tion is, that the government is to blame. He concluded with concurring in the amendment.

The house divided; for the amendment 47 ; against it 118. The original address was then put and carried.

JANUARY 23, 1799.

UNION OF IRELAND WITH GREAT BRITAIN.

On the 22d of January the following message was delivered to the house" His Majesty is persuaded that the unremitting industry with which our enemies persevere in their avowed design of affecting the separation of Ireland from this kingdom, cannot fail to engage the particular attention of parliament; and His Majesty recommends it to this house to consider of the most effectual means of connteracting, and finally defeating, this design; and he trusts that a review of all the circumstances which have recently occurred (joined to the sentiment of mutual affection and common interest) will dispose the parliaments of both kingdoms to provide in the manner which they shall judge most expedient, for settling such a complete and final adjustment as may best tend to improve and perpetuate a connection essential for their common security, and to augment and consolidate the strength, power, and resources of the British empire.” On this day Mr. Dundas moved the usual address.

Mr. SHERIDAN rose and said, Sir, I must frankly declare that I am not of the same opinion with the right honorable gentleman, who thinks that there is nothing more necessary on the part of His Majesty's ministers than to move a mere address, returning the thanks of this house for His Majesty's most gracious communication. The subject is too important lightly to be passed over in any stage of its progress, and the interests that will naturally come into discussion too vast to be bounded over with an unreflecting rapidity. Not one man in the country would be free from reproach, if he could regard with apathy, or with an ease of temper approaching to indifference, a question that at once involves every thing dear to Irishmen, and which ought to be dear to every subject of the British empire. As I cannot view these matters wholly with unconcern, I must think that more is necessary on the part of His Ma jesty's ministers than merely to move an address of

thanks. I say, Sir, I cannot be of this opinion, because when I found it stated that it is the principal object of the message from the crown to invite the commons of Great Britain to the consideration of means of finally adjusting the interests in common between Great Britain and Ireland, I am naturally led to enquire how the terms of the final adjustment made and agreed to by the parliaments of the two countries, in 1782, came to fail of their object. In that year there was an adjustment; and no man acquainted with the history of that period, no man whose study has not been confined to mere local occurrences, can have forgotten in what kind of circumstances that adjustment arose, and under what kind of auspices it was made final. Nothing can be more obvious than the propriety of inquiring at this time how that adjustment failed of its object. The right honorable gentleman, adopting the language of the message, has assumed that the house is already in possession of the facts and arguments on which are to be founded the policy, justice, and expediency of agitating at this time such a discussion; in this way telling the whole world that the final adjustment ratified in 1782 was not a final adjustment in point of fact, but an adjustment to be held final at the pleasure of the English government. But there are no such things in the possession of the house as the materials from whence to reason that it is now either politic, expedient, or just, to come to the discussion of this question of final adjustment. Hence before ministers recommended to the house of commons to take measures that lead inevitably to the discussion of some plan of union, it was incumbent upon them to have shewn us that the last pledge of the English parliament to the people of Ireland, by which their independence was recognized and their rights acknowledged, has not produced that unanimity, that concord of sentiment, and earnest exertion to promote their own welfare, while they cordially and sincerely manifested their zeal for the

happiness and prosperity of this country, which that people were expected to display, and which the parliaments of the two countries sought to cherish.But more than the effect immediately upon the people, it is fit to inquire whether the final adjustment led to the measures of mutual confidence, and produced that unanimity of sentiment and object in the two parliaments, which, for the happiness and honor of both kingdoms, every man wished might be its permanent effect. Sir, I think it impossible for any man clearly to shew that there has been any want of this unanimity on any important occasion. I am the more strongly impressed with this belief, because a solemn declaration of the Irish parliament, sanctioned by all Ireland, is now on record, wherein we have it emphatically stated that the independence of Ireland will be asserted by the people of Ireland, and that their parliament is an independent legislature. The recollection of this declaration brings to my mind the strong apprehension of the danger, the peril of agitating anew the question of Irish independence. What has that declaration stated? Sir, it is a manly, firm, and honorable testimony to all time, of the proud, noble spirit of a nation rising into distinction and mounting up to freedom. They there say, that "there is no power whatever competent to make laws for Ireland but the parliament of Ireland;" and among other things equally strong and just, we find them assert this as their birthright, and which they are determined in every situation to defend and maintain against whatever kind of enemy. When I find this declaration of the Irish parliament, and acquiesced in by the English, that they did come to a final adjustment is obvious; yet the words " a solid, permanent basis," convey some reflections on the proceedings of the parliament since that period, and it might fairly be supposed, that only its delinquency would have instigated His Majesty's ministers to adopt a course of conduct, by which, if they succeed in the

enterprize, they shall accomplish for ever the subjugation of Ireland, and the slavery of its inhabitants. But, Sir, I must think the people in that country, who really cherish a love of rational liberty, who have dwelt with delight on the recollection of that, till now, auspicious period, when independence came upon them as it were by surprize, when the Genius of Freedom rested upon their island-the whole people, in short, will come to this second adjustment with a temper which I am afraid, Sir, will augur not tranquillity but disquietude; not prosperity but calamity; not the suppression of treason but the extension and increase of plots to multiply and ensanguine its horrors. Nevertheless, I must own that there is something informal in this way of treating the question immediately before the house. But much as I respect your forms, Sir, I own to you those are things, and this is a question, which I cannot permit myself lightly to discuss, and which ought not to be shrunk from on light grounds. I am aware that the grounds I stand on are at once ticklish and dangerous; that my motives are liable both to misrepresentation and misapprehension; that a licentious few, and an ignorant many, will distort or not perceive the grounds of my arguments, and the use I am desirous to make of them. But there are topics, on the discussion of which a man must not wholly consult the degree of safety to his reputation among the unreflecting portions of mankind -on which he must forget what he owes to his own dignity, if fearful of the insidious misinterpretation of his sentiments, or the more insidious misrepresentation of his motives, he shrink from the subject, and fail to do that which is peremptorily his duty. I feel that to be silent on the present occasion were to act from terror in a way unworthy of the majesty of truth; unbecoming a man enamored of free dis cussion; unlike the friend and supporter of general liberty, I cannot do this. My country has claims upon me which I am not more proud to acknow

ledge than ready to liquidate, to the full measure of my ability. Is there any man who can wish to do less-or have the whole system of human connection and the economy of human passions been changed and perverted with those changes in the political world, from which some derive rank and emolument by the prostitution of integrity and all the virtues? But, Sir, there was a time when I should have been told that to agitate any question in this house relative to the affairs of Ireland, were to retrench upon the rights of the Irish parliament. That the independence of one legislature was not to be infringed upon by the discussion of questions which belonged to it exclusively to discuss upon and decide. That we could not agitate the affairs of Ireland in any manner without grossly insulting the dignity, and making a question of the constitutional competence of the parliament of that country to legislate for themselves. That, in short, it would be to arouse and inflame that quick spirit of independence, which the sister kingdom knew how to express, and had ever appeared both able and ready to infuse into a system of ardent, intrepid opposition to every kind of ulterior domination. But, surely, when now the question is the independence of the parliament of Ireland, when it is attempted to introduce measures which have in their issues not merely the independence but the existence of this parliament, honorable gentlemen will not resort to that argument. Probably I shall be told, that I ought not to draw into discussion topics that in their very nature tend to excite discontent, by being closely interwoven with the events of a recent period of distraction and danger: that I cannot dwell long on these topics without relapsing into warmth; that I am liable to use inflammatory language; that, in particular, I ought to consider the present state of Ireland before I essay the discussion of such intricate and delicate interests as embraced by the King's message. The right honorable gentleman opposite