THE STATE OF IRELAND.
At this period Ireland was in a very disturbed state. During the year 1783, an assembly of delegates, from the volunteer corps, assembled in the provinces of Antrim, Ulster, Leinster, and Munster, for the purpose of consulting on measures proper to be adopted to effect a reform in parliament, and a national convention was appointed to be held at Dublin on the 10th of November. Such was the posture of affairs when the Irish parliament, which had been recently elected, met on the 14th of October. The first measure of this parliament was to vote thanks to the different volunteer corps for their public services; after which, a resolution, proposed by Lord Mountmorres, “that, in the present state of the kingdom, it was expedient that there should be a session of parliament held every year,” received the sanction of both houses.
The national convention assembled on the day appointed; and the Earl of Charlemont, generalissimo of the volunteer corps throughout the kingdom, was elected president. At this meeting the Bishop of Deny moved that a committee should be appointed to digest a plan of reform. This motion was adopted; and in a short time the committee thus reported their opinion:—‘“That every protestant freeholder or leaseholder, possessing a freehold or leasehold for a certain term of years, of forty shillings value, resident in any city or borough, should be entitled to vote in the election of member for the same that decayed boroughs should be enabled to return representatives by an extension of franchise to the neighbouring parishes; that the suffrages of the electors should be taken by the sheriff or his deputies on the same day, at the respective places of election; that pensioners of the crown, receiving their pensions during pleasure, should be incapacitated from sitting in parliament; that every member of parliament accepting a pension for life, or any place under the crown, should vacate his seat; that each member should subscribe an oath that he had, neither directly nor indirectly, given any pecuniary or other consideration, with a view of obtaining the suffrage of any elector; and that the duration of parliament should not exceed the term of three years.” This report was received with applause, and resolutions to the effect were passed unanimously.
On the next day Mr. Flood moved, in the Irish house of commons, for leave to bring in a bill for the more equal representation of the people in parliament; a motion which was rejected by a large majority, as the proposal was made at the point of the bayonet. After this an address to the king was voted in both houses, expressive of the sense of the blessings they enjoyed under his auspices, and assuring him that they were determined to support inviolate the present constitution with their lives and their fortunes.
The conduct of the Irish parliament was reported to the national convention by Mr. Flood on the 1st of December, when a resolution was simply passed to the effect, that they would individually carry on such investigations as might be necessary to complete the plan of parliamentary reform. The convention seems to have thought that they were going too far, and that it would be better somewhat to retrace their steps, for on the next day an address was voted to the king, on the motion of Mr. Flood, in the name of the delegates of all the volunteers of Ireland, expressive of their loyalty and duty; claiming the merits of their past exertions, and imploring his majesty, that their humble wish to have certain manifest perversions of the parliamentary representation of that kingdom remedied by the legislature, in some reasonable degree, might not be attributed to any spirit of innovation, but to a sober and laudable desire to uphold the constitution, to confirm the satisfaction of their fellow-subjects, and to perpetuate the union of both kingdoms. On the 13th of March, in the following year, Mr. Flood renewed his motion for parliamentary reform, which was again rejected; and then the object was relinquished in despair.
The people of Ireland, however, were not yet quiet. They had many grievances which required redress; and it can form no matter of wonder that they lifted up the voice of complaint. Their next call was for protecting duties, to foster the infant manufactures of that country, and to compel the inhabitants to consume the produce of native ingenuity and industry. This subject was brought before the Irish house of commons on the 31st of March, by Mr. Gardiner, who implored the house to copy the conduct of England, France, and other countries in this respect; and moved for a high duty on woollens imported into the kingdom. This motion was rejected by a large majority; and the disappointment of the people was now kindled into rage. So critical was the state of Dublin at this period, that it was deemed necessary to countermand the embarkation of several regiments destined for the East Indies, and to furnish the garrison in that city with an extraordinary supply of powder and ball. Before the session was closed, the people were somewhat appeased by an address which was voted to the king, and which represented the distressed state of the kingdom, and prayed for the establishment of a more advantageous system of commerce between Ireland and Great Britain; but there were still restless spirits in that unhappy country, and these sought again to disturb the public mind. On the 7th of June, a meeting of the aggregate body of the citizens of Dublin was convened by the sheriffs, and in which resolutions were passed declaratory of the right of the people of Ireland to a frequent election and an equal representation. In an address to the people of Ireland, this meeting proposed the election of five delegates from each county, city, and considerable town, to meet in Dublin on the 25th of October, in national congress. Resolutions similar to those passed by this meeting were agreed to at a general meeting of the freeholders of the county of Dublin, which was held on the 9th of August; and a petition was also voted by these freeholders, praying a dissolution of parliament. These measures met with decided opposition from the government of Ireland. The 20th of September having been fixed upon as the day for electing five delegates to represent the city of Dublin in national congress; before that day arrived, Mr. Fitzgibbon, the attorney-general, wrote a letter to the sheriffs, threatening them with a prosecution if they should take any part in the election. This menace alarmed the sheriffs, and prevented their interference; but the delegates were chosen, and a resolution was passed, declaring the conduct of the attorney-general to be a violation of Magna Charta. The attorney-general filed informations against the high-sheriffs of various counties for convening and presiding at similar meetings; but the national congress met, and passed several resolutions, importing that the appointment of that assembly, and the steps that had been taken, were in conformity with the constitution of Ireland; after which this congress adjourned to the 25th of January. On the same day that the Irish congress met, the second session of the parliament of Ireland commenced, when Mr. Orde, secretary to the lord-lieutenant, laid before the house a series of commercial regulations, which had been digested during the recess into a regular system. Two plans were formed; one of which was a system of mutual prohibition, and the other a system of mutual admission. Mr. Orde moved eleven propositions in conformity to the latter, which were all ratified by a decisive majority, after much violent discussion.
MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.
A.D. 1785
Parliament reassembled on the 25th of January. In his speech, the king alluded to the success which had attended the financial measures of the last session, as an encouragement for parliament to renew the consideration of such salutary objects; and he recommended the two houses to apply their utmost attention to the adjustment of such points in the commercial intercourse between this country and Ireland, as were not yet finally arranged. In both houses the addresses were carried without a division.