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To Correspondents.

THUCYDIDES is right in his supposition. That part of our work, continued under the head " Military Force of the Turkish Empire" has never before, either collectively or in detached pieces, appeared in English.

MATILDA'S lines cannot be inserted. The poetry is " run mad;" and, what is worse, the subject is indecent.

prose

G. may have his Essay on Chimeras by applying to the Publisher, Something more solid is necessary at this season of the year.

*

*The Title Page, Preface, and Index to the Second Volume of the Union Magazine shall be given with our next Number.

UNION MAGAZINE,

AND

IMPERIAL REGISTER.

No. XII.-DECEMBER, 1801.

HISTORY OF THE UNION WITH IRELAND.
[Continued from Page 287 of our last ]

HAVING

AVING given a short, but faithful, sketch of the principal arguments, urged in the debates of the 22d and 23d of January. 1799, we now come to the discussions that took place on the 24th and 25th, on the motion for expunging the paragraph from the address, which expressed the readiness of the House to enter into the consideration of such measures, as should be most likely to "consolidate into one lasting fabric, the strength, the power, and the resources of the British Empire."

Lord Tyrone, the reporter of the committee, appointed to pre pare the address to his Majesty, having read it paragraph by paragraph, Sir Laurence Parsons declared his satisfaction that the subject had come once more before the House, as it gave them an opportunity of reconsidering their late decision, and of vindicating themselves and their country from the disgrace of counte nancing a proposition so degrading as that which had for its object the surrender of their constitution. He had hoped, that in 1782, the final adjustment, which was then made, would in the language of the parliament of that day, put an end to all controversies between the two kingdoms for ever. Such controversies had always been injurious to the government of Ireland, and dangerous to her connection with England. Previous to 1782, when Ireland was struggling for her independence, and Great Britain contending against it, the consequence was, that all the principal persons in official situations at the time, became by continually voting with ministers, against the just claims of the nation, so odious to the people, that the country could place no confidence in a government composed of those very men, who had so long resisted it. Sixteen years had removed many of these men, and nearly obliterated the recollection of these old conflicts, and just at the moment it was to be hoped a government well conducted, might possess the public confidence, this unfortunate question of an Union was brought forward, reviving political controversies, and kindling anew political

jealousies

jealousies between the two kingdoms. It had been argued in support of an Union, that Ireland was too poor to maintain her independence. A complete answer would, however, be found in the speech from the throne, which represented the commerce and revenue as increasing. Was it not a subject of universal notoriety, that the wealth and revenue of the country had augmented in the last twenty years, beyond any precedent whatever; and yet gentlemen were assured they were not rich enough to maintain their Parliamentary constitution, although they had preserved it for six hundred years, while they were so much more poor? Others contended that an Union would tranquillize the kingdom. The answer to that would be found in almost ever speech of the country members, who had spoken, and who had asserted, that it would, if persisted in, produce the most violent convulsion. In truth, why should a measure be supposed likely to tranquillize the kingdom, which had not been called for by any class or description of the people, and which had been deprecated by every body that had taken it into consideration, with the exception of the corporation of Cork? The assistance given to the kingdom by England, in sending over her militia and fencible regiments, had been strongly dwelt upon; but though he highly appreciated that assistance, and thought the gallant men employed in that service were indebted to the gratitude of the nation; yet he could not forget that Ireland had rendered similar services to Great Britain. In the American war, she had stripped herself of all her disposable force to man the armaments of England, and armed voluntarily in her own defence. In the beginning of the present war, she had sent almost the whole of her army to fight the battles of Great Britain on the continent, and in the West Indies. Some gentlemen admitted, that Ireland would be a loser by the increase of absentees, but maintained that the loss in that respect would be countervailed by the number of English merchants and manufac turers, who would settle there, and constitute a new and valuable order of middlemen. The same mode of reasoning was urged in the American war, when the free trade was gained; and what was the fact? No English merchants or manufacturers did come over. What inducement would they have to settle in Ireland after the Union, which they had not five or ten years ago? The only possible extension of trade which England had still to grant, was that generally known by the name of the channel trade. Yet that, in the first instance was but of little importance, and in the the next, it had been already promised by every representative of British government in that House for many years past. It was promised by Lord Hobart; it was promised by Mr. Douglas; it was promised by Mr. Pelham; and it was promised by the present noble secretary; and in such explicit and emphatic terms, that he said, "If no one else did, he would bring it forward, whenever a season of tranquillity arrived; and that, if it should be resisted by government, he would oppose the ministers who should be inimical to it." If all these assurances were then intitled to credit, the extension of the channel trade would be obtained gratuitously,

and

and there would be no occasion to purchase it by the surrender of the constitution. It had also been agreed, that the present constitution of the country could not stand; that two legislatures coequal and co-ordinate in the same erasure were incompatible; that they might decide upon the same question in contrary ways, and that one might declare for peace, while the other might be strenuous for war.

That objection was exactly the same, as the objection of a noted writer, Thomas Paine, to the English constitution. He ridiculed it for having three estates, which, admitted to be co-ordinate, might, from their clashing views and interests disagree when harmony was essentially requisite. But what was the fact? That the objection both of Thomas Paine to the English constitution, and of the noble Lord to Irish independence were theoretical objections, contradicted by constant experience. The same kind of objection might be made to the trial by jury, that twelve men would not agree in a verdict; but experience contradicted the theory, and the benefits of that admirable institution in practice, had been felt from the time of the Saxons to the present day. Gentlemen were bound to consider what Ireland had already yielded to England, and then judge if the government were well administered, whether there could be any danger of a difference of will, or of any breach of connection between the two countries. By giving to England the appointment of the king, she had given to her the appointment of the first branch of the legislature, with a negative upon all the laws, so that Ireland could never pass a law, unless the Great Seal of England were affixed. By giving to England the appointment of the King, she also gave to her the creation of the second branch of the legislature, and reserved for herself only the nomination of the third branch, namely, the House of Commons. She further gave up the distribution of all the occasional and hereditary honours of the State; the appointment of all the bishops with the whole patronage of the church ;-the nomination of the judges, with all the judicial offices of the nation;--that of all the officers of the revenue, and the appointment of the chief governor and privy council. She gave up to England the command of her army, militia, and yeomen, with the power of declaring peace and war. In point of trade too, she gave her a monopoly of the whole trade in the East and in the West; she bound herself to carry on her commerce with English colonies only, the product of which were the dearest in the world, instead of taking them from other settlements when they could be obtained upon cheaper terms. She gave her besides the power of making her treaties of commerce, negotiated by her ministers and ambassadors, and she paid to Great Britain an income in money of about a million and a half, which went to absentees, a necessary consequence of the connection, and a kind of tribute to it, greater than any vanquished country ever paid, for a time, to its conquerors. Yet, all this he was willing to yield to England, provided Ireland was allowed to retain her constitution. That constitution was established by the original compact between the first English King,

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who ruled in Ireland and the Irish people. It was afterwards ratified by repeated assurances, charters, and statutes; the nation had been in possession of it for upwards of six hundred years, and he trusted, that they would not part with it but with their lives.

Mr. Cory said, that as much stress had been laid upon the constitution of 1782, and as it had been positively asserted that the measures now proposed, went to sacrifice what had then been gained, it became necessary to examine what the case of 1782 really was. Great Britain at that time exercised a power to legis. late for Ireland, paramount to her own legislature, which Ireland resisted upon the constitutional principle of not being bound by the authority of any body of men extrinsic of her own legislature, in which alone the people of Ireland were represented. The principle laid down and strenuously maintamed was, that legislation and representation were inseparably connected by the constitution, and that Ireland not being represented in, could not be bound by the British legislature. The question was the same as that of America, where resistance had been set up against legisla tion without representation. Founded in that undeniable principle, Ireland succeeded in her claims, to be free from any authority of the parliament of Great Britain, in which she had no share-no representation; and the act of renunciation, giving up all claim of that nature on the part of the Parliament of Great Britain was passed there, and the independence of Ireland finally established. But in 1785, the commercial propositions again set up an indirect invasion of the independence so established, by a proposed compact, that Ireland should, on commercial subjects, pass laws similar to those which might be passed in Great Britain. That proposition came to the same effect, as if Ireland was to be legislated for by the Parliament of Great Britain, in which she had no share, and such a compact was accordingly resisted; and the constitution of 1782 was maintained and established, founded, as it was, upon the inseparable connection between representation and legislation. Those then who asserted that the present measure would, if adopted, be a surrender of the principles of 1782, were called upon to shew, that it went to establish that Ireland should again be bound by a Parliament wherein she was to have no share, and not to be represented. The reverse was, however, distinctly the fact; for the measure had for its object, not that Ireland should be bound by the British legislature without being represented in it; but that the two legislatures should be united together into one body, in which Ireland was to have her due proportionate share and fair and constitutional representation; so that the legislatures of the three kingdoms should be melted into one mass, that their triple powers should be reduced to unity on just terms, and that they should form one great constitutional representative legislature for the Empire. It was therefore evident, that those who supported the measure, were acting in perfect consistency with the principles established in 1782, and maintained and enforced in 1785.

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