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 state of fociety, to the habits of the people at large; to the inequal diftribution of property, to the want of civilized intercourse, 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 ifland, and by the extinction of religious prejudices. For fuch remedies we must look to the provisions of an independent legiflature, removed from the immediate feat of the complicated disease, 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 fubject 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 refemblance of the British conftitution was fuperior to any proceeding from the new fyftem; but, the imperfection of the Irish conftitution was admitted, and to that the complicated grievances and defects in the fate of the country at large.

With refpect to the confinement of property in a few hands, the ex traordinary difparity of rank, and the feanty means of focial improvement, 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 must also be remedied by an influx of capital, and the circulation 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. In anfwer to what had been faid by Mr. Sheridan, about a final adjustment, Mr. Pitt undertook to flate that this final adjustment was made under the pretence of redreffing_grievances, without looking to future confequences, or taking a general view of circftances: 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 conteft, as any two powers on the continent.

When the act was paffed, Mr. Pitt obferved, which gave independence to Ireland, it was accom panied by a refolution, ftating that it was the opinion of the houfe, that the connection between both kingdoms fhould be confolidated by future meafuses or regalations, founded

on the bafis of mutual confent. The exiftence of the refolution being proved, by extracts from the journals of the house, Mr. Pitt, on the authority of that refolution, affumed 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 mealure 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 fpace of fixteen years? He meant that of the regency. The difference of principle was evident, for the Irif 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 perfon 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 before 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 conteft, 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 been lefs prevalent than ever. The influence of the great patriot of Ire land was extinct, nearly in the same way that the reputation of the other great patriots here in England had expired. But if the houfe wifhed 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 should 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 parlia ment, had been rejected.

On Thuriday, 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 accomplish ment. 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 also had a right to exercife, and a duty to perform. That duty, was to exprefs, as diftinaly as he could, the general nature and outline of the plan, which, in his confcience, he thought would tend, in the ftrongest 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 nature, the necefiity 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 oppofed, and by much the fame arguments, prejudices, and mifconceptions, 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 ge neral explained, but of which he wifhed a more detailed difcuffion to be referved to a future day, were,

"Firft, That in order to promote and secure the effential interefts 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 refpective parliaments of his majefty's faid kingdoms.

"Second, That it appears to this committee that it would be fit to propofe as the firft article, to ferve as à bafis of the faid union, that the faid kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland fhall, upon a day to be agreed upon, be united into one kingdom, by the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

"Third, That for the fame pur pofe it appears alfo to this commit tee, that it would be fit to propofe that the fucceffion to the monarchy and the imperial crown of the faid

united.

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 England and Scotland.

Fourth, That for the fame purpose it appears alfo to this commit tee, 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 members' of the houfe of commons as fhall be hereafter agreed upon, by acts of the respective parliaments as aforefaid, fhall fit and vote in the faid parliament on the part of Ireland, and fhall be fummoned, 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 member hereafter to fit and vote in the faid parliament of the united kingdom hall, until the faid parliament fhall otherwife 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.

"Fifth, That for the fame purpofe it appears alfo to this commit tee, that it would be fit to propofe that the churches of England and Ireland, and the doctrine, worship, difcipline, and government thereof, fhall be preferyed as now by law eftablished.

"Sixth, That, for the fame purpofe, it appears alfo to this commit

tee, that it would be fit to propose that his majesty's fubjects in Ireland. fhall at all times hereafter be entitled to the fame privileges, and be on the fame footing, in respect 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 fucceffors, with any foreign power, as his majefty's fubjects in Great Britain; that no duty fhall be impofed 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 dimi nifhed equally with refpect 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 regula tions 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 afore faid) fhall be impofed as all be neceffary to prevent any inequality in that refpect and that all other matters of trade and commerce, other than the foregoing, and than fue others as may before the union be fpecially agreed upon, for the due. encouragement of the agriculture and manufactures of the refpective [P2]

kingdoms,