ture now rested from its labours; and the great Revolution of 1782 was pronounced complete.

It is unquestionable that the Revolution of 1782 conferred great temporary advantages upon Ireland; and that it was calculated, if rightly followed up, to form the commencement of a political reformation which would have ultimately raised Ireland to the highest place among civilized nations. But it was only a beginning; for it really completed nothing,-leaving Ireland as open as before to the attacks of her powerful and unprincipled rival. Ireland was still left subject to the dominion of a protestant oligarchy, who refused civil emancipation to the great mass of the people. The monopoly of legislation was merely transferred for a time from the government of England to the aristocracy of Ireland; who were always most bigotted in their refusal of relief to the catholic population.

The Whig Lord Charlemont was, throughout, the vehement opponent of the Catholic claims. Holding the most enlarged views of national improvement and reform, he and his protestant coadjutors nevertheless pertinaciously withheld from the catholics, who constituted about five-sixths of the population, all share in the rights and privileges of the constitution. The "patriots" saw not beyond themselves and their own interests. They were content still to keep the catholics a Slave Class, holding them to be unfit for the enjoyment of freedom. All attempts to extend to them the exercise of the elective franchise were treated with contumely and scorn. The "patriots" still persevered in maintaining a disgraceful penal code, which imposed civil and political disabilities on the great mass of the people.

Surely this was a most narrow-minded and one-sided patriotism! And surely the catholics were to be excused for hanging aloof from the armed associations which so steadily refused them justice, when they afterwards saw the government stretch forth its strong arm to strike them down for ever.

The patriots, if they really entertained the earnest desire to give liberty to all classes of their couutrymen, allowed their best opportunity to pass by unimproved. England was now a defeated, discomfited, and feeble nation; while Ireland was strong, armed, and triumphant. England was unable to refuse, and even willing to concede; but the patriots rested satisfied with their nominal victory. They had no measure of Parliamentary Reform or Catholic Emancipation to propose. They thought they had secured the stability, independence, and irresponsibility, of their self-elected Corporation, the Irish House of Commons,-from which even the bulk of the protestants themselves were excludedand they had no more to ask. Patriotism was duped; and the nation deluded itself into the belief that it was free.

Never was there a greater and more fatal mistake. The Volunteers afterwards awoke from their dreams, and found that

they had been contending merely for the interests of a party; and that the victory which they fondly imagined they had gained, was a victory as yet mainly for the advantage of the proprietors of parliamentary seats, and their immediate adherents and dependents. The principal change effected was in the form of administering the exclusive system; its spirit remaining precisely the same. The people had no more controul over the proceedings of their "representatives" now than before; the House still remained in the power of the British minister, the only difference being that it required the exercise of more lavish corruption to keep it under controul. For this purpose more money was required, in order to provide which the public taxation was greatly increased. At length, the government of England recovered from its alarm; and found the Irish patriots broken up and divided into small parties, fiercely assailing each other, while the great body of the catholic people, who had been excluded from all the benefits of the struggle, looked on with indifference. Perceiving that the opposition had no hold on the affections of the people, and that the cry of independence had not proceeded from the nation, the government straightway stepped in and resumed the reins of power, subjecting the nation to another course of corruption, cruelty, oppression, and galling degradation.

CHAPTER XXXV.

Improvement and Prosperity among the People-The Irish Parliament relaxes in its efforts Mr. Flood's motion-Mr. Grattan's virulent opposition--Parliament Prorogued-The Earl Temple appointed Lord Lieutenant-Renewed exertions of the Volunteers-The sole right to Legislate for Ireland again affirmed in the British Parliament-Alarm of the Volunteers-The Act of Renunciation passed-The Volunteers lose confidence in the Irish Parliament, and seek for a Reform-Meeting of Delegates at Lisburn-The Second Dungannon Convention-Temporizing conduct of Lord Charlemont-Meeting of the National Convention at Dublin-The Procession to the Rotunda-Lord Charlemont Elected President-The Earl of Bristol's Procession-Contrast between Lord Charlemont and the Earl of Bristol-Lord Charlemont Entrapped by the Government-Proceedings of the Convention-The Opposition obtain the Predominance Mr. Flood's Plan of Reform adopted-The Earl of Bristol proposes Catholic Emancipation-Is opposed by Lord Charlemont, and Defeated-The Convention proceed to the House of Commons with their Bill of Reform-Mr. Flood introduces the measure-Awful scene of Uproar-The Debate-Mr. Flood's motion rejected-Dilemma of the Convention-Its Further Proceedings -Lord Charlemont Dupes and then Deserts the Delegates-Final Adjournment and Dissolution of the Convention-Mortification of the Volunteers-Progress of Dissensions-Feeble Attempt to re-introduce a Bill of Reform-Singular Conduct of Mr. Grattan-Disbandment of the Volunteers-Their Grand ErrorDr. Madden's Opinion as to their Services.

THE people now obtained a breathing-time of repose from political

agitation, and began steadily to apply themselves to the pursuits of industry. The patriotic spirit, which influenced and quickened all classes of the people, stimulated them to improvement. They applied themselves to trade and commerce, which soon advanced with amazing strides in a short time the import and export trade of Ireland was more than doubled; and a new race of merchants and traders was called into existence. Capital flowed into the country, and, united to the labour of the people, wealth multiplied apace. All the materials and elements of wealth were abundantly within reach, and they made noble use of them. Peace and order overspread the land from side to side; only the sounds of busy industry were to be heard. The rent of land rose; population increased; and agriculture greatly improved. Sectarian animosities ceased to poison the breath of society: catholic and protestant became united, the former, for a time, forgot his chains, and the latter his ascendancy. Improvement in the arts kept pace with all: Dublin grew into one of the noblest capitals in the world -architecture magnificently attesting to the glory and new-born prosperity of Ireland.

While such was the spirit of the people, the House of Commons, which had so far guided and led them in their onward progress, began to display signs of hesitation, and indifference to the cause of public liberty. The old courtiers, who had been carried away by the general enthusiasm, again found themselves in their old places, by the side of the ministry; and even the more zealous and sincere among the patriotic party, confiding in the sincerity of the British government, and the sufficiency of the existing guarantees for the permanency of their constitution, relaxed in their exertions, and sunk into quietude and indifference. Mr. Flood was the first to express a doubt as to the inadequacy of the measures already enacted; arguing that the mere Repeal of the 6th George I. left Ireland still dependent upon England for its legislation, inasmuch as the measures passed by the Irish parliament could not become laws until confirmed by the English Cabinet. The suspicions of Mr. Flood were confirmed by Mr. Fox, who, in a speech delivered in the British parliament, stated that the repeal of the above statute "could not stand alone, but must be accompanied by a final adjustment, and by a solid basis of permanent connexion."

Thus fortified in his doubts as to the sufficiency of the existing arrangements, Mr. Flood, on the 29th of July, moved for leave to bring in a bill "to affirm the sole executive right of the Irish parliament to make laws affecting that country, in all concerns external and internal whatsoever." This motion gave rise to a most animated debate, Mr. Grattan heading the opposition to Mr. Flood, whom he opposed with great virulence. In the heat of the moment, Mr. Grattan even proposed the extravagant resolution "that any person who should propagate in writing, or otherwise, an opinion that any right whatsoever, whether external or internal, existed in

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any other parliament, or could be revived, was inimical to both kingdoms." Mr. Flood severely exposed and denounced the despotic spirit on which the resolution was based, and exhibited it as placing Ireland in a state of tyranny worse than Russia," "depriving any Irish subject of his natural liberty, either of speech or of writing," and which had no character to support it "but those of folly and of tyranny." Mr. Flood moved an adjournment of the House; but this motion, because it was Mr. Flood's, and for no other reason, was rejected by a large majority.

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Mr. Grattan then moved, that leave was refused to bring in Mr. Flood's bill, because the sole and exclusive right to legislate for Ireland in all cases whatsoever, internally and externally, had been asserted by the Parliament of Ireland, and had been fully, finally, and irrevocably acknowledged by the British Parliament." Mr. Flood ridiculed the resolution as the mere "innocent child of fiction and of fancy," and declared that he would willingly leave Mr. Grattan in the full enjoyment of this new production of his lively imagination.” The motion then passed without further opposition. Parliament was prorogued by the Duke of Portland shortly after; and, on the death of the Marquis of Rockingham, the Earl Temple was sent over to supersede him in the government of Ireland, with Mr. Grenville as his CHIEF SECRETARY.

Though the Irish Parliament was now lagging behind in the onward march of events, the people still remained staunch in the cause of Irish independence. The voice of the volunteers rose loud and clear at intervals, and echoed throughout the land in strains more rousing and inspiring even than before. The volunteers now saw, with Mr. Flood, that Ireland had no real security for her liberties, and that, if they did not follow up their success with promptitude, the fruits of all their precious labours might soon be wrested from their hands. They accordingly demanded a thorough PARLIAMENTARY REFORM, as the only means of establishing the legislative independence of Ireland on a firm basis. This question had now been publicly debated by the volunteers all over Ireland; increasing jealousy of England was generally expressed; and the course of events in the British Parliament tended greatly to encourage the belief as to its insincerity, and to revive the agitation in favour of an Independent and Reformed Parlia

ment.

Sir George Young, the Irish Secretary, took the opportunity of opposing the BILLS OF CONCESSION to Ireland, in his place in the British House of Commons, protesting against the power of passing such bills by the English Parliament, and declaiming against the power of the king himself to relinquish the inherent right of the British Legislature to legislate for Ireland. Lord Abingdon followed this example in the House of Lords, and, totally denying the authority of the king and the parliament of England to emancipate Ireland, he moved for leave to bring in a

declaratory bill to re-assert the sole right of England to legislate externally in the concerns of Ireland. About the same time, Lord Mansfield, the English Chief-Justice at Westminster, received and gave judgment on an appeal from the Irish Court of King's Bench, Dublin; observing, that "he knew of no law depriving the British Court of its vested jurisdiction."

These proceedings were exceedingly alarming to the Irish people. Confidence in the sincerity of the British government was now completely gone; discontent spread with great rapidity; and another crisis seemed near at hand. The volunteers beat to arms, and paraded about 120,000 strong. Open resistance was now proposed, and would most probably have been acted upon, had not the British government again marked its designs under an appearance of conciliation, and, without waiting for remonstrances from Ireland, passed a Bill unequivocally and explicitly renouncing all future right to legislate for Ireland.* This measure was passed into a law almost without debate, and with very little observation by the public, though it amounted to a renunciation "for ever," of the legislative power which England had exercised for centuries over the external and internal concerns of Ireland.

The truth of Mr. Flood's argument was now publicly recognised, inasmuch as it had been acted on by the British legislature itself. But the new act failed to satisfy the Irish people; for, though they had escaped the legislative dominion of England, they were still in subjection to their own corrupt Parliament, in which they had now lost all confidence. They perceived that as yet they had no real guarantee for their liberties; for, so long as Parliament itself was corrupt, and irresponsible to the Irish people themselves, they had no security against the future encroachments of despotic power. Parliament might at any time relapse into its former subserviency and degradation; and if the government chose unscrupulously to employ the means of corruption, the independence of the Irish legislature might be reduced to a mere empty sound.

These, and similar considerations, gradually led the Irish Volunteers onwards in the direction of Constitutional Reform. They were encouraged in their designs by the English Reformers of the same period, headed by the Duke of Richmond, Mr. Fox, Mr. Pitt, and other distinguished men of great influence in the country, who had proposed and promulgated their plans for a more equal representation of the people in Parliament. The first decided step was taken by the Ulster Volunteers, who, on this, as on other occasions, generally took the lead. On the 1st of July, 1783, at

This Bill enacted "that the said rights claimed by the people of Ireland, to be bound only by laws enacted by His Majesty and the Parliament of that kingdom, in all cases whatsoever, and to have all actions and suits at law or in equity, which may be instituted in that kingdom, decided in His Majesty's Courts therein finally, and without appeal from thence, shall be, and it is hereby declared to be ESTABLISHED and ASCERTAINED FOR EVER, and shall AT NO TIME HEREAFTER, BE QUESTIONED OR QUESTIONABLE.'