said United Kingdom shall continue limited, in the same manner as the succession to the crown of the two kingdoms was before settled, and according to the terms of the union between England and Scotland.

3. That the United Kingdom shall be represented in one and the same parliament, to be called "the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland."

4. That four lords spiritual, by rotation of sessions, and twenty-eight lords temporal of Ireland, elected for life by the peers of Ireland, shall sit and vote, on the part of Ireland, in the House of Lords; and that one hundred commoners (two for each county, two for Dublin and Cork each, one for the University of Trinity College, and one for each of the thirty-one most considerable cities, towns, and boroughs,) be the number to sit and vote, on the part of Ireland, in the House of Commons of the said United Kingdom.

Irish peers, not being elected to sit in the house of lords, may be elected members of the commons house for any place in Great Britain; in which case they shall be considered merely as commoners.

His majesty may create one peerage of Ireland for every three that become extinct; and when the peerage of Ireland shall be reduced to one hundred, a peerage may be created for every one that becomes extinct, so that the peerage of Ireland may be kept up to one hundred over and above those Irish peers who are also peers of Great Britain or England.

5. That the Churches of England and Ireland, as now by law established, be united into one Protestant Episcopal Church, to be called the United Church of England and Ireland; that the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of the said united Church shall be and remain

the same as already established for the Church of England; and that its continuance as the Established Church of England and Ireland shall be an essential and fundamental part of the union; and that the Church of Scotland shall continue as established by law and the Scotch union.

6. That the subjects of Great Britain and Ireland shall be on the same footing in respect of trade and navigation in all ports and places in the United Kingdom and its dependencies, and in all treaties made by his majesty with foreign powers.

8. That the laws and courts of the respective kingdoms shall remain as by law established, subject to the regulations of parliament from time to time, provided, however, that all writs of error and appeals, which might have been decided in the respective Houses of Lords of the two kingdoms, shall be decided by the House of Lords of the United Kingdom; and provided, also, that there shall be an instance-court of admiralty in Ireland, the appeal from which shall be to his majesty's delegates in the Irish court of chancery; and that all existing laws contrary to these articles shall be repealed.

Thus was the power and greatness of the whole nation increased and secured by the thorough consolidation of the three kingdoms under one imperial crown and parlia

ment.

It must, however, be admitted, that the preponderance which the numbers of the English members of the House of Commons gives to that portion of the United Kingdom, may, in particular instances, afford a ground, or at least a colour, for Scotland or Ireland to consider themselves neglected or unfairly treated. But, on the other hand, if parties are pretty equally divided among the English members, the Scotch and Irish may be enabled to turn

the scale on every important question, so as to decide, in fact, which party shall have possession of the government of the empire. To decide that question is, virtually, to govern the empire. The Irish, being now represented by 105 members, and being also particularly disposed to unite in defence of their peculiar objects or interests, are more able to exercise that power than the Scotch, who, besides that they have only 50 representatives, are less likely to make any question a national one, because their objects are more in unison with those of England.

But the strongest reason in favour of a union of the legislatures of the three kingdoms is, that they are all so powerful, and in such close vicinity to each other, that it would be impossible for any one of the three to govern the other two, like colonies, by means of a governor and ministers, responsible only to the parliament of the principal kingdom, and not to the provincial parliaments. They could not be made to submit to such a condition, except by a standing army, which would destroy all liberty. Such a connexion would be a source of weakness and decay to all the parties concerned. But the extensive colonies and foreign relations of this country would still further increase these difficulties. The three parliaments might adopt directly opposite lines of colonial policy; and it might be disputed, indeed, which of the three kingdoms stood in a nearer relation to a given colony.

Again; the legislature of one country might support the minister in going to war, while that of another kingdom might impeach him for not remaining at peace. Thus, the queen might have a ministry carrying on war with the support of the parliament in England, and another ministry in Ireland, supported by the Irish parliament, advising her majesty to remain at peace. To which

of the two sets of advisers should her majesty listen? Could she prudently go to war without the support of the resources of her whole empire? There would be this ad

ditional difficulty in such a case,

the crown would have

to decide between two or three sets of advisers, and would thus be placed in an invidious and dangerous, if not an unconstitutional position.

Again; there might be a whig or a radical ministry in Ireland, with a strong majority in the Irish parliament, and an equally powerful conservative or tory administration in England. The policy of the empire would thereby be rendered weak and temporising, and its weight and influence with foreign nations would be materially injured.

No system can preserve the unity of the empire, which is so essential to its greatness and prosperity, excepting either the thorough union of the three kingdoms under one crown and parliament, or the subordination of two among them as colonies, under the supreme government of the remaining kingdom.

The consideration of the remaining portion of the British empire must be reserved for the ensuing chapter.

CHAPTER IV.

OF THE COLONIES, PLANTATIONS, AND OTHER FOREIGN POSSESSIONS OF THE CROWN.

THE imperial crown of Great Britain and Ireland has many important dominions, besides the United Kingdom, from whence the whole empire is governed.

Such are the colonies or plantations, and other foreign possessions of the crown, in each of the four continents.

None of these are represented in the imperial parliament, or take any direct share in the government of the parent state; but it is impossible to omit, in a commentary on the British constitution, some account of territories which add so much to the power and prosperity of the empire, and perform so important a part in its politics.

The colonies or plantations are divided into three classes, with reference to the mode by which they were originally acquired and annexed to the crown.

Those modes are- -1st, conquest; 2dly, cession by treaty; and, 3dly, occupancy.

And, first, of those which are acquired by conquest from an enemy.

By the law of nations, not only the property in things movable and immovable, taken in lawful war, is thereby transferred, but the sovereignty over towns, territories, provinces, and states, is acquired, by their being forcibly taken possession of by a lawful belligerent, and the dominion over them renounced by the person or body in