lock then moved an address to the Duke of Portland, 1782. which was carried unanimously; as was also an address to Lord Charlemont, appointing him general of the volunteers of Ulster. An address to Mr. Grattan, expressing the highest satisfaction at the vote of 50,000l.; a resolution moved by Colonel Knox, for assisting in raising the 20,000 seamen; and another for erecting a monument at Dungannon, in which Lord Charlemont and Mr. Grattan were particularly to be distinguished, were also carried unanimously. reception gates from teers. The gentlemen, who were appointed to present the Gracious address to his majesty, sailed for England. Lord of the deleShelburne treated them with the greatest politeness; the volunand his Majesty was pleased most graciously to receive their address, and every mark of attention was paid through them to the volunteers of Ulster. But scarcely had their addresses been presented, when the packets from Ireland announced the dissatisfaction of two corps in the town of Belfast, which had been represented at Dungannon; their delegates were vilified and traduced in the news-papers: even Mr. Grattan became the object of abuse. The Belfast review was approaching; those who were dissatisfied determined there to make their stand. The 31st of July exhibited a volunteer encampment of near three thousand men, and the volunteer garrison of upwards of one thousand, all completely clothed, armed, and accoutred. Anonymous papers in thousands were dispersed through the camp and garrison. Every private was taught, that he was competent to legislate, and consequently to express his sentiments on the most specu 4 1782. lative points. Declaration, renunciation, simple re peal, legal security, better security, and bill of rights, were all before them, and they were to instruct their delegates on these important points. The delegates assembled on the 3d of August, Colonel Stewart was unanimously called to the chair. Major Dobbs, as exercising officer, moved an address to the Reviewing General, Lord Charlemont, in which he inserted a clause of their being fully satisfied with the simple repeal. A debate commenced, whether it should not be expunged; at the end of eleven hours a division took place, when there appeared for expunging 31, against it 29. The address thus altered, passed unanimously. By the exertions of a wise and liberal administration were the liberties of Ireland restored; peace, unity, and content diffused through a revived nation, and the prosperity and glory of the British empire encreased by adding strength, vigor, and felicity to that important part of it. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE IRISH LEGISLATIVE UNION. CHAPTER I. Administration of Earl Temple. 1782. by Lord Shelburne To the Rockingham administration did Ireland owe Lord Temher independence in 1782. In this, Lord Shelburne ple selected had taken a prominent part. Having, however, upon to govern Lord Rockingham's death contrived to be placed at the Ireland. head of the administration, he selected Earl Temple * The advantage of a Whig administration is, that their principles are known; and afford a pledge to the public, that they will act up to them. The most flattering eulogy of Whiggism, is the short duration of the several Whig administrations, which 1782. Earl Temple begins to reform the departments of government. as the fittest person to undertake the government of independent Ireland. He had intermarried with the only child of Earl Nugent, who had been brought up in the religion of her ancestors, and upon whom her father had on the marriage settled the bulk of his large domains in Ireland. Lord Nugent had on every occasion, both in public and private, proved himself a sincere and warm lover of his country. The grati tude of the Irish to his son-in-law, the character and accomplishments of the new viceroy, and the virtues of his amiable consort, all tended to ensure him a most cordial welcome. He succeeded the Duke of Portland, who remained to finish the business of the session, on the 15th of September, 1782, and was received with public expressions of joy and satisfaction. During the short period of Lord Temple's continu ance in the government of Ireland, his chief attention appears to have been directed to the establishment of a system of economy throughout the different departments; a reformation supereminently necessary. The have been formed during the present reign. They have never been called in, but on desperate emergencies. Their refusal to bend their principles to general commands, or some unconditional pledge, has constantly furnished a pretence for their quick removal. *The late Earl Nugent had been educated in the Roman Catholic religion; he conformed to the established religion in his youth, and some few years before his death, he returned to that, which he had abandoned. short-lived administration of Lord Shelburne, of 1782. which Lord Temple was a principal support, determined his viceregency on the 3d of June, 1783. He was in power long enough to have brought upon himself the resentful opposition of all the subaltern dependants upon the Castle, who dreaded a scrutiny into their abuses; and not long enough for the nation to have felt the happy effects of so laudable an investigation. America. During the Rockingham administration a termination Peace with was put to the contest between Great Britain and the American colonies by a resolution of the British house of commons in February, 1782, to address his majesty against the further prosecution of offensive war on the continent of North America, and for the restoration of the blessings of peace; which was concluded by Lord Shelburne's administration, The solemn termination of this unfortunate war spread joy through the Irish nation, and reconciled it in part to the sudden change of that administration, under which they had obtained their independence. The questions of simple repeal and positive declaration or renunciation of rights was kept up by the armed bodies of volunteers with greater heat, than they had been agitated in parlia ment. liament. On the 19th of December, 1782, in the British Proceedings of the house of commons, Colonel Fitzpatrick called the at- British partention of government to a circumstance, which had given alarm to the people of Ireland: the decision of an Irish cause in the court of King's Bench in England, notwithstanding the declaration of Irish inde |