landed in Ireland, notwithstanding that lord Torrington was at sea with a formidable fleet: and one in the succeeding year, when the same attempt was made with success, although admiral Russel did every thing in his power to prevent it. As to Ireland, lord Grenville was ready to allow, that its defence, as well as that of England, depended on the fleet: but the internal state of Ireland, notwithstanding all that had been alleged, he had the satisfaction to assure their lordships, was by no means such as to render such an invasion at all alarming. The French affected to have some hopes of being joined in Ireland; but the event shewed how much they were mistaken. This was a convincing argument in answer to those who declaimed on the discontents in Ireland, and would, he hoped, prevent or be recollected in all future discussions on that subject. He begged leave, in justice to his majesty's ministers, to bring to their lordships' recollection, the different instances in which the naval undertakings of the French had, in the course of the present war, been defeated. The shameful and cowardly conduct of Richery, after ne left Toulon, and the manner in which he avoided the British squadron till he was strengthened by the accession of a British fleet; the event of the first of June, one of the most memorable in the history of nautical affairs; and the late decisive victory, were evidence on which the defence of the country particularly depended. Whatever we might feel for the miscarriage of the undertakings of our allies on the continent, in our naval undertakings there was nothing but tri

dition failed, the whole blame was thrown upon ministers, without stopping to ascertain, whether they were, in fact, guilty. It was supposed, that they could, at pleasure, command the winds and waves, and send a fleet up or down the chan⚫nel at a moment's warning. It had been represented, though without loss on our part, as a national disgrace: yet whatever failure there was, it was on the side of the enemy; who had lost, in all, he be lieved, eleven armed vessels. It might have been supposed, from the manner in which some noble lords had spoken, that this was a complete triumph of the French fleet overours: whereas, in fact, their only boast was, that they had succeeded in escaping from our fleet. When, before the administration of the present ministry, would the French have condescended to make such a boast? When, before the existence of the present ministry, would they not have considere i it as a disgrace? Noble lords had complimented ministry justly, though unintentionally. "You have not, said he, been able to catch this miserable wreck of a French fleet." Who, exclaimed lord Grenville, made it a wreck? The present government. In no former administration, he observed, had this country ever been able to keep two fleets in the channel; each of them equal to that of the French; the one ready for sailing, the other blocking up Brest. But if noble lords supposed, that because our fleet was superior, the enemy, if the administration had directed it properly, could not have got to the coast of Ireland, he would refer them to two instances-one in 1689, in which year the French

umph

:

amph. In the continental miscarriage we had, indeed, suffered some pecuniary loss, which could be easily repaired and he was so far from regretting what had been thus expended, that were it possible to recall what was passed, he would Tote for the assistance that had been actually given over again. The marquis of Lansdowne said, that in Ireland it had been a prejudice to represent the government of this country, as careless of the sister kingdom. At present a new discontent had arisen, and gentlemen who were in the habit of corresponding with Ireland, knew very well that they who had formerly taken the part of the government, were now forced to acknowledge, that Ireland had been neglected. Applications had been made from thence for protection; and it must be confessed that country had been abandoned by England. Ministers had pledged to keep up a great land force in Ireland, which they had withdrawn, In the last war, a pledge had been made, that a naval force should, in all future wars, be kept off the Irish coast; and were he minister now, he should think it necessary to station a fleet in the Cove of Cork immediately. An inquiry could not but be satisfactory in every point of view; satisfactory to admiral Colpoys, to lord Bridport, and to the profession at large. There were, besides, other persons concerned in the inquiry; the admiralty, the commissioners of accounts, and other inferior boards. It would not impede. but accelerate operations. Ministers, indeed, had shewn some consciousness of the necessity of a mock inquiry at least, by their producing papers; and the first thing to be remarked on these papers

was the notorious want of intelligence. The noble earl had said, that he would resign when he could find a person daring enough to con tend against the winds. What the public wanted was, not a man who could govern against the winds and waves, but one who would govern with them this was the case in the present instance. The wind had been favourable; and all that had been wanting, was an admiralty capable of making use of it. On the 16th of December, admiral Colpoys received intelligence of the French having sailed, the wind continued fair, and if he had proper orders, he would have been off the Irish coast. Had the ships under lord Bridport been ready, the wind would still have been fair. The noble earl had

talked of long nights; was it so great a reach of foresight to know that there were long nights in December? But the French fleet, it seemed, might have gone up the channel. In the first place, the wind was against them; but if they had, what would have been the case? They would have been under lock and key. The remainder of the subject lay in a very small compass; it turned upon two points. Why were not orders given to admiral Colpoys to go off Cape Clear? And why were not more ships kept ready at Portsmouth?

The earl Fitzwilliam said, that where there had been blame, there ought to be inquiry. Some expres sions that had been thrown out of

66

greater care being required for England than Ireland," would make a deep impression on the minds of the people of that country; and he was sorry to have heard them.

Lord Grenville assured their lordships, that they might set their minds at rest on the subject of Ireland;

which,

which, so far from having been neglected, had been the object of particular attention. The house having divided on lord Albemarle's motion, it appeared that it was rejeeted by 74 against 14.

The noble secretary's repeated assurances respecting the security, external and internal, of Ireland, were not satisfactory to the memhers in opposition to government, nor to some not always or often in opposition, in both houses of parliament. Motions for inquiries into the internal state, and allaying the discontents, of Ireland were made, and gave rise to animated and long debates in both houses. Of these debates, however, it would be unnecessary, and even nugatory, to give other than a very summary account: as the explosion which soon after took place, throws greater light on the situation of Ireland than was, at this time, enjoyed, proves or disproves the statements of facts, on which much of those debates was founded; and, on the whole, sinks much of the interest in those temporary and temporizing effusions, in the events which it produced, and the new spirt and order of affairs by which these have been succeeded. And here we shall take occasion, once for all, to observe, that in relating the transactions of parliament, it is not so much our object to display the eloquence of the different speakers, which would swell our narrative to the size of several volumes, as to pursue the thread of the main reasoning on which the main decisions turped,

*

or on which, at least, they were rested.

In the house of peers, the earl of Moira rose to make a motion, of which, as usual in all similar cases, he had given previous notice, respecting Ireland, on the twentyfirst of March. The exordium of his lordship's speech turned on the delicacy that was to be observed, in agitating questions in which separate and independent legisla tures, in agitating questions in which the privileges and the independence of each other, were involved. Yet, when urgent cases render interference necessary, the delicacy which may be observed, may remove every jealousy which might otherwise be excited; and it would be meritorious for the different parties mutually to manifest their attention, and their anxiety for objects in which their common interests were concerned.

On these grounds he had now risen, for the purpose of moving a humble address to his majesty, that he would be gra. ciously pleased to interpose his paternal and beneficent interference, to remedy the discontents which prevailed in Ireland, and which create the most serious alarm for the dearest interests of that country, and of the British empire.The extent and rapid increase of the discontents which prevailed in Ireland, were subjects of sufficient notoriety to form the ground of this proceeding. He should abstain, therefore, from an enumeration of the particulars which had

come

come to his knowledge, and of which, indeed, he had recently been witness. In addressing his majesty, to the effect proposed, the house would not only exercise one of its most important privileges, but fulfil one of its most important duties. If it appeared that the counsellors, more immediately about his majesty's person, his majesty's ministers, had not given that advice which was calculated to ensure the happiness and prosperity of Ireland, it was the duty of their lordships to approach the throne with advice more wise and salutary. But it might be said, What influence could such an address carry with it, to change the councils by which Ireland was govern ed? To prove the influence of the British cabinet, he appealed to a recent fact he meant the recall of the earl Fitzwilliam, at a time when all Ireland concurred in the measures which he pursued, when that country gave the fairest prospect of tranquillity, and the surest pledge of assistance and support to Britain, in the arduous circumstances in which she was placed. It might be asked, What plan he wished to pursue? This, lord Moira observed, was indicated in the motion, he was about to make, itself. When they addressed his majesty to interpose his paternal care and benevolence, the known goodness of his nature left no room for doubt as to the result. It was by temper, equity, and good faith, that the distractions of Ireland were to be appeased, and their affections conciliated. No good could be expected from a prosecution of the present system. He was confident, however, that the adoption of measures, calculated to impress the

people with confidence in government, would quickly call forth that fond affection of the inhabitants of Ireland to this country, which circumstances might cloud, but could not extinguish; inspire that zeal so necessary in the present moment; and furnish those resources which were requisite for the critical situation in which we were placed, and the arduous contest in which we were engaged. On these grounds he rested the motion which he was now to pro-` pose: "That a humble address be presented to his majesty, praying that he would be graciously pleased to interpose his paternal and beneficent interference to allay the discontents which at present subsist in his kingdom of Ireland, and which threaten the dearest interests of the British empire."

Lord Grenville said, in reply to lord Moira, that his motion could not be adopted without breaking the solemn contract which had been entered into between the two countries; without tearing asunder every bond of union and connection, and spreading distraction and division between the members of the British empire. He should, therefore, give his decided opposition to the present motion, and every proposition of a similar tendency. The motion he considered, first, as unnecessary; secondly, as mischievous. Under the first head he expatiated on the measures that had been taken by his majesty, in the course of a reign of thirty-six years, from year to year, to remove every ground of uneasiness or discontent which the situation of the Irish presented; the improved state of their commerce ; their full enjoyment of civil and religious liberty; the Catholics ad

mitted

mitted to the enjoyment of their property; a participation in every civil and social blessing, and even sharing in the right of voting for members of parliament. Nor were the people of Ireland insensible or ungrateful for the benefits they had received their good dispositions, and contentment with their situa tion, he inferred from sundry circumstances, particularly, their readiness to resist and repel the threatened invasion. With regard to the mischievous tendency of the motion, lord Grenville remarked a distinction between the subject of this, and the cases of common interest, stated by lord Moira, which were fair objects of negociation. The motion was intended to be applied to the internal state of Ireland, and even, if he understood it rightly, to the frame of its independent legislature. Though the British legislature had restrained parliament from entertaining any bil! which pretended, in any degree, to bind the inhabitants of Ireland; their lordships were now called upon to interfere in a point most exclusively relating to the internal state of that country. Such an interference was obviously improper: it was, besides, impossible for them to proceed with sufficient information, which lay much more within the reach of their own legislature. Farther still, the interference of the British legislature, instead of remedying the discontents which were alleged to prevail, would inflame them. It would induce the people of Ireland to imagine that their own legislature was indifferent to their welfare, and thus stir up the divisions which it was its object to appease. As the British legislature had given to Ireland the blessings of a free

constitution, the best way to fix their attachment to it, was, to eugage their confidence in its favour. The earl Fitzwilliam admitted the improved state of Ireland. But whatever circumstances might have contributed to that prosperity, still there might remain room for something farther to be done. The noble secretary had said, that the people of Ireland were not distracted and discontented, but tranquil and happy. Was it a proof of this, that acts of indemnity had been passed, in the Irish parliament, for proceedings beyond the law, which must have been called for by a conduct not very consistent with tranquillity? If no circumstances of disorder appeared, why were whole parishes, baronies, and even counties, declared to be out of the king's peace? It was likewise stated in the proceedings of the government in Ireland, that they were, in certain districts, disarming the people, from which it was evident they had been in arms.

The earl of Liverpool, after repeating and approving the reasoning of lord Grenville, put the case of a motion being made, in the Irish parliament, for the purpose of inducing it to interfere in the discussion of the great question of parliamentary reform, or Catholic toleration in this country. How, he asked, would such a motion be taken by the British parliament? The motion, before their lordships, seemed to him to be as mischievous in its tendency, as unconstitutional in its principle, wherefore he would give it his most decided negative.

The earl of Moira granted, that the legislature of Ireland was independent, but still maintained, that