion: for the sagacity which enabled them to foresee and foretel this, I give those who did foretell it full credit. But as to the connexion of this event with the recall of lord Fitzwilliam, I confess I believe that lord Fitzwilliam's recall was not more immediately the occasion of the rebellion, than the displeasure of Columbus was the cause of the eclipse. But then, Sir, be the causes which have led to the present situation of things in Ireland what they may, there is another origin assigned by gentlemen on the opposite side of the House for this frantic measure of a union. It originates, we are told, from the intoxication of power, the wildness and wantonness of uncontrolled authority in my right hon. friend; a power and authority which no minister before him ever possessed, and which, it seems, is an object of peculiar and watchful jealousy to such of those gentlemen as have not yet wholly abandoned their parliamentary duty. Sir, how far the power which my right honourable friend is supposed to possess may exceed that of former ministers, I shall not inquire: but that the degree of power possessed by a minister in this country, grounded as it must be on the confidence of parliament and of the people, growing only with that confidence, and ceasing with it, is in all cases to be considered as matter of suspi what is it that most marks and distinguishes the last eighty years, the period which has elapsed since the happy establishment of the present family upon the throne, from almost any other period in the history of any nation of the world? It is, perhaps, that during a period the most flourishing and the most happy with which any nation ever was blessed, in which the civil and political rights of the subject have been better understood and more uninterruptedly enjoyed, in which the government has been more powerful and respected abroad, foreign commerce more abundant, peaceful industry more effectually protected, and private wealth and comfort more generally diffused throughout the country, than at any the proudest period that the mightiest empires of the antient or modern world can boast there is yet less proof left to posterity of the wisdom or splendor of that period-there is less of public institution, of permanent establishment, which dates its origin within that period-there appears to have been less done for posterity during that period-than in many periods of the history of many nations, which could by no means vie with it in happiness or in glory. Is it because there has been a dearth of great talents, or eminent qualities, in the statesmen that flourished during those years? Certainly not. Some of the names which grace these annals might be enrolled with the greatest names of any age, or any country of the world. I would venture therefore to ascribe this particularity to the constant struggle for political power, to the conflict and balance of parties, which prevailed almost universally during the whole of that time. If any person were to dispute this theory, they would naturally quote the long administration of sir Robert Walpole as an instance of pretty secure preponderance, and of power sufficiently established to have enabled him to attempt and carry into effect any plans of lasting utility. But how stands the fact upon this subject? Twice only does that minister appear to have carried his views beyond his own time, and to have felt an ambition to establish institutions that should connect his name with advantages to be en cion and of danger, I cannot allow. It is not for the degree of his power, but for the use which he may make of it, that a minister is arraignable before the bar of that public opinion which, in fact, confers, and which most effectually controls its exercise. But if a minister does find himself, from the enlarged confidence of the country, or from the peculiar conjuncture of the times, in possession of a greater sway and authority than has belonged to ordinary governments at ordinary times, such a minister is, indeed, bound to consider himself as placed in a most high and solemn trust; to consider what has been entrusted to him, not as a good to be enjoyed, but as a duty to be performed. He ought to take good heed, that if his power exceeds and abounds beyond what is necessary for carrying on the every-day business of the country, that excess and that abundance does not run to waste. For the use of the ordinary power which belongs to his situation, he is answerable to the sovereign who employs, to the parliament who trusts him, and to his contemporaries, whose interests are committed to his care; for the use of the surplus beyond what the ordinary administration of affairs requires, he owes, and if he be worthy of his character and high station, he will feel, a responsibility no less binding;-he owes it first to his own conscience, and then, not to his own age only, but to parliaments of future times, and to generations of men yet unborn. If we looked to the history of Ireland, Sir, perhaps we might find that no small part of the unsettled and comparatively unimproved state of the country might be traced to the want of some more steady and effective power in the governments which have succeeded each other in that kingdom: each of which, from the shortness of its duration, and from the necessity (consequent upon frequent change) of employing the whole of its influence and authority to secure support to its measures during its own temporary existence, has been strong, indeed, for that purpose, strong for the ordinary administration of the affairs of the day, but wholly inadequate to the entertainment of larger views, to the founding of more comprehensive systems, for remote im-joyed by posterity: and in both these inprovements, and for permanent advantage to the country. And this, Sir, I conceive to be one of the main evils which the union is calculated to remedy. - If we look to the history of this country, stances he was foiled-I allude, Sir, to the sinking fund, which he had at one time been proud to consider as the lasting monument of his fame, but of which, with his own hands, he began to undermine the Great Britain can long be construed into insult or unkindness. Fear not, Sir: if from this root shall spring and thrive the peace, the prosperity, the happiness of Ireland, the affections of the Irish people will grow and flourish with them: they will be engrafted on the same stock, and confirmed with the same strength: « Crescent illæ, crescetis amores!" In the confidence that this will be the case, I discharge by my vote for the address this night what I feel to be a divided duty. As a member of the British parliament, I give my hearty concurrence to a measure which will consolidate and augment the strength and resources of the empire: but as connected with Ireland by many ties of blood and of affection, I contend still more anxiously for what I conceive to be involved in the issue of this question, the safety and future prosperity of Ireland. foundation and to the well-known excise | advantages that will result from it. For scheme, of the benefits of which he to the do not let us be led to imagine, that the last declared himself firmly and immove- Irish, however spirited and quick in feelably convinced, but which was overborne ing are creatures of passion only; that by the popular clamour excited against they are not capable of appreciating real it by his political antagonists. That he benefits, or of being convinced by a fair was sincere in his endeavours to carry the appeal to their understanding. Such an latter measure, and that he was most re- appeal it is the business of this address to luctantly forced to abandon it, cannot be secure. If the union shall be found upon doubted; and with regard to the sinking examination to offer solid and permanent fund, though he was not driven to the advantages to that country, let us not be violation of it by a parliamentary opposi-apprehensive that the proposal of it by tion, yet his defence of himself for so weak and impolitic a resource was grounded on his apprehension of the opposition which would have been directed against any other method of raising the supplies of the year. After his failure in these two instances, sir Robert Walpole contented himself with applying whatever power he possessed to the carrying on, as smoothly as he could, the ordinary business of the country. I am not praising or blaming sir Robert Walpole for his conduct, either in these instances, or in general, I am merely stating the facts. And I would ask, what is the inference to be drawn from them? If it be excusable in a minister who has, or fancies himself to have, barely sufficient power to maintain himself in his station, to rest satisfied with doing the duty of the day, and leaving the country exactly where he found it, does it follow, that it is matter of accusation and criminal charge, or matter of sober and founded suspicion and jealousy against another minister, whom other times and other circumstances may have furnished with more extensive power, that his views for the good of his country expand in proportion to his capacity for serving it; that he looks beyond the routine of his official duty, beyond the momentary necessities of the day in which he lives; and that he lays the foundations of a fabric which may endure for ages, and which may afford to united nations a lasting shelter and security? I beg pardon of the House, Sir, for having suffered myself to be led into a discussion of this nature, and for having detained them so much longer than when I rose I had any intention of trespassing upon their attention. I have but one word more to say. We are cautioned that no union but that of affection can be last ing or advantageous. Sir, I know it. And to argue whether or not the union now proposed will be such an union, is to argue the whole question of the probable Lord W. Russell thought the settlement of 1782 was the solemn recognition of a right which we could not call upon the Irish to abandon. It was said that no kind of force was to be used; but how did this correspond with the conduct of ministers in removing all the servants of the crown in Ireland who presumed to differ from them on this question? Mr. Pitt said, that after the full discussion which the subject had undergone, he should only say a few words upon a subject upon which he had been so unfortunate as to differ from a right hon. general. What had fallen from that right hon. general had completely proved, that that which was called the final adjustment of 1782, was not considered by those by whom it was effected as a final adjustment between the two countries; but that, on the contrary, the ministers of that day were fully convinced of the necessity of adopting some farther measures to strengthen the connexion betwen the two countries. The right hon. general, after having seen the papers alluded to, had admitted that the duke of Portland had The House then agreed with the Lords in the said Address, and the blank therein was filled up with the words " and Commons." April 26. Both Houses attended his majesty with their joint Address; to which his majesty gave this Answer: entertained the propriety of adopting some farther measures after the final adjustment. The right hon. general seemed to think that it was only an opinion which the duke had slightly entertained, and soon gave up. In answer to this he would read to the House some letters, which would prove that it was not an opinion only cursorily entertained either by the duke of Portland, or by the king's ministers. Mr. Pitt then proceeded to read a variety of extracts from letters which passed between the duke of Portland, lord Shelburne, and the marquis of Rockingham, upon this subject.* * The following are Copies of the said Dublin Castle, 6th May, 1782. My Lord; The confidence I find reposed in me is certainly extremely flattering. I will meet it as it deserves, by continuing to write without any reserve. Under the impression of the unavoidable necessity of conceding all the points required, for the sake of deriving any real advantage from the possession of this country, I do recommend that positive assurances be given, that the alteration of the Mutiny bill, and the modification of Poyning's law shall be conceded to them in the form required by their address; that the 6th of Geo. 1st shall be repealed, and that writs of error shall no longer be received by our court of King's-bench; but that, as Great Britain by these concessions, is desirous not only of satisfying the expectations of the Irish upon all constitutional points, but of preventing every possible source of future jealousy and discontent, she does not doubt of receiving an unequivocal testimony of a corresponding disposition on the part of Ireland, and is persuaded that the parliament of this country will co-operate in the most effectual method, either with the king's confidential servants, or with commissioners appointed by the parliament of Great Britain, or through the medium of the chief governor of the kingdom, to settle the precise limits of that independence which is required, the consideration that should be given for the protection expected, and the share it would be proper for them to contribute towards the general support of the empire in pursuance of the declaration contained in the concluding paragraph of their own address. The regulation of their trade is a subject, which, I think, would very properly make a part of the treaty, and which, from the dissatisfaction expressed bymanycommercial persons at the delusive advantages of the free trade, would be a very fit and necessary [VOL. XXXIV.] "My Lords and Gentlemen; I receive, with the greatest satisfaction, the deliberate opinion of my two Houses of Parlia ment on this interesting subject; and you may depend on my embracing the first favourable opportunity of communicating to my parliament of Ireland the proposi subject for discussion. I need not inform your lordship that they will find precedents in the first volume of the Journals of their own House of Commons, of Committees or Agents being sent to England to represent their grievances and obtain redress.-As every letter your lordship has received from me has progressively received the hopes I first held out to you, it will be natural for you to expect that I should assign a reason for supposing that the plan which I have submitted to you will accomplish the event we desire. All I can say is, that, in my apprehension, it ought to accomplish that event. In my apprehension, proposals, such as I have stated, cannot be resisted in parliament with any effect. They so directly correspond with the wishes of the public, that I conceive that no artifice could induce them to support an opposition to them; the refusal to accede to them, or to appoint commissioners for a final adjustment, on the grounds of their own address, when they should be assured that persons were properly authorized for that purpose, would be such an indication of sinister designs as would warrant your directions to me to throw up the government, and to leave them to that fate which their folly and treachery should deserve. If such should be the sentiments of the king's servants, after using every endeavour to bring them to a true sense of their condition, and of the consequences of such a refusal, I should hesitate as little to order the yacht, and to leave them to be the victims of their own insanity, as I should to say that it would be useless to attempt to coerce them, and that the country upon such terms would not be worth possessing.-Suffer me, my lord, once more to repeat my most earnest instances for a speedy determination. There are passages in the two last letters I had the honour of receiving from you which make me think that there is little or no difference in our opinions upon this unhappy subject; and let me add, that unless a negotiation can be entered into with persons properly authorized by the parliament of this country, and that the object is [3 R] tions which you have laid before me, as calculated to form the basis of a complete and entire union between Great Britain to go fairly to the bottom of the busines and to form a new system of relation between the two countries, upon the basis of their mutual interests, the character of the present administration will be lost, and the English government must be prepared to renounce all pretensions to respect or influence in this country. I am, &c. &c. PORTLAND. No. II.-To Mr. dated Dublin and Ireland.-Such a settlement, established by mutual consent, and founded on a sense of mutual interest and affection, will admit. Nor, indeed, am I disinclined to recommend it; for the passions of this nation do not appear to me as yet to have sufficiently subsided to let the gratitude which is felt, pass quietly and confidentially through that channel which can alone direct it to the reciprocal advantages of both kingdoms.— There is no doubt of government being able to stop any mischief; but I cannot so readily take upon me to answer for the immediate Castle, 26th May, 1782. attainment of the benefits which the liberality Sir;-I should be very glad to hear that lord of Great Britain entitles her to expect. UnCharlemont was inclined to accede to any part, less, therefore, one very great measure, which or even to the idea of such a plan, as you have I will make the subject of a separate letter, been so obliging as to communicate to me. I can be obtained, I submit to your lordship the should consider it as a material step to propriety of coinciding in the wishes of the that situation in which I am sure it is the in-parliament, by putting an end to the preterest of both kingdoms to be placed, being sent session, as soon as may be after the reconvinced, that whatever is most like a turn of the bills from England. union is the most probable bond of connexion to restore and perpetuate the harmony and prosperity of the two countries. I am, &c. PORTLAND, No. III.-Extract of a Letter from the Marquis of Rockingham to the Duke of 1782. No. V. From the Duke of Portland to the Earl of Shelburne; dated Dublin Castle, 6th June, 1782. My lord;-The measure which I stated to your lordship, in my letter of last night, as a sufficient inducement for deferring the prorogation of parliament, is of so delicate a nature, and requires so much secrecy and manageThe essential points on the part of Ireland ment, that I think it unadvisable to trust the now acceded to, will, I trust establish a perfect communication of it to any hand but my own; cordiality between the two countries; and as and as it is possible that the event may not jus there can no longer exist any grounds of con-tify the hopes I entertain, it would perhaps, test or jealousy on matters of right between the countries, the only object of both will be, how finally to arrange, settle, and adjust all matters, whereby the union of power and strength, and mutual and reciprocal advantage, may be best permanently fixed. I observe in lord Shelburne's letter to your grace, dated the 18th May, he states more reluctance to the idea of commissioners than I should judge to be a general opinion of his majesty's servants: the measure may be a doubtful one; but if it appeared to be the inclination among the leading gentlemen of Ireland, I should think good would ensue. I have now stated to your lordship every matter that I can think likely to come before, parliament, and have farther to add, that the desire which is generally and emphatically expressed for a speedy conclusion of the session, will very forcibly tend to unite gentlemen in discountenancing any attempt to bring on questions of any sort at this season of the year. I presume your lordship will be of opinion that it is not desirable to oppose the wishes of this country respecting as early a prorogation as the business before them be more prudent to withhold the intelligence which I am now about to give you, until I could transmit the plan properly authenticated, for the consideration of your lordship, and the rest of the k--'s confidential servants. However, as I feel that I have a right to take credit for my endeavours, and that the ministers in England equally partake of my responsibility in the administration of the affairs of this country, I am as anxious that they should share any merit that can be derived from our joint conduct, as that they should be liable to any blame to which the adoption of ill-advised or inconsiderate measures may expose them. I shall therefore acquaint your lordship, that I have reason to hope that I sketch or outlines of an act of parliament, to may be shortly enabled to lay before you the be adopted by the legislatures of the respective kingdoms; by which the superintending power and supremacy of Great Britain, in all matters of state and general commerce, will be virtually and effectually acknowledged; that a share of the expense, in carrying on a defensive or offensive war, either in support of our own dominions, or those of our allies, shall be borne by Ireland in proportion to the actual state of her abilities; and that she will adopt every such regulation as may be judged necessary by Great Britain, for the better ordering and securing her trade and commerce |