1796, may be briefly disposed of. In truth, Parliamentary proceedings had lost their interest, in presence of the disturbances which agitated Ireland and convulsed Europe.

In 1794, the Parliament met on January 21st, and ended on 25th March-a Session of two months. It may be noticed for a Reform Bill, introduced by Mr. Ponsonby, which proposed to add a member to each county and large city, and extend the limit of boroughs to a line of twenty-four miles, within which the £10 freeholders were to vote. One Member said, as they had nothing to do, they might as well debate Reform; another said, the very difficult problem was, "how you were most likely to extract out of the mass of the people three hundred honest and capable representatives, who shall know what is best for the people, and will do it."

I remark, that sensible man, Sir L. Parsons, said :—“A majority of this House never go back to their constituents; they do not know them; they do not live amongst them; many of them never saw them-no, not even the places they represent. What a mockery is this of representation! Do you think, that in this enlightened age, such an imposture can long continue? Impossible." I quite agree with the worthy baronet, and I am only surprised it continued so long.

Mr. Grattan, for his purposes, gave the following history of the working of our noble old Parliament :-" Of the last century, nearly thirty-five years, at different intervals, passed without a Parliament; from 1585 to 1612—that is, twentyseven years-no Parliament; from 1615 to 1634-nineteen years-no Parliament; from 1648 to 1661-thirteen years— no Parliament; from 1666 to 1692—that is, twenty-six years no Parliament. Before the Revolution, it thus appears, that with the rights and the name, Ireland had not the possession of a Parliamentary Constitution; and it will appear, since the

Revolution, she had no constitutional Parliament. From 1629 to 1763-nearly seventy years-almost two-thirds of a century -the tenure was during the life of the King. Since the time of limitation of the term, there have been two reforms in the essence of Parliament, but reforms which I shall distinguish from the constitutional reform desired in the Bill, by the appellation of 'Anti-reforms.'

It appears, from this candid but curious statement, that the more diligently our Irish senators laboured to improve our fine old Irish Parliament, the worse they made it.

An account of the state of the country as given by the Attorney-General, in moving for leave to introduce a Bill to enlarge the powers of the magistrates, is dreadful. It does not appear that the extension of the franchise, or the Place Bill, or Pension Bill, or Emancipation Bill, had done their work. The chief business of this brief session was to strengthen the executive; to repress outrage and insurrection; to improve the Quarter Sessions and Civil Bill Jurisdiction a measure of real practical utility.

The session for 1795 began 22nd January, and ended 5th June. It was the administration of Lord Fitzwilliam, which was brief and exciting.

The session for 1796 began 21st January, and ended 15th April. Upon a Bill to indemnify magistrates for acting in the repression of disturbances, it was said by Mr. Maxwell"That since exertion on the part of the magistrates of the country, in putting down defenderism, had ceased, nothing was heard of then but conspiracy, burglary, plunder, and massacre."

The most interesting discussion in the volume is that upon Education. A committee had sat upon that subject for three years, and produced a lengthy report. On the 29th April, 1795, Mr. Grattan presented a petition of his Majesty's

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THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE IRISH PARLIAMENT.

Catholic subjects of Ireland, with regard to the education of those professing the Roman Catholic religion. It is elaborately drawn, wisely framed, temperately expressed. I cannot conceive a more instructive public document, because the subject of education is as prominent now as it was then; and what, let us inquire, were then the opinions of the Roman Catholic laity on the subject of the better education of the members of their religion and Church?

"That as the general end of education is the full and free development of the human faculties, and the formation of a virtuous character, the management of it should be as little shackled as possible, inasmuch as experience has ascertained that, as well in the Universities of Great Britain and Ireland as of other countries, the improvement of the mind and the extension of science are great only in proportion to their exemption from any influence or restraint.

"That the Petitioners having, in common with the rest of their brethren, the Catholics of Ireland, received, as one of the most important and acceptable benefits bestowed on them by his Majesty and the Legislature, the permission of having their youth educated along with the Protestant youth of the kingdom in the University of Dublin; and experience having fully demonstrated the wisdom and utility of that permission, Petitioners see, with deep concern, the principles of separation and exclusion, they hoped removed for ever, now likely to be re-enacted and revived."

This was pointed at the foundation of a separate college for the education of their communion, lay or clerical. The Parliament failed in their apprehension of the conclusive reasoning put forward in this admirable petition. Mr. Grattan himself moved for a grant to establish a Roman Catholic College, and succeeded in his object.

CHAPTER XII.

How the Irish Parliament died-The Crown Solicitor's Office contains facts for history-Period of the Rebellion of 1798-Dr. Drennan and Archibald H. Rowan-Case of Rev. Wm. Jackson-His Trial, and suicidal Death-Arthur O'Connor and O'Coigly-Scene at O'Connor's Trial-Wolfe Tone-Object of the ConspiratorsState of Ireland immediately before the Union-Report of Secret Committee The Last Night of the Irish Parliament--Separation or Incorporation the Alternatives-Opinion of George IV., that the Irish Parliament should have secured better terms-Grattan's final Oration in the Irish House-Burrowes' Vindication of GrattanSubsequent Career of Irish Senators-Ned Lysaght's Satire on condition to which Dublin would be reduced by the UnionDuty of Good Statesmen and True Citizens-Conclusion.

THE startling events occurring in the world at this period deprived the later proceedings of the Irish Parliament of much of their interest. We have endeavoured to trace its birth, life, and subsequent existence; and now we invite you to consider how it happened that it died. If a political writer were to ask me, where shall I go for facts-I mean real facts-on which to write the history of Ireland at this epoch, -to whom would I send him?-to what apostle of truth?— to what repertory of curious matter? I would send him to the late Crown Solicitor, Mr. Kemmis; and I will undertake to say, if he examined all the records treasured up in his official storehouse, he would find a mass of political information as instructive as was ever laid before the eyes of an inquirer after truth, and as much slumbring treason as, if ignited, would blow up fifty Parliaments and fifty Constitutions.

You must, if you would s udy history, open the books of the State Trials. While the gentlemen of the House of Commons were talking to each other innocently of emancipation and of reform, and such trifles, Archibald Hamilton Rowan and Dr. Drennan, the poet, from Belfast, were plotting treason. You will find that these two Protestant gentlemen were early engaged in the revolutionary schemes of those times. It is a mistake to suppose that treason and sedition were practised by one religious class exclusively. Why, some of the most determined Irish traitors have been Protestants, and those were the men who were nearest doing the business. When I say 'doing the business,' I mean separating Ireland from England, and setting up for themselves. Archibald Hamilton Rowan and Dr. Drennan, at the time of the Convention, when the Attorney-General was saying, "You ought not to come down to the House of Commons as an armed body," boldly issued their proclamation, beginning thus-" Citizens, to arms." Accordingly, they were laid hold of by the Attorney-General. Rowan was lodged in Newgate. Drennan was acquitted-honourably acquitted on a point of law. Rowan got a very high character at the time that he contrived the overthrow of the King, the Parliament, and the Constitution.

I have now to notice the only instance that I can find of a Protestant clergyman of the Church of England being a traitor, and he was one of the genuine stamp; but I am not sure he was a believer in the Christian religion. I allude to the celebrated Jackson. Jackson was sent over to this country, in 1796, from France, for the purpose of planning an invasion of this country by the French, and accomplishing the overthrow of the English Government in Ireland. Unfortunately for himself, when he got to London he fell in with an artful attorney, whose name was Cockayne. It was a great mistake to commit himself to a comparative stranger.