Lord Grerville approved of the motives which prompted the earl of Moira to endeavour to put an end to the difcuffion; yet faid, he fhould be forry that the prefent motion fhould be difpofed of by the previous queftion, left it fhould imply, that his majefty's minifters would be inclined to refufe an inquiry, were fufficient grounds for it laid down. To him it appeared that no ground whatever had been made out. He therefore hoped that the noble lord would withdraw his motion for the previous queftion, as he fhould otherwife have to oppose it, in order to give his negative afterwards to the original motion. The earl of Moira reftated the motives which bad in duced him to move the previous queftion. However, if lord Grenville thought that his motion would admit of any unfavourable conftruction, he was willing to withdraw it. The previous queftion was accordingly withdrawn. The whole houfe murmured approbation and applaufe of the delicate fentiment, found judgement, and noble candour of lord Moira. The houfe then divided on the original mo

tion, by lord Holland, for which there appeared 34: against it 51. We come now to the great test and fanction of all the great measures of adminiftration, the granting of the fupplies. In the houfe of commons, the twenty-fourth of February,, being in a committee of ways and means, Mr. chancellor Pitt faid, he would not detain the committee with any preface to the account of the fupplies that had already been granted, or that remained to be granted, for the fervice of the current year; but fhould proceed directly to ftate, generally, the feveral heads of which thofe accounts

confifted. The fupply which he deemed requifite amounted to thirtynine millions and a half.*

Mr. Pitt, in detailing the means for raifing his fupply, eftimated the income-tax at 5,300,000l. after the deduction of intereft payable for the borrowed fum of 13,500,000. But he thought it highly probable that it would produce a greater fum in the courfe of the prefent year than it had done in the laft, as he intended to propofe fome regulations calenlated to augment its efficacy. He had negociated a lean of 18,500,000l.;

year

but the affignment of 1,700,000l. out of the income-tax to the payment of a part of the intereft, rendered 313,000. fufficient for the remainder. This laft demand was answered by a new duty of 5 per cent. on all kinds of tea, fold at 2s. 6d. each pound, and by a fmall augmentation of the duties on rum and brandy. The whole of the ways and means for raifing the fupplies, are stated below.

Mr. Pitt concluded his financial eftimates by laying, that he needed not to add any thing to a statement fo highly fatisfactory; which proved

to the committee, and would prove to the public, the growing profperity of the kingdom: and, by thewing the refources we had for war, would be a means of enabling us to perfevere in the ftruggle, until we could obtain a peace; until we could obtain a folid and permanent peace. The financial refolutions, propofed by Mr. Pitt, after a variety of ftrictures by Mr. Tierney, and a reply by the minifter, were put and agreed to, and afterwards, through the ufual forms, paffed into laws.

£2,750,000

1,250,000

200,000

5,༣༠༠,cc༠

3,000,000

3,000,000

5,500,000

18,500,000

£.39,500,000

CHAP.

THE

HE first law of nature is a defire of felf-continuance, or felfprefervation, and a correfpondent horror of annihilation: a defire not only that the elements or principles of which this living and thinking being is compofed, may be preferved, but that perfonal identity fhould remain, a confcioufnels of identity be retained, and that individuality, which diftinguishes one man from another, and makes him to be himself. The ancient Stoics endeavoured to confole mankind with the reflection that, though the human frame would be diffolved by death, not an atom of its component parts would be deftroyed or loft. The earthy part would be reunited to earth, the watery to water, the fiery to fire, the airy and ethereal to air and ether. However perfonal identity might be difcontinued, the univerfe would remain the fame, unimpaired and eternal. The permanence, the order, and perfection of this, in which every one participated, ought to be ever uppermoft in the mind of a wife man, and his confolation through life, and in the crifis of death. This

kind of immortality, however, is but cold comfort to the human heart. If a man is to be taken to picces, and lofe confcioufnels of identity, he will make little account whether his elementary parts reinain in any other form, or, if that were poffible, totally annihilated.

This confcioufnefs of identity, this anxious defire and love of felf-prefervation, that reigns fupreme in the breafts of individuals, is felt in different degrees by nations, and generally more or lefs according as they are fimple and virtuous, or corrupt, fenfual, and felfith. The firft notice to any fmall nation of a formal propofal for an union and amalgaination with a great and powerful ftate, is, accordingly, an alarm for felf-prefervation. The powerful na tion feels no alarm of this kind, becaufe it is only ftrengthened by fuch acceflions which it affimilates and tranfmutes into its own nature and form; but the fmall nation is loath to abandon its separate existence, as a fovereign power, and be fwallowed like a fream in the ocean. up This principle of human nature is to be recognifed in the history of

all unions, of all times: but, not to go too far back, or wander too far from our fubject, we fhall only mention the difcontents, the tumults, and the violence of the Scots against the union of their poor country with England. The foil of Scotland might be improved, and the Scots might acquire more wealth, and more comforts; but Scotland, as a kingdom, would be no more. There would be no more any genuine Scotfmen: by the operation of government, they would be gradually mingled and melted down with Englifhmen; the Scotch would ceafe to be a national character; their genius and manners would be formed by various objects of purfuits, various hopes and fears, common to them, with all the other inhabitants of the island.

A fimilar train of thinking, exactly, on the fubject of the propofed union with Great Britain, prevailed in Ireland; and, as in Scotland, a majority of the men of property and political influence were induced, whether from selfish confiderations, or from views of real patriotiím, (for there certainly were many who acted from both) to exchange, as it were, in fome measure, the national identity and exiftence for a fhare in the British legislature; and the great mals of the people clung, with fond embraces, around their expiring parent, though he had been, in too many inftances, to them but a harsh ftep-mother: fo alfo a majority of the men of property and political influence in Ireland were induced, from divers motives, no doubt, to favour and adopt an incorporating union between Great Britain and Ireland; and so also the great mass

VOL. XLII.

of the people of Ireland, though more harthly treated by their mo ther-country, that had fallen into a ftate of thraldom, and was under the sway of strangers, than even the Scots, ftuck faft by Hibernia in her laft moments. The Irish harp was attuned to ftrains of lamentation and complaint; but martial mufic would have aroused the people to arms, if they had not been kept in fubjection, by an irresistible armed force, poured in upon them from England.

When the refolutions of the Britifh legiflature, intended as a bafis for an union with Ireland, being remitted, with fome alterations, for the reconfideration of that country, in May, 1799, became a fubject of parliamentary difcuffion, the populace of Dublin, and many other towns, manifefted an averfion to the union in every mode in which they could fhew it, fhort of an armed oppofition: from which they were reftrained only by a dread of the English foldiers, and the claymores * of kindred celts; the Scotch Highlanders, many regiments of whom, fencibles and volunteers, as well as regulars, were ftationed in the provinces of Leinfter and Ulfter.

The Irish parliament having affembled,on the fifteenth of January, 1800, it

was moved, by fir Laurence Parfons, in the houfe of commons, that they fhould, in their addrefs to the viceroy, declare their difapprobation of an incorporating union. This motion was negatived by 138 voices againft 96. On the fifth of Febru ary, the whole plan of the union was detailed, in the houfe of lords, by lord Caftlereagh, principal fecretary of State, who, after difplay

ing the general principle of the meafure, propofed eight articles, as the foundations on which it might be established, to the mutual benefit of both kingdoms.

The first imported, that, on the first day of January, 1801, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland fhould, for ever after, be united into one kingdom, by the name of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The fecond, that the fucceffion to the imperial crown of the faid united kingdom, and of the dominions thereunto belonging, fiould continue limited and fettled in the fame manner as it now ftands limited and fettled, according to the union between England and Scotland. The third, that the fame united kingdom be united in one and the fame parliament. The fourth, that four lords fpiritual of Ireland, by rotation of feffions, and twenty-eight lords temporal of Ireland, elected for life by the peers of Ireland, fhould be the number to fit and vote, on the part of Ireland, in the house of lords, in the parliament of the united kingdom. The fifth, that the churches of England and Ireland fhould be united into one proteftant epifcopal church, to be called, "The united church of England and Ireland," and that the doctrine, worship, and difcipline, of the faid church, fhould remain in full force for ever; and that the continuance and prefervation of the laid united church fhould be, for ever, held as a fundamental article of the union. It appears fingular, at firft fight, but the reason will quickly occur to every reader of hiftory, that the legislatures of the two countries, on this occafion, fhould recognife particularly the laws already made for the continuance and pre

fervation of the church of Scotland, by the union of England and Scotland. The fixth article provided for a fair participation in commercial privileges; for which end, however, it was thought neceflary to impofe certain countervailing duties. The feventh left to each kingdom the feparate difcharge of its public debt already incurred, and ordained, that, from twenty years from the union, the national expense fhould be defrayed in the proportion of fifteen parts for Great Britain, and two for Ireland. The eight ordained that the laws and courts of both kingdoms, civil and ecclefiaf. tical, fhould remain as they were now eftablished, fubject, however, to fuch alterations, as the united legiflatures might hereafter deem expedient-All laws, at prefent in force in either kingdom, which fhould be contrary to any of the provifions that might be enacted by any act for carrying the above articles into effect, from and after the union, to be repealed.

In fupport of thefe propofitions, the fecretary difplayed great ability, found fenfe, comprehenfive views, clear arrangement, and an easy flow of eloquence. One of the moft important and interefting points in queftion was the parliamentary reprefentation of Ireland. On this head, his lordship contended that the propofed number of Irish legiflators ought to fatisfy every reafonable man, as it might be deemed a juft proportion, under the combined view of the refpective population, and future contributions of Great Britain and Ireland. As many boroughs would be disfranchised, by the new regulations, it would be proper, he faid, to make compenfation to fuch individuals as might

be