AFRICA. W monftrous pro

With refpect to that continent she was

to be placed upon the fame footing at mid hoffeld al*

the West Indies.

INDIA.

as

She was to abandon all hope and prof pect of intercourfe with thofe countries to the end of time, and confent that an

pofitions-one

all compenfat

immoveable boom should be placed from ing privilege

the Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of

Magellan; [i. e.] she was to be denied and that the a privilege which America was thought worthy to enjoy.

CONSTITUTION.

only commer

MAY cial compenfa

tion which Ire

Ireland was to enact laws without deliberation, and to decide where she had no power to diffent. Under the title of aws for the regulation of trade and navigation, or for regulating and restraining the trade of the British colonies and plantations, Ireland was to adopt re- can derive from trictions, and enforce conditions, which might cripple and embarrass the trade

and navigation of Ireland, without pro an Union-the portionably affecting the commercesofm 19 olgach of unit Great Britain. Tod

great British

REVENUE murdidano davner yauh Km137

To pay 656,000 in each year towards market. the fupport of the naval force of the

empire.

In this market was Ireland to receive the boafted compenfation THEN; this market is all Great Britain can offer as a compenfation for an Union Now.

There, and there only, could Ireland THEN, or can Ireland Now, look for an equivalent for the dear and inestimable facrifices which fhe must make, and the chances of that free asia (s) Byhagini constitution, which is the pride, the glory

and

and the happiness of man. I fay it boldly-f dare any man to have the confidence to maintain for a moment, that in every other inftance that Ireland would not have been THEN, and if the Union is effected, would not be Now in an infinitely worse fituation than that in which the ftood in 1785, and stands in 1799, and in which the flood THEN, and ftands Now, by fair and acknowledged right and I repeat it roundly, that an Union would really be neither more nor lefs, than a cruel cheat and fraud, which would put Ireland for ever at the feet of a British cabinet, and would, poffibly, in fome few years, ftrip her of all thofe commercial advantages, which have been doled out with fo cautious and niggardly a parfimony, by depriving her of her constitution, which, though like that of England, abused, dreadfully and deplorably abufed, is the guarantee of our commercial rights, fo long as it is in exiftence. Let me afk, what is this boasted compenfation? Is it any thing more than the privilege of rendering the two nations odious to each other, by an attempt at rivalship in their domeftic mar kets; an attempt which cannot be profitable to Ireland, although it might be mischievous to Great Britain, and which, as I fhall fhew by and by, might break down the manufac

† turing spirit of Ireland, cruth and cripple the whole fyftem of her commerce, whenever the intereft, the ignorance, the prejudices, or the animofity of the trading part of the British community were difpofed to do fo—and gracious God! has Ireland nothing to apprehend from party, from blind and narrow policy, or mercantile avarice. Shall Ireland, wretched, fcorned, impoverished and diftracted Ireland; be told that AVARICE is not the characteristic of British monopolifts? Alas, the avarice of a Britifh monopolift" is a paffion fo cold and blighted, that it is in general the folitary tenant of whatever bofom it inhabits, like the great poifonous tree of Java, it is environed only by drearinefs and defolation, and fuffers no virtue to bloffom around it." I call on every Irishman to remember the words of Mr. Pitt, himfelf, in 1785, when he declared, that the two hundred thousand manufacturers who petitioned against the extenfion to Ireland of what they were pleased to confider commercial advantages, were influenced by the fuggeftions of faction, or blinded by prejudice and felfifhnefs-and let me afk, is not this very affertion, when coupled with the necef fity of a minifter's yielding to those factious, prejudiced and felfifh demands, a volume of proof, that England is not quite fo liberal, fo enlight

D

enlightened, as to make the apprehenfions of Irifhmen unfounded and unreasonable? And why is it, that the English nation is anxious for an incorporate Union? [To fay nothing of the importance of fecuring the domeftic market of Ireland, and letting in that flood of taxation which now overflows her banks, and defolates her country.] Have not the people of England a moral certainty, that from the neceffary fuperiority of numbers in the incorporate parliament, that Ireland muft for ever be fubordinate to Great Britain: and have they not, likewife, from the inftance after the revolution, as well as from the inftance of 1785, reafon to prefume, that though a future minifter may be difpofed to treat Ireland [in a manner which for 500 years fhe has not been accustomed to be treated] with frankness, or common honefly, yet that the voice and influence of the commercial world will prevent him from pursuing any measure which is repugnant to the views of narrow politicians, or the interefted clamours of mercantile fpecula

tion.

Let no man talk to me of the guardianship of 100 Irish commoners in England, when 300 will not guard commercial interests in Ireland. Let no man tell me that the magic word of Union is to inter all our jealou

fies, heart-burnings, and deftructive ill-will. Granted that your countrymen are turbulent is the beft mode of reducing them to fubjection, by giving them fomething fubftantial to complain of? Granted that the British empire is endangered--is the best mode. of rendering it fecure, by making a powerful member of that empire indifferent to its selfprefervation?

O, fave it from its treacherous friends:-
It cannot fear its foes.

Why are not our paft calamities made the leffons of our future inftruction? Does not Holland furnish a striking inftance that a country has no defence when its government does not live and move, and have its being in the bosom of its people? Let the minifter commence a ROMANTIC crufade for the recovery of the French provinces which were fubjected to the predeceffors of the kings of England and France; they are as well calculated to be incorporated, and poffibly as little adapted to endure with patience rapine and infult as the Irish nation, No; Ireland will adhere to the folemn ftipulation made by the two kingdoms-" that the right claimed by Ireland to be bound, in all cafes whatever, only by laws made by the King, Lords and Commons of Ireland in parliament

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