debates proved, beyond the possibility of question, the overwhelming advantage which Mr. Fortescue's precedent had given to those, who were determined to dispose of their consistency under colour of their moderation.

The session closed, and the last discussion on the subject of the union, told that the triumph of its supporters was certain. Lord Castlereagh proved that he had not allowed the advantage, which Mr. Ponsonby's gross error had given him, to pass without being turned to fatal account-and when Lord Corry introduced a motion, similar in effect to that ill-judged proposition of Mr. Ponsonby, to cushion for ever any scheme for legislative union; after a long and animated debate, it was rejected by a majority of fifty-eight!

CHAPTER XXXIV.

PROGRESS OF THE UNION THROUGH THE BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS.

THE recess, which followed the adjournment, was all that was wanted by the Irish government to effect the object they had aimed at. Lord Castlereagh with infinite ability pressed the advantage Mr. Ponsonby's unguarded motion had given him; and a determined minister resolved, coute qui coute, to carry out a favourite measure, "with the treasury in his hands, and patronage in his note-book," is seldom known to fail. In the interval, when the parties were removed from the presence of each other, the viceroy was an able assistant to the secretary. He increased his popularity by visiting the provinces-was entertained in his tour by the nobility and gentry-feasted by the corporations-the farm-house in turn with the mansion was honoured by the presence of the king's representative-and he returned to the castle with the golden opinions of many, who had hitherto regarded his government with jealousy or indifference.

The stormy debates which followed the introduction of the project of a legislative union in the Irish house, were simultaneous with a more temperate discussion of this important measure in the British Commons. The subject was brought before the English parliament under the form of a message from the king, on the 22nd of January, to the following effect :

"His Majesty is persuaded that the unremitting industry, with which our enemies persevere in their avowed design of effecting 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 finally defeating this design, by disposing 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 consolidate the strength, power, and resources, of the British empire."

Mr. Sheridan gave the purposed union his strongest opposition. His chief argument was national disinclination to the measure; he contended that there was not a single proof of the people of Ireland manifesting a wish to unite; on the contrary, they had unequivocally declared themselves hostile to the proposition; and if it were effected, it would be a union accomplished by surprise, fraud, corruption, and intimidation. Indeed, had it been told that the whole people of Ireland had declared that they would shake off all allegiance, and that the parliament had violated the rights of the people; that the country did

not prosper under its constitution; then, he said, there were strong reasons for agreeing to the proposition of union; but this had not been the case the Irish Commons had been thanked for their patriotic vigilance in defeating their internal enemies. Mr. Sheridan concluded, by proposing the following amendment :

"At the same time to express the surprise and deep regret with which the house, for the first time, learned from his Majesty, that the final adjustment, which, upon his Majesty's gracious recommendation, took place between the two kingdoms in 1782, had not produced the effects expected from that solemn settlement; and, farther, humbly to express to his Majesty, that his faithful Commons had strong reasons to believe, that it was in the contemplation of his Majesty's ministers to propose a union of the legislatures of the two kingdoms, notwithstanding that final and solemn adjustment; humbly imploring his Majesty not to listen to the counsels of those who should advise such a measure at the present crisis."

Mr. Canning replied to Mr. Sheridan, and successfully combated the arguments he had adduced. His honourable friend had contended, that this was not a proper time to discuss such a question, when Ireland was in such a convulsed state. The house could not but remember, he said, that for three years past those who were in the habit of opposing his Majesty's ministers, had repeatedly been calling for inquiries into the state of affairs of Ireland, though such inquiries were not then brought within the view of the house; but now it seemed they had no wish for any investigation, and all their curiosity had subsided. Surely his honourable friend had not inquired into the state of Ireland since late events had taken place. Was it not notorious, that the object of the traitorous machinations which had given rise to the rebellion, was not any partial change of men or measures, but a total subversion of the existing government and constitution of the country, and the complete destruction of all connection between the sister kingdom and Great Britain? After the detection of those deep and destructive plots, surely it ought to be deemed expedient to examine into, and adopt the most effectual means of counteracting, the pernicious consequences that might still flow from them.

"He next made some observations upon Dr. Duigenan's * answer to

*"This eccentric person, whose celebrity originated from his crusades for Protestant supremacy, would probably have been a conspicuous character in whatever station he might have been placed, or in whatever profession he might have adopted. Incapable of moderation upon any subject, he possessed too much vigorous and active intellect to have passed through life an unsignalized spectator; and if he had not at an early period enlisted as a champion of Luther, it is more than probable he would, with equal zeal and courage, have borne the standard for St. Peter's followers. A hot, rough, intrepid, obstinate mind, strengthened by very considerable erudition, and armed by a memory of the most extraordinary retention, contributed their attributes equally to his pen and his speeches.

"He considered invective as the first, detail as the second, and decorum as the last quality of a public orator; and he never failed to exemplify these principles. "A partisan in his very nature, every act of his life was influenced by invincible prepossessions; a strong guard of inveterate prejudices were sure, on all subjects,

Mr. Grattan, on which he passed handsome compliments, remarking that the Doctor stated it as an unavoidable alternative, either that a plan of union must be adopted, or that some other must be devised, for the fortification of the Protestant ascendancy. The hon, gentleman had strongly insisted on the intimidation which the presence of an armed force would be likely to impress on the public mind of Ireland; it was by promoting such a union of interests and affections, as this measure would insure, that we might hope to remove the necessity of keeping a large armed force in Ireland; and removing that necessity, in fact, would remove one of the objects of his own censure and complaint. But where were the effects of that intimidation which the hon. gentlemen seemed to apprehend? It surely did not affect either the liberty of speech, or the liberty of the press; both, he remarked, had been pretty freely indulged on the present subject. He also observed, that some of the most strenuous friends of reform in

to keep moderation at a distance, and occasionally prevented even common reason from obtruding on his dogmas, or interrupting his speeches.

"A mingled strain of boisterous invective, unlimited assertion, rhapsody and reasoning, erudition and ignorance, were alike perceptible in his writings and orations; yet there were few of either, from which a dispassionate compiler might not have selected ample materials for an able production.

"He persuaded himself that he was a true fanatic; but though the world gave him full credit for his practical intolerance, there were many exceptions to the consistency of his professions, and many who doubted his theoretic sincerity. His intolerance was too outrageous to be honest, and too unreasonable to be sincere; and whenever his Protestant extravagance appeared to have even one moment of a lucid interval, it was immediately predicted that he would die a Catholic.

"His politics could not be termed either uniform or coherent. He had a latent spark of independent spirit in his composition, which the minister sometimes found it difficult to extinguish, and dangerous to explode. He had the same respect for a Protestant bishop that he would probably have had for a Catholic cardinal. Episcopacy was his standard; and when he shewed symptoms of running restive to the government, the primate of Ireland was called in to be the pacificator.

"He held a multiplicity of public offices at the same time, unconnected with government. He was Vicar General to most of the bishops; and whenever he conceived the rights of the Church were threatened, his bristles instantly arose, as it were by instinct; his tusks were bared for combat; he moved forward for battle; and would have shewn no more mercy to the government than he would have done to the patriots.

"He injured the reputation of Protestant ascendancy by his extravagant support of the most untenable of its principles. He served the Catholics by the excess of his calumnies, and aided their claims to amelioration, by personifying that virulent sectarian intolerance which was the very subject of their grievances.

"He had, however, other traits, which frequently disclosed qualities of a very superior description. His tongue and his actions were constantly at variance; he was hospitable and surly; sour and beneficent; prejudiced and liberal; friendly and inveterate. His bad qualities he exposed without reserve to the public; his good ones he husbanded for private intercourse. Many of the former were fictitious; all the latter were natural. He was an honest man, with an outrageous temper and perverted judgment; and, as if he conceived that right was wrong, he sedulously endeavoured to conceal his philanthropy under the garb of a misanthrope.

"In private society, he was often the first in conviviality; and when his memory, his classic reading, and his miscellaneous information, were turned to the purposes of humour or of anecdote, they gave a quaint, joyous, eccentric cast to his conversation, highly entertaining to strangers, and still more so to those accustomed to the display of his versatilities."-Barrington's Personal Sketches.

Ireland had frequently said, that they wanted only to be brought nearer to the perfection of England, and desired that they might enjoy the substantial blessings of the British constitution.

Mr. Sheridan withdrew his amendment, and the original motion was carried without a division.

On the 31st January, his Majesty's message was taken into consideration, and Mr. Pitt addressed the house. The defeat of the Irish government on the 24th was known, and the Chancellor observed, that the result of a similar communication to the parliament of Ireland would have opened a more favourable prospect than at present existed of the speedy accomplishment of a measure which he then proposed: however, he said, he had been disappointed by the proceedings of the Irish House of Commons. He was convinced that the parliament of Ireland possessed the power, the entire competence, to accept or reject a proposition of this nature-a power which he by no means meant to dispute; but while he admitted the rights of the parliament of Ireland, he felt that, as a member of parliament of Great Britain, he had a right to exercise, and a duty to perform, viz. to express the general nature and outline of the plan, which, in his estimation, would tend to insure the safety and the happiness of the two kingdoms. Should parliament be of opinion that it was calculated to produce mutual advantage to the two kingdoms, he should propose it to be recorded, that the parliament of Great Britain was ready to abide by it, leaving it to the legislature of Ireland to reject or adopt it hereafter upon a full consideration of the subject. Mr. Pitt continued; but as his arguments were embodied in the resolutions he proposed, it would be useless to repeat them. These were thus worded:

"1. That in order to promote and secure the essential interests of Great Britain and Ireland, and to consolidate the strength, power, and resources of the British empire, it will be advisable to concur in such measures as may best tend to unite the two kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland into one kingdom, in such manner, and on such terms and conditions as may be established by acts of the respective parliaments of his Majesty's said kingdoms.

"2. That it appears to this committee, that it would be fit to propose, as the first article, to serve as a basis to the said union, that the said kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland shall, upon a day to be agreed upon, be united into one kingdom, by the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

"3. That for the same purpose it appears also to this committee, that it would be fit to propose that the succession to the monarchy and the imperial crown of the said united kingdoms shall continue limited and settled, in the same manner as the imperial crown of the said kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland now stands limited and settled, according to the existing laws, and to the terms of the union between England and Scotland.

"4. That for the same purpose it appears also to this committee, that it would be fit to propose that the said United Kingdom be presented in one and the same parliament, to be styled The Parliament of the United