such measures as might establish, by mutual consent, the con'nection between this kingdom and Ireland upon a solid and permanent basis.' No measures of that kind, however, had since been adopted. The two countries were left with separate and independent legislatures, connected only by the identity of the executive government; and that was not a sufficient tie to unite them in time of peace, to consolidate their strength in time of war, to give to Ireland her full share of commercial and political advantages, or to both nations that due degree of strength and prosperity to which they were entitled.. On this head he referred to the opinion of Mr. Foster, who was chancellor of the exchequer in Ireland at the time when the commercial propositions were brought forward. That minister then said, "Things cannot remain as they are. Commercial jealousy is "roused; it will increase with two independent legislatures; "and, without an united interest in commerce, in a commercial empire, political union will receive many shocks, and separa❝tion of interest must threaten separation of connection: which every honest Irishman must shudder to look at, as a possible ❝ event. 66 Mr. Pitt added, that the evils apprehended by Mr. Foster could only be remedied by two means: either by a commercial compact, similar to that which was rejected in 1785, or by an union of the two legislatures. He insisted upon the peculiar importance of drawing out the whole strength of the empire, and thus ensuring its safety at that critical moment. The peo ple of Ireland were proud, he believed, of being associated in the great contest, and must feel the advantage of augmenting the general force of the empire. Every statesman, every writer of any information on the subject has holden, that the measure most likely to augment the power of the British empire, was the Union and consolidation of every part of it. Great Britain had always felt a common interest in the safety of Ireland; but that interest was never so obvious and urgent as when the common enemy made her attack upon Britain through the medium of Ireland, and when the attack upon Ire land tended to deprive her of her connection with Britain, and to substitute in lieu of it the new government of the French republic. When that danger threatened Ireland, the purse of Great Britain was opened for the wants of Ireland, as for the necessities of England. Mr. Pitt remarked, that he well knew, that as long as Ireland was separated from Great Britain, any attempt on our part to pursue measures which we might think salutary, with respect to questions of contending sects or parties, the claimed rights of the Catholics, or the precautions necessary for the security of the Protestants, must certainly be a violation of the independence of that kingdom, and an usurpation of the right of deciding points, which could only be brought within our province by compact. He could not be inattentive to the events, that were passing before him, and he affirmed, that whoever considered the French as shewing by their conduct, that they deemed Ireland the weakest and most vulnerable part of the empire; whoever reflected on the dreadful and inexcusable cruelties instigated by the enemies of both countries, and on those lamentable severities, with which the exertions for the defence of Ireland were unhappily, but unavoidably, attended, and the necessity of which was itself one great aggravation of the crimes and treasons which led to them, must feel that, as it then stood composed, in the hostile division of its sects, in the animosities existing between ancient settlers and original inhabitants, in the ignorance and want of civilization, which marked that country more than almost any other country in Europe, in the unfortunate prevalence of Jacobin principles, arising from these causes, and augmenting their malignity, and which had produced the distressed state that all now deplored; must agree in thinking, that there was no cure but in the formation of a general imperial legislature, free alike from terror and from resentment, removed from the danger and agitation, uninfluenced by the prejudices, and uninflamed by the passions of that distracted country. Among the great and known defects of Ireland, one of the most prominent features was its want of industry and of capital. How were those wants to be supplied, but by blending more closely with Ireland the industry and the capital of Great Britain? But, above all, in the great religious distinctions between the people of Ireland, what was their situation? The Protestant feels that the claims of the Catholics threaten the existence of the Protestant ascendancy, while, on the other hand, the great body of Catholics feel the establishment of the national church, and their exclusion from the exercise of certain rights and privileges, as grievances. In this state of affairs, it becomes a matter of difficulty in the minds of many persons, whether it would be better to attend to the fears of the former, or to grant the claims of the latter. He was well aware, that the subject of religious distinction was a dangerous and delicate topic, especially when applied to such a country as Ireland. Where the established religion of the state was the same as the general religion of the empire, and where the property of the country was in the hands of a comparatively small number of persons professing that religion, while the religion of a great majority of the people was different, it was not easy to say, on general principles, what system of church establishment in such a country would be free from difficulty and inconvenience. By many, it would be contended, that the religion professed by a majority of the people would at least be entitled to an equality of privileges: but those who applied such an argument without qualification to the case of Ireland, surely forgot the principles, on which English interest and English connection had been established in that country, and on which its present legislature was formed. No man could say, that, in the present state of things, and while Ireland remained a separate kingdom, full concessions could be made to the Catholics, without endangering the state, and shaking the constitution of Ireland to its centre. On the other hand, when the conduct of the Catholics should be such as to make it safe for the government to admit them to the participation of the privileges granted to those of the established religion, and when the temper of the times should be favourable to such a measure, it was obvious that this question might be agitated in an united imperial parliament with much greater safety than it could be in a separate legislature. He also thought it certain that, even for whatever period it may be thought necessary, after the union, to withhold from the Catholics the enjoyment of those advantages, many of the objections which at present arose out of their situation would be removed, if the Protestant legislature were no longer separate and local, but general and imperial; and the Catholics themselves would at once feel a mitigation of the most goading and irritating of their present causes of complaint. He enumerated the general advantages, which Ireland would derive from the effects of the proposed arrangement; the protection which she would secure to herself in the hour of danger; the most effectual means of increasing her commerce and improv ing her agriculture, the command of English capital, the infusion of English manners and English industry, necessarily tending to meliorate her condition, to accelerate the progress of internal civilization, and to terminate those feuds and dissensions, which distracted the country, and which she did not possess within herself the power either to control or to extinguish. She would see the avenue to honours, to distinctions, and exalted situations in the general seat of empire, opened to all those, whose abilities and talents enabled them to indulge an honourable and laudable ambition. From the question of general advantage the minister proceeded to specific statements of the benefits, which Ireland might derive from the plan, in point of commerce and manufac tures. Having thus assigned his reasons for recommending an incorporate Union, Mr. Pitt noticed some objections which had been urged against it, particularly those which related to parliamentary Competency, and to the loss of the independence of the realm of Ireland. The minister spoke much at large upon the nature of civil power, because he felt, that the false and dangerous mockery of the sovereignty of the people was one of the chief elements of jacobinism, one of the favourite impostures calculated to mislead the understanding, and to flatter and inflame the passions of the mass of mankind, who had not the opportunity of examining and exposing it; and that as such, on every occasion, and in every shape in which it appeared, it ought to be combated and resisted by every friend to civil order, and to the peace and happiness of mankind. He next addressed some observations to those politicians, who deprecated the loss of national independence. In combating this general and abstract principle, which would operate as an objection to every Union between separate states, on the ground of the sacrifice of independence, he did not contend that there was in no case just ground for such a sentiment! Far from it; it might become, on many occasions, the first duty of a free and generous people. If there existed a country, which contained within itself the means of military protection and naval force necessary for its defence; which furnished objects of industry sufficient for the subsistence of its inhabitants, and pecuniary resources adequate to a dignified maintenance of the rank, which it had attained among the nations of the world; if, above all, it enjoyed the blessings of internal content and tranquillity, and possessed a distinct constitution of its own, the defects of which, if any, it was within itself capable of correcting; if that constitution were equal if not superior, to any other in the world; or (which was nearly the same thing) if those, who lived under it believed it to be so, and fondly cherished that opinion; he could easily conceive that such a country must be jealous of any measure, which even by its own consent, under the authority of its own lawful government, was to associate it as a part of a larger and more extensive empire. But if there were a country, which against the greatest of all dangers that threatened its peace and security, had not adequate means of protecting itself without the aid of another nation; if that other were a neighbouring and kindred nation, speaking the same language, whose laws and customs were the same in principle, but were carried to a greater degree of perfection, with a more extensive commerce, and more abundant means of acquiring and diffusing national wealth: the stability of whose government, and the excellence of whose constitution, were more than ever the admiration and envy of Europe, and to which the very country of which they were speaking could only boast an imperfect resemblance; under such circumstances, what conduct would be prescribed by every rational principle of dignity, of honour, or of interest? He asked whether that were not a faithful description of the circumstances, which ought to dispose Ireland to an Union, and whether Great Britain were not precisely the nation, with which on those principles, a country, situated as Ireland was, would desire to unite. Did an Union, under such circumstances, by free consent, and on just and equal terms, deserve to be branded as a proposal for subjecting Ireland to a foreign yoke? Was it not rather the free and voluntary association of two great countries, which joined for their common benefit in one empire, where each would retain its proportional weight and importance, under the security of equal laws, reciprocal affection, and inseparable interests; and which wanted nothing but that indissoluble connection to render both invincible? -Nec Teucris Italos parere jubebo, Nec nova regna peto: paribus se legibus ambæ The objection drawn from the injury, which Ireland might suffer by the absence of her chief nobility and gentry, who would flock to the Imperial metropolis, was obviated by remarking, that, though this effect would take place during a part of the year, the disadvantage would be more than counterbalanced by the operation of the system in other respects. To prove the assertion, Mr. Pitt entered into a very close chain of reasoning from presumption, analogy, and experience as to Scotland. As the adversaries of the Union had propagated an idea, that the main principle of the measure was to subject Ireland to a load of debt and an increase of taxes, he again looked to Scotland. Was there any instance where, with forty-five members on her part, and five hundred and thirteen on ours, that part of the United kingdom had paid more than its due proportion to the general burthens? Could it then be apprehended that we should tax Ireland more heavily when she became associated with ourselves? To tax in its due proportion the whole of the empire, to the utter exclusion of the idea of the predominance of one part of society over another, was the great characterístic of British finance, as equality of laws was of the British constitution. When they should come to the details of that proposition, it would be in their power to fix, for any number of years that should be thought fit, the proportion, by which the contribution of Ireland to the expences of the state should be regulated, and to determine that these proportions should not be such as would make a contribution greater, than the amount of its present necessary expences, as a separate kingdom. Even after that |