injurious to that national honour which an Irishman cherishes with such fond enthusiasm, there would have been few indeed, if any, who would have been found to raise their voice against its prudence or policy. There is one thing, however, of which we are certain, that every individual who wishes well to the prosperity of the united kingdom, must ardently desire to see Ireland conciliated and to find her a cordial and willing labourer in the com

mon cause.

CHAPTER XII.

Meeting of the imperial parliament. Suspension of the habeas corpus act in Ireland. Rebellion in 1803. Trial and execution of Robert Emmett and other conspirators. Threatened invasion of England. The king refuses to grant relief to his catholic subjects on account of his coronation oath. Resignation of ministers. Dissolution of parliament. Commercial distress caused by the decrees of Buonaparte. Charge of fraudulently disposing of military commissions against the duke of York. Lord Castlereagh accused of corrupt practices. Duel fought by Canning and Castlereagh. The prince of Wales appointed regent. Catholic committee in Dublin. Debate in parliament on the catholic question. The corn laws. State of Ireland. Distress and riots in England. Massacre at Manchester. George IV. visits Ireland. Famine in Ireland in 1821.

HAVING now gone through the history of Ireland from its earliest existence as a country to the accomplishment of her union with Great Britain, which event involves her subsequent history in that of the empire itself. A continuation in detail up to the present year would defeat our purpose of supplying a concise history of Ireland, by swelling this volume to a size exceeding our prescribed limits. We will, however, give a summary of the principal events which have occurred since the union in connection with Ireland, leaving the details to the future historian, who placed at a greater distance from men and measures, now operating, or fresh in the memory of many, can form a more impartial estimate of both.

The imperial parliament of Great Britain and Ireland assembled on the 22nd day of January. Mr. Pitt regarded

the union of Great Britain and Ireland as the transaction which reflected the greatest lustre on his administration; and although he had uniformly opposed the emancipation of the catholics in Ireland during the existence of a separate legislature, he had held out promises to them of a complete participation in all political privileges, as soon as the union should have taken place, in order to facilitate this favourite object. When the proposition was submitted to the

cabinet council it was opposed by some of the members, and his majesty took a decided part declaring that his coronation oath prevented him from assenting to a scheme which might endanger the protestant establishment. As the king's declaration obstructed the recommendation of the measure to parliament, and diminished the probability of its success, Pitt resigned his situation in which he was not left at full liberty to pursue his ideas of equity and redeem his promises. The minister was accompanied in his resignation by lord Grenville and other members of the cabinet. In forming a new cabinet the earl of Hardwicke was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland. The first measures of the new ministry were directed towards the secur ing of internal tranquility. Ireland being still in a disturbed state, it was considered necessary to renew the act for the suppression of rebellion in that country, as also the suspension of the habeas corpus act.

In the course of the session of 1802 an act was passed to relieve the Roman catholics from certain penalties and disabilities to which they were before subject, on subscribing the declaration and oath contained in the act of the thirty-first of the reign of George III.

A deceitful calm, a sullen repose, ensued in Ireland after the union the unquiet spirits whose excesses tended to accelerate that measure were overawed, not subdued, The catholics, whose claims had been strongly urged, and strongly encouraged by the unionists, began now to look for the performance of the promises which had been made to them. Assured by their friends that it would be better not to embarrass the general question of the union with their demands, which could be more consistently and more efficaciously urged afterwards, they suffered the measure to be carried, and waited to be heard. Pitt, who had accomplished the union, and had promised redress to the catholics, found that he had pledged himself to a task which he had not power to perform, and retired from office to evade an obligation he was unable to fulfil. In consequence of this disappointment Ireland once more became the theatre of rebellion, in 1803. The instigators were a band of political enthusiasts, whose director and principal mover was Robert Emmett, a young man of promising talents and considerable influence, the brother of Thomas Eddis

Emmett, who took so prominent a part in the rebellion of 1798. He had been so unguarded in his behaviour, while the late disturbances existed, as to draw upon himself the vigilance of government, and had found it necessary for his safety to reside abroad so long as the habeas corpus act was suspended; but no sooner was that obstacle removed than he returned to Ireland, where he arrived in December, 1802. By the death of his father, one of the state physicians in Dublin, he found himself possessed of two thousand pounds; and with this sum he proposed to overturn the government, and free Ireland from the dominion of Great Britain. Though the persons immediately connected with him did not exceed one hundred, yet they were so sanguine as to imagine that at their bidding the spirit of rebellion would pervade the whole kingdom; and the usual intimation, the stoppage of the mails, was to be the signal of revolt in the country, while the grand object of the insurgents in the metropolis was to secure the castle, and the principal persons engaged in the government. For some days previous to the fatal explosion information had been conveyed to government of threatening assemblages of the people, and other indications tended to awaken a suspicion than an insurrection was in agitation. Lord Hardwicke, then viceroy, it has been thought did not use the power he possessed with such discretion and vigour as would have crushed the growing faction. On Saturday, July 23rd, the populace began to assemble in great numbers in St. James' street and its neighbourhood towards evening, without having any visible arrangements, or under any kind of discipline. To arm the crowd thus gathered together, pikes were deliberately placed along the sides of the streets. for the accommodation of such as might choose to equip themselves. A number of men rode furiously through the streets about nine o'clock, which was the concerted signal that all was in readiness; but the general alarm was not excited, until the proprietor of a considerable manufactory in the vicinity of Dublin, who was known to have informed government that afternoon of the intentions of the insurgents, was shot at and dangerously wounded. A cannon was now fired, and a sky-rocket let off at the same moment so as to be observed throughout the city. Emmett, at the head of his chosen band, now

sallied forth, brandishing his sword, from the obscurity of his head quarters, in Marshalsea-lane, and tried, not ineffectually, to incite the undisciplined mob to acts of violence. Before they had reached the end of the lane in which they were assembled, one of the party discharged his gun, with fatal precision, at colonel Browne, who happened to be passing along the street. Emmett, and the principal conspirators, deserted the mob at this moment, and nothing more is heard of them till we find them in the meshes of the law. The most important event of this rash and criminal rising, was the murder of viscount Kilwarden, chief justice of Ireland. This unfortunate nobleman had retired that day to his country seat, about four miles from Dublin, as was his custom after having passed the week in his official duties. On his first receiving intimation of a disturbance, his lordship, who since the rebellion in 1798, had been in perpetual apprehension of being assassinated by the rebels, ordered out his carriage, and taking with him his daughter and his nephew, the Rev. Richard Wolfe, set off instantly for the metropolis. Upon reaching Thomas-street, the carriage was surrounded by a crowd of armed men. His lordship announced his name, and earn. estly implored mercy, but in vain. Both he and Mr. Wolfe fell to the ground, pierced with wounds; but the lady was permitted to pass through the rebel column to the castle. The insurgents were attacked in their turn about half-past ten o'clock, by 120 soldiers, and before midnight their mighty projects were entirely defeated.

The privy council lost no time in publishing a proclamation, exhorting the magistrates to unite their exertions with the military, and offering a reward of £1,000. for the discovery and apprehension of the murderers of lord Kilwarden. A reward was also offered for such information as would lead to the apprehension of the murderer of colonel Browne. The lord mayor likewise issued a proclamation, requiring all the inhabitants of Dublin, except yeomen, to keep within their own houses after eight o'clock in the evening. Bills for suspending the habeas corpus act, and for placing Ireland under martial law, were passed with unexampled rapidity, through their different stages, in the parliament of the united kingdom. Arrangements were made for sending large bodies of troops from England, and