CHAP. 1785. First proposition carried. 19th. The others debated and agreed to. 22nd and 24th. 30th. Debate on the report. labour in Ireland. On this point, he cited the evidence of the intelligent Mr. Peel, to shew that, as the finer parts of work cannot be carried on without the ruder, the greater part of superior manufacturers would abound where the less cultivated artist was most employed. Thus would an advantage be secured in manufactures of the finer kind, while in those of coarser quality Ireland must gain a decisive superiority. At five o'clock in the morning, an adjournment was moved, but negatived*; as was a motion for an amendment by Mr. Pelham†; and, the first or general resolution having been carried, the House adjourned at six o'clock. When the subject was next before the House, Lord North appeared the chief opponent of the third proposition; he was supported by Mr. Burke and Mr. Fox, and the minister by Mr. Grenville, Mr. Wilberforce, and Mr. Dundas; and the resolution was carried at half-past six o'clock. The remaining propositions were voted in the committee, after debates equally animated and an exact investigation of every point advanced. On bringing up the report, and debating the resolutions collectively, the ground of opposition was completely changed; and they who had predicted the ruin of England, and the undue exaltation of Ireland, now treated the propositions as an attempt equally insidious and injurious, tending to subject Ireland, under the specious pretext of regulating duties, to a new system of taxation, at the discretion of the English Parliament. This discrepancy did not escape the attention of Mr. Pitt, and the manner in which he treated it, together with observations which he made on the inflammatory tendency of some of the speeches, drew on him the angry reprehension of Mr. Fox. Many qualities and habits in the personal and political character of the minister, he observed, had often surprised, and, he believed, confounded the speculations CHAP. LVIII. 1785. of every man who had much considered or analyzed his disposition; but his conduct on that night had reduced all that was unaccountable, incoherent, and contradictory in his character, in times past, to a mere nothing. He had left his hearers rapt in amazement, uncertain whether most to wonder at his extraordinary speech, or the frontless confidence with which it had been delivered. He concluded a speech, characterised by profound and solid argument, although mixed up with unsparing invective, by saying he Propositions would not barter English commerce for Irish slavery. agreed to. Several amendments having been made, the resolutions were agreed to, and ordered to be communicated to the Lords, with a request of a conference. 11th and 14th. In the upper House, the debate displayed no vio- June 7-8. Propositions lence; but the opposition was strenuous and pertina- debated in the cious. Counsel were heard, and witnesses examined; Lords. but neither the facts disclosed, nor the arguments founded on them, afford any novelty: a few amendments were made; and a short protest was signed by Address voted. six peers. The resolutions were presented to the Draft of a King, with an address. A draft of a bill was pre- bill sent to pared, giving effect to the resolutions, and with them transmitted to Ireland. July 25th. Ireland. Ireland. Parliament. In the interval which had thus elapsed, the ele- Opposition ments of resistance in that country had become conso- prepared in lidated, and a vigorous opposition to the propositions was prepared. When Mr. Orde intimated his inten- August 2, tion to introduce them, and requested an adjournment displayed in of ten days, Mr. Dennis Browne declared the arrangement totally impossible; Mr. Flood thought that no man would venture to bring the business forward in that House, and gave notice of a motion to declare that they would maintain in full and undiminished force the supremacy of the Parliament to legislate for Ireland in all cases. Mr. Grattan also pronounced the resolutions subversive of Irish liberty. Violent speeches. On the day appointed, Mr. Orde again required a 11th. delay until the morrow; and the indulgence was not granted without many bitter animadversions. efforts of those who opposed the resolutions was to re VOL. IV. M The present them as an attempt on the part of Eng- 66 66 Under circumstances thus unfavourable, and with a certain knowledge of the adverse opinion of the people at large, Mr. Orde moved for leave to bring in the expected bill. His speech was temperate, and explained clearly and exactly the several resolutions on which the bill was founded, their operation as severally considered, and their general effect as a plan of commercial treaty. Many opposition members spoke; but the oration which has been most applauded, and which seems to have fixed the attention of the public and the fate of the measure, was that of Mr. Grattan*. His effort was to make England and Ireland appear as rival and contending parties, the one endeavouring to over-reach, to coerce, and to enslave the other. Thus he gained the advantage of treating all attempts made by the promoters of the measure as mere endeavours of Englishmen, or their partizans, at encroachment and injustice tending to slavery, while he and his adher All writers concur in bestowing the highest eulogies on this speech. See Hardy's Life of Lord Charlemont, vol. ii. p. 148. ents stood on the lofty eminence of men defending CHAP. their country, her rights and her freedom. LVIII. 1785. The Attorney-general made an able speech in support of the propositions; but the division on Mr. Orme's motion, affording a majority of nineteen only*, Small mathat number was not deemed sufficient to sustain so jority. weighty a measure: when, therefore, the bill had been read a first time, Mr. Orde moved to have it printed, for the information of the country at large; but de- 15th. clared that it would not then be further proceeded in. This event was hailed with joy, as if the nation had received a great deliverance. In Dublin there was a Rejoicings. general illumination, and the whole country partook in the triumph. The measure abandoned. Sept. 5th. Even when the bill had been given up, a long Mr. Flood's debate, not unmixed with personal altercation, took motion. place in the House of Commons, in consequence of an attempt of Mr. Flood to renew his motion respecting the power to legislate. At a late hour the Speaker complained of indisposition, and the House adjourned; at their next meeting the clerk produced a letter, in which his advanced age, the decline of his strength, Resignation and (he was modestly pleased to add) of his under- of the standing, with the fear of interruption to public business, were assigned by the Speaker as reasons which had determined him to retire. The House voted thanks to the right honourable Edmond Sexton Pery for his constant and unwearied attention, his unshaken integrity, and steady impartiality, during fourteen years; and they added an address, praying the King to confer some signal mark of his favour. The right honourable John Foster was unanimously elected his successor. Speaker. Succeded by 6th. Lord Lieu Address to the At the last moment of the session, when an address to the Lord Lieutenant was moved, read, paragraph by paragraph, and unanimously assented to by the members tenant. present, Mr. Grattan, who came in toward the conclusion, uttered a violent denunciation against the commercial propositions, and objected to the address, as it * 127 to 108. CHAP. 1785. January 25th. Sessions of England. Debate on the address. The Earl of Lord North. might encourage a hope that they would be renewed. A vehement debate ensued, after which the original motion was carried by a majority of ten to one*. Beside the affairs of Ireland, the King, in opening the session, recommended to the attention of the English Parliament the reports of the Commissioners of accounts, and the regulation of the public offices, and assured them of the good disposition of the continental powers toward this country. mons. Although this was noticed as one of the shortest speeches ever delivered†, and although, in the House of Lords, the address was voted without objection, it occasioned considerable debate in the House of ComThe Earl of Surrey complained of omission; the matters adverted to were of infinite importance, while it remained undisclosed whether it was intended to impose new burthens or not; nothing was said about the reduction of the army; the proceedings in Ireland were most extraordinary; and, in this country, an attack had recently been made on the rights of juries, which had shocked and alarmed the whole kingdom‡. Was attention to be called to that, or to the Westminster scrutiny? Lord North expressed his sentiments strongly against parliamentary reform; and Mr. Burke coincided in these opinions, adding that he understood it was intended to consist in an addition of sixteen members. If any alteration were made, he should consider 130 to 13. In reciting the above proceedings, the debates, both in England and Ireland, are rather described than detailed. They were of such great length, that even an outline of them would have occupied more space than is due to such a measure, although they afford, in many respects, an interesting display of the times, and will amply repay the curiosity of him who shall bestow on them the labour of perusal. See also Plowden's History of Ireland, vol. ii. p. 108 to 142; Seward's Colectanea, vol. ii. c. 2; Macpherson's Annals, vol. iv. p. 83; Grattan's Speeches, vol. i. p. 214. I have also consulted a very large number of tracts published on the occasion, particularly Lord Sheffield's Observations on the Manufactures, Trade, and present State of Ireland, 1785. Letters on the same Subject, and in answer to Lord Sheffield by Sir Lucius O'Brien. The proposed System of Trade with Ireland explained, Cadell; Reply to the Treasury pamphlet, intitled "The proposed System," &c. Debrett. Answer to the Reply, Stockdale. A candid Review of Mr. Pitt's twenty Resolutions. The Irish Protest to the ministerial Manifesto; with many more. By Mr. Burke. See his speech, Deb. vol. xxiv. p. 1399. By Mr. Justice Buller in a late trial, "The King against Dr. Shipley, "Dean of St. Asaph." |
