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When the Committee took place, it appears that the with for that measure was ftill more general than he had: forefeen.

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This day,' fays he, in a letter written at night to the fame Nobleman, the Houfe of Commons' had appointed to go into the ftate of the nation; and after fome hours fitting, and confidering the many misfortunes the country lay under, in point of trade and ⚫ other circumstances, all the speakers concluded, that they did, in the moft earnest manner, defire a Union with England, and they have appointed Friday next to confider that matter, and how to reprefent the fame to the Lord Lieutenant, to lay it before her Majefty, that her Majefty may interpofe with the Parliament of England in that affair. I must needs own, that the great temper and good difpofition of the debate surprised most 'people; and those things which feemed to be the loudeft grievances were touched with all the true fense, but at the fame time with the true difpofition, as if they defired nothing more, which I hope will incline the next feffion 2, by her Majesty's mediation, to cultivate this good difpofition.'

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It is from the tenour of this letter, and fome others in the fame spirit, that I infer both that the fober wish and

opinion of the leading men was strongly in favour of a Union, and that Mr. Southwell himfelf was inclined to it.

The

1 Oct. 4.

2 i. e. Of the English Parliament, which met in the beginning of the following month, Nov. 1703.

3

The House fat in the Committee on feveral different days; and it appears that the Speaker, Mr. Brodrick, took an active part in framing certain refolutions, which were reported by Mr. Molefworth, the Chairman, on the 11th; and the laft of which was, that her Majefty be moft humbly moved, that through her princely goodnefs, and wisdom, and favourable interpofition, her fubjects of this kingdom may be relieved from the calamities they now lie under, by a full enjoyment of their constitution, or a more firm and strict Union with • England?

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These refolutions were afterwards formed into a Reprefentation addreffed to the Queen, which concluded nearly to the fame effect. The Representation was voted on the 20th of October.

On the 25th the House of Lords refolved, Upon due confideration of the prefent conftitution of this king" dom, that fuch an humble reprefentation be made to the Queen, of the state and condition thereof, as may best incline her Majefty, by fuch proper means às to her Majesty shall seem fit, for promoting fuch an Union with England as may qualify the ftates of this ⚫ kingdom to be reprefented in the Parliament there'.'

I do not find that any farther ftep was taken by that House in confequence of this refolution. The Queen's anfwer to their addrefs was couched in obliging terms, but took

3 Mr. Southwell's Letter to Lord Nottingham, 9th Oct. 1703. 4 Journals of the Irith House of Commons, vol. iii. p. 45 5 Journals of the Irish House of Lords, vol. ii. p. 29.

took no notice whatever of the fuggeftion relative to a Union.

That to the Reprefentation of the Commons was in lefs gracious language: Her Majefty having confidered of the Representation made by the Houfe of Commons in Ireland, has commanded this anfwer to be returned: That the first part feems to relate to matters paft in ́ Parliament, and the other part' (in which a Union was mentioned) confifting only of things in general, ' her Majesty can give no particular anfwer at present, but will take them into her confideration.'

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It was not received till the 11th of February", at an interval of near four months from the delivery of the Representation to the Lord LieutenantR.

It is difficult to conceive what good reasons could have been ftated by the Administration of England at that time for rejecting, in fo harsh and difdainful a`manner, advances towards a measure which, as the Irish Commons justly obferved in their Representation, would unqueftionably have been to the advantage of that kingdom. Whatever ratio juftificativa they might have been able to plead, it is probable the ratio fuaforia was, that the business was chiefly promoted in Ireland by the party they fuppofed hoftile to themselves. To fhew how little difficulty the carrying of it into execution was likely to have encountered there, in addition to what I have already stated, I will read the concluding paragraph of a

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letter

6 It was dated Windsor, 12th Oct. 1703, and communicated to the Lords in Ireland on the 19th of that month. Journals of the Irish House of Lords, vol. ii. p. 24.

7 Journals of the Irish House of Commons, vol. iii. p. 168,

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letter from Sir Richard Cox, the Chancellor, to Lord Nottingham, dated Feb. 13, 1703-4:

There is no remedy fo proper for both kingdoms as fome fort of Union, which would conduce to enrich and ftrengthen England, and establish the English interest here, and make it profper; for in that cafe all the British would be good Englishmen; and fince we do not capitulate, and you may be your own carvers, it feems worthy your ferious thoughts to promote fo good a work.'

And let not Gentlemen fuppofe that the Union was then confidered merely as a refuge from the abje& condition of a fubordinate Legislature. Whatever topics the warmth of oppofition may have introduced into the Reprefentation of the Irish Commons, the tranfactions of both Houses during that feffion completely prove how fully they acted as the uncontrolled branches of a Parliament perfectly fui juris. The Commons with difficulty granted fupplies for two years, instead of for three as had been demanded; and this, after calculating the eftablishment on the lowest scale, and debiting the Treasury with the outstanding arrears of revenue, contrary to former practice. The other Houfe, without regard to any offence which might be taken in England, by a folemn refolution afferted their fupreme and exclufive right of appeal, and actually exercised it by iffuing an order under which the Earl of Meath was put in poffeffion of an estate, directly in the teeth of a decree of the House of Lords in England ?.

The

9 Journals of the Irish House of Lords, vol. ii. p. 24. 28. 30. 34, 35, 36. 41, 42. 44. 52, 53, 62.

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The fpirit of that Houfe in the business of their judicature may be farther judged of from a paragraph in the letter I have already quoted of Sir Richard Cox, to Lord Nottingham: Your Lordship may be pleafed to • remember, that from the beginning, and particularly in the clofet before my Lord Treafurer, I expreffed more apprehenfion from the debates of the Lords than of the Commons; for I knew the former would think ⚫ themselves bound in honour to vindicate a jurifdiction they claim as infeparably inherent to a Houfe of Lords, and which they might conceive the Lords in England could not oppofe without shaking their own ⚫ foundations."

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About the time when thefe proceedings were going on in the Parliament, the fubject of a Union between Ireland] and this country appears by many publications to have been a very general topic of difcuffion out of doors..

Sir Thomas Brewster, who had been a member of the Irish Houfe of Commons, published, in the year 1702, a pamphlet, entitled, New Effays on Trade,' in which. there is a long chapter on the fubject. I will not trouble the Houfe with all his reafoning upon it, though it is clearly that of an intelligent and fenfible man, but I beg leave to read the following fhort paffage:

By this measure future rebellions would be prevented, which that kingdom was never long free from. 'Ireland would be then England, and the nation become

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more formidable abroad and fafer at home-- Ireland making, as it were, one continent with this ifland, which it would become in effect, and more usefully ⚫ than if it were so in reality.'

In

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