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iv

The fact is, that nothing could be more juft or reasonable, than the claim of the diftinguished perfonage, to whom this Letter is addreffed, to be heard upon the great queftion of a Legislative Union, upon the first opportunity that prefented itfelf for delivering his fentiments ;but for the Writer of this Letter who had already, on a former occafion, obtained a long and patient hearing, to have again addreffed the House on the Subject of Union, when that question was not before them, would have been highly unreasonable, and prefumptuous.

It only remains to obferve, that the following Letter is not intended as an original argument; or full inveftigation: of the Question of Union. It is an answer to the Speech published as the Speaker's: in an Addrefs to the People of Ireland, the Writer has gone into a more direct difcuffion of the queftion itself; and thought it would be wrong here to repeat arguments, which he had already offered › to the Publick.

A LET

LET T TE R,

&c. &c.

SIR,

THE Speech lately published as yours, I had the good

fortune of hearing you deliver; and in common, I apprehend, with the rest of your auditors, regarded it as a fplendid and convincing proof that, your reputation for Commercial Knowledge is as merited, as it is high. Indeed, if the ability of a Speech were to be estimated by the rich abundance of information which it contained, the excellence of yours would not admit of controversy; neither can I altogether withhold from it the praise to which a judicious felection of topicks is entitled; and ftill lefs am I difpofed to contest its claim to appro bation on the ground of acutenefs, perfpicuity and logical pre cifion; qualities, in which if it be in any degree deficient, the defect is not attributable to you, but to the weakness of the opinion which it was your task to support.

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But if, towards eftimating the value of an argument, we muft advert to the conclufion which it is intended to inculcate, and can pronounce it able, only in proportion as it is convincing, I fhall be obliged to withhold the praife of ability from yours; for though I liftened to it with unintermitted, and unprejudiced attention, and with a mind fufficiently full of the fubject which it treated, to render me the more capable of weighing

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* By Moore, in College-Green.

weighing the reafons which it contained, yet I proteft it totally failed of carrying conviction to my mind.

To this failure, Sir, you are to impute the trouble of my prefent Letter; in which, without deviating from that refpect which is due to you, I fhall endeavour to answer the arguments which you have urged. I am apprized of the vaft interval which there is between us, in point of talents and information ; but, great as it may be, I conceive it, on the prefent queftion, to be filled up by the fuperior force, and number of thofe arguments, which offer themselves in favour of the opinion that I have embraced; and I feel a confidence, not so much in myfelf, as in my position.

I fhall, in the following pages, aim at no ftricter order than that which will arife from my attending you regularly through your topicks; and, agreeably to this loofe arrangement, fhall begin by noticing your firft:

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You fet out by afferting that the adjustment of 1782 was a final one a pofition which I conceive to be as true, as it is irrelevant; and which therefore I am not difpofed to controvert, but only to explain.

Indeed, it is ftrangely ufual to omit adjusting the meaning of propofitions, before we give them our affent. I believe it is Locke who has laid it down, that an accurate definition may preclude a world of argument; and, conformably to his opinion, I am inclined to expect, that, after having examined the meaning of the pofition which I have juft noticed, we fhall deem an attempt to draw from it any thing illuftrative of the Queftion of Union, about as hopeful as the Lagado fcheme of extracting funbeams from cucumbers.

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The meafures of 1782 muft have had reference to that, out of which they arofe; and the adjustment been of fomething, which had been in controverfy: for I cannot conceive a fettle

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ment, without fome fubject matter for it to operate upon; nor extend its operation beyond the limits of thofe doubts, or controverfies, to which it was meant to put an end. ba? qu

Now, what was the fubject matter of the fettlement of 1782? The claim of the British Parliament to enact laws, that fhould bind Ireland; and the denial, on the part of Ireland, of the juftice of this claim.

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The right of legiflating for Ireland had not only been, for centuries, practically afferted by the Parliament of England, but had been exprefsly recognized, and infifted on, by legal and constitutional writers; and been by them referred to the prin ciple of Irish dependence, and fubordination; a principle, ftill more mortifying to the fpirit of this country, than even the deduction, of a right to legislative control, which it fupported.

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The pride of Irishmen was naturally offended, at finding it laid down by a commentator on the Laws of England,* that where this country was particularly named, or included within general words, there could be no doubt but fhe was bound by all Acts of the British Legiflature; nor was the jealoufy, which this doctrine was calculated to infpire, appeafed by the information, which the fame writer gave them, that "it followed from the very nature and conftitution of a dependent state:" ftill lefs, were they likely to be foothed by a review of the fervile, and invidious provifions, by which the ftatutes of Sir Edward Poynings had degraded our Parliament, in order to rivet our dependence ;-or of the want of that fecurity to the liberties of the fubject, which the inhabitants of England derived from the frame, and limited duration of their Mutiny Bill.

The affertion of fuch claims on the part of Britain, and denial of their juftice by the Parliament of this country,the degrading

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grading fyftem by which, on the one hand, thefe claims were fupported, and the impatience with which both claims and fyf-r tem were brooked upon the other, inevitably produced a controversy the most momentous in its afpect, and to which the fet- ~ tlement of 1782 very fortunately put an end. I accede to your enumeration of those grievances, of which, at that period, : the removal was defired: you truly state them to have consisted of Great Britain's claim to bind this country: the appellant jurifdiction :† the provifions of Poynings' law; and the frame and perpetuity of the Mutiny Bill. The firft of thefe griev ances, (viz. the claim of Britain) was the grand point in issue, and to which the others were either appurtenant or allied; and as for the third and fourth, they formed no fubject of controverfy between the two nations; but furnished mere matter for internal regulation. In 1782 thefe grievances were removed; and I cannot but exult at our having then been freed from a fyftem of control, too degrading and oppreffive to this country, to be juftified by that confolidation of the empire, at which it aimed; and which, if not yet fo firmly fecured as every true friend to British connexion muft defire, is yet attainable, by measures which the Irish Parliament is competent to adopt, and which I too much refpect the arrangement of 1782, to charge it with having placed beyond their reach.

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I agree with you, Sir, that the adjustment of 1782 and 1783, was final; and that the Acts of the 22d and 23d of the King, by repealing the 6th of Geo. I., and declaring that the people of Ireland fhould be bound only by laws enacted by the Parliament of this kingdom,-formed a compact between the countries, which, without a grofs breach of faith, Great Britain cannot violate; and of which Irishmen ought not to yield the benefit, but with their lives.

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Therefore, if you fhew me any breach of this folemn and final fettlement, any attempt on the part of England to legif p

*Page 9.

Which fecond was a merely theoretisk grievance.

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