civil power from interfering with the executive in the
exercife of their right. Now taking for granted that, as
his Lordship afferis, the executive have a right to try by
martial law thofe who are found in rebellion, it must
follow, that the civil power has no right to interfere
with them, in the exercife of that right; for there can-
not be two contradictory rights in thofe two powers.
But if the bill be not rece Tary either to ftrengthen the
arm of the executive, or to fecure to them the exclu-
five exercise of a right, which, if they poffefs at all,
they must poffefs exclufively, from the very nature of
the thing; I fay the bill muft then be adopted by the
minifter for the purpofe I attribute to him-that of
goading Ireland to an Union, by really depriving her of
the benefits of the British Constitution, and by subftitu-
ting for that conftitution, an uncontroulable and inde-
finite power in the executive government. If it be
afked, how it can at once be true, that it vefts an inde-
finite and uncontroulable power in the executive govern-
ment, and yet does not ftrengthen that executive? The
aufwer is short: It does not ftrengthen the executive,
because the powers which this bill gives they already
poffefs by the practice, though not by the theory of the
conftitution; powers which the government in
times of danger and rebellion have always exercised,
but under a refponfibility to the legislature for this viola
tion of constitutional forms. But this bill does that
which, in times of the greatest turbulence, in times of
rebellion and under the most arbitrary reigns, no minister
ever dared to propofe to the legislature; it establishes
defpotifm by law, and abolishes the conftitution by act
of Parliament; it fanctions a priori, by a ftatute, that
power, which, under the British Conftitution, it has
fometimes been reife of which, the executive has been. In a wide foreft once there lived
always left to justify itself afterwards, by the circum
tances which made it neceffary, and the temperance
with which it was accompanied. Here then the check on
defpotifm is removed; for by this bill the power is legal-
ly vefted in the executive, and for the exercife of a legal
power there is no refponfibility. Such is the law by
which the minifter has made the fecond affault upon the
conftitution of Ireland, and which I venture to predict,
is the forerunner of a total fubverfion of conftitutional
liberty in the British Empire!

tution for tythes, and the arrangements in favour of the
Catholic clergy: But it were fuperfluous to ex patiate upon
thefe topics; it must be apparent to every man of com-
mon fenfe, either that the minister talked of thofe mea-
fures, pending the difcuffion of an Union, purely to
cajoie the public, or that he now with-holds thofe mea-
fures from fome motive of crooked policy which looks
to other obje&s than the good of Ireland; for who can
doubt that if these meafures would be ufeful with an
Union, they would be also useful without it? Who can
doubt whether they would not remove one of the great
caufes of infubordination in Ireland, and abolish one of
the most fertile fources of religious jealoufy? The mi-
nifter himself has acknowledged the principle, and there-
fore he ftands convicted either of having declared to the
people of Ireland as his opinion, that which he did not
believe, or of wickedly with-holding from the country,
from the worst motives, the means of reftoring to it,
content and tranquillity.

neceffary for the executive to exercise,

I have mentioned one meafure which his Lordship has virtually oppofed fince the rejection of an Union, tho' he had previously declared its neceffity and its importance; and I have adverted to another which he has introduced, that tends to deftroy the conftitution, and therefore falfifies his profeffion, that he wished to procure for Ireland a fuller participation of British Liberty. There remain other monuments of infincerity, of fraud, and of hoftility to Ireland. What shall we fay of his filence on thofe meafures which, not two months fince, we were told by him were indifpenfible to the contentment of the people, and the refloration of confidence and peace to Ireland? I fpeak of the fubfti

A FABLE,

-BY

NURSE DANDLUM,

TO AMUSE THE CHILDREN OF DUBLIN

Who in the fcience of attack,
A Lion of great power;

Had practis'd many an hour.

Nay, if two neighb'ring beafts did wage
A fair and open ftrife,

The meddling beaft would step between,
And try for either life.

This Lion had an useful friend,

A young couragious whelp,
Who often from the neighb'ring cave,
Stept out to give him help.

The creature was a Jackall named,

By fome mifcall'd a flave;
But, children, don't believe the lie,
For he was free and brave.

What tho' the Lion had more bulk,
Could fooner crush and kill;
Full often he had gain'd a prize
By little Jacky's skill.

PRICH 2D.

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1799.

No. XXXI.

To fuch Gentlemen as are fummoned to attend the even by the most bare-faced legislative prostitution. F. Grand Juries in the different Counties in

IT

IRELAND.

GENTLEMEN,

is the rumour of the day that the fanctuary of juftice, the grand jury room, in which you are to difcharge the most facred and important duty to your country, is to be disturbed and agitated by political difcuffion. In a word that the approbation of the grand jurors of Ireland to the meafure of an incorpo rate Union is to be fought for by the executive government of your country. I cannot conceive it poffible that fuch a rumour is entitled to attention. I hope that government is too wife to propofe, and that you gentlemen, are too prudent to accede, to fuch a measure.. It is impoffible that at a time when your rulers exact defpotic power for the prefervation of the ftate, that it can invite any body of men to further difquifition, on a fubject which has already fhook the country to its centre: I trust that a rumour of this kind has arifen from the fears of individuals, rather than any communication between the fervants of the crown and the inferior officers whom they immediately nominate. The prefumption is certainly as ftrong, that Mr. Pitt's fervants have appointed Union sheriffs, as that Union fheriffs have fummoned Union juries. It is not un likely, if the influence of the crown is exercifed, but that 700 gentlemen might be found in Ireland to refolve in favor of an Union. Twenty-three perfons of character, fome of them fervants and dependants on the crown, others in expectation of courtly favor, might eafily I fuppofe be collected in each county, and might certainly be induced to accede to fuch a propofal; for unfortunately, the individual good felt in a public benefit is comparatively fo fmall, comes round through fuch an involved labyrinth of tedious revolutions, that the cold commendation of a public advantage never was, and never will be, a match for the quick fenfibility of private lofs, or individual aggrandizement. I impeach not your honor, your integrity, nor your patriotifm-I am no hired calumniator to detract from the purity of your intentions-it is the expreffion of the public feeling of a county which gives importance to a grand jury refolution-when obtained by infidious and furreptitious means, the most time-ferving refolution is of greater injury than advantage to the minifter. You rifk odium and contempt without the fmalleft benefit-and trust me that your wounded and irritated country would infinitely fooner burst its cerments in expreffing its indignation at the idea of an Union being juftified by the expreffion of public fentiment in its favor through a grand jury organ, than at its being carried

call on you therefore as you value the peace of your delirious country-as you recolle&t the views of that enemy who daily draws his encreafed refources from confederating powers, not to indulge the filly anger of a baffled and difappointed minifter, but that in your different counties you will exhibit an even-handed juf tice that by your benevolence and your example you, will hufh the waring elements of murder, of paffion, and of faction to peace. I entreat you to relent in rigor, where you may relent in fafety-to pardon fomething to the fpirit of liberty; and at the fame time that you hold the rod of chaftifement over the guilty culprit, never put your names to any refolution which mayfexhibit you to your country as the admirers of a meafure, which, if carried, muft make perpetual domeftic hoftility the wretched inheritance of your unhappy pofterity. Indeed, gentlemen, I addrefs you in the language and the fpirit of peace; and I tell you, frankly, that I fee nothing in the bill which is now before the legislature to induce you to feek refuge in defpair, even in an Union; becaufe when this country is united to Engl. you have no fecurity but that it would not be expofed if poffible to ftill greater mifery. I can ne ver think that Lord Cornwallis will abandon the feat of mercy to enthrone himself on the tribunal of revenge; he is too old and too virtuous to feek power to fhed our blood. If he is to be vefted with abfolute power, his character as a generous foldier and humane man, gives us every reafon to hope that it will be employed in coun teracting local depredations and inhuman brutalities; though that power was abused, yet my approbation of an Union would never be in proportion to that abuse. Slavery is as dangerous to a government as to an individual, the danger is only in the degree. At all times, when a cruel policy rivets the chain round the ancle of the peafant, divine juftice, fays the amiable St. Pierre, rivets the other end round the neck of the tyrant. In this great and awful movement of nations there is a reciprocal fervitude between the people and rulers of new as well as old governments; it is hard to fay of which of the two governments the cords are drawn the tighteft;-but there is no difficulty in forefeeing that whatever may become of either the new or the old governments of the earth, that rapine, retaliation and reverberation of outrages, religious feuds, murder and devaftation, muft in this inland, in the event of any change or no change, fwell the catalogue of human woes, augment human mifery under the old fyftems if from the operation of events it is ftrengthened and confirmed, and make this devoted island a grave, a defert, incapable of deriving any advantage from any change or no change, from this adminiftration or that, from this or that form of government; I oppofe the Union therefore on the principle

that I condemn thefe acts, because if attempted to be carried, i think the attempt would further disturb the domeftic peace of this diftacted country, and if carried would occafion perpetual difcord. The inventive faculty of man cannot, in my humble apprehenfion, difcover a lefs efficacious and a more fatal mode of advancing any, even fuppofed, or fancied honeft, or honorable purpofe, than by provincial devetation of property, local rifings, parochial murders, &c. and therefore every good man muft aid in putting them down on the fame principle that he would oppofe an Union, to prevent an unavailing cffufion of the blood, comfort and refources of the island. When I fpoke of the act of the legislature it was certainly with no intention to weaken all the well-grounded objections which have been made against arbitrary power; the magnanimity of the intention effectually to crush delinquency could never be queftioned, if the quivering lips, the trickling tears, the loud and tremendous cries of thoufands from all quarters of the country could induce Parlt. to change, alter and modify certain measures, which call loudly for reformation and improvement, and bar the avenues to returning jufticethe bleffings of a people fo faved would not diffuse in empty air. No, (to use the expreffion of a great orator) heaven itself would become the agent to receive the bleffings of their pious gratitude, and waft them to the bofom of their fovereign. Beware, I conjure you, of intemperate zeal; reject with unanimous indignation any overture which would induce you to give an opinion upon the intercits of others yet unborn, when your alarms, your prejudices and your fears incapacitate you from forming any opinion even of your own. Stand at the fick bed of your wretched country, and if you are not difpofed to administer to its difeafes, play not the affaffin to amufe the minifter. Be firm; refift the Union; and trust me that the fame hand which has inflicted the wounds on Ireland, muft, like the hero's fpear of old, be stretched forth to adminifter the remedy and enfure the cure-truft me, the best way to promote the profperity of Ireland is to fhew a British cabinet that you are not dull and infenfible and indifferent to its advancement; and that although there are feveral in the country feduced into republicanifm, yet that there is not an Irishman difpofed to be a flave. I decline entering at any length into the abftract queftion; it is exhausted, If carried at all, an Union can only be carried by pitiful and Alimfey expedients-expedients as paltry and inefficacious as they are infidious. It is a mifufe of your functions to blend the quality of juror wi h politician-thew the minister of England that you defpair not to cure common diftempers by regular methods-view not the difturbances (which every good man deplores) under every colour of exaggeration and in the paroxyfm of alarm furrender not your country for ever to every projector or adventurer, every alchymist and empyric who may be unwilling or unable to furve it. The British minifter muft drag down the ftupendous power of France, and revolutionize America, before he changes the fpirit or the habits of the Irish nation, it is impoffible. In thefe iflands you can

not be mifled in cafes of any difficulty; you will find in the treasures of your conflitution maxims and principles to regulate your determination. It is not a leading maxim of that conflitution, that the fewer causes of diffatisfaction are left by government, the more the fubje&t will be difpofed to refift and to rebel. I cannot find an authority which fays, that no cafe can exift in which it is proper for the fovereign to accede to the wifhes of his difconfolate fubjects, or that giving way in a few inftances, is to lofe all that may remain unconceded. You have nothing to fay to the clumfy fubtlety of Mr. Pitt's deductions, or Mr. Windham's political metaphors;-follow the advice of Mr. Burke, and leave them to amufe the fchools—“ Illa se jalet in aula Eolus et claufo ventorum carcere regnet," But let them not break prifon to burst like a LEVANTER to fweep the earth with their hurricane, and to break up the fountains of the great deep to overwhelm you.

INTELLIGENCE EXTRAORDINARY

FROM THE

DALKEY GAZETTE.

COURIERS EXTRAORDINARY FROM THE COURTS
OF PORTUGAL, MADRID, AND GERMANY,
ΤΟ THE COURT AT
ST. JAMES'S.

YESTERDAY arrived at Downing-street, under a large efcort of cavalry from Plymouth, a fpecial meffenger from Don TERRIFICO DESPOTICO, prime minifter of Portugal, with a remonstrance fupplicatory and expoftulatory, against the projected incorporate Uni on between his country and the French Republic; praying immediate relief and fuccour against fo deplorable a calamity. Signor Pittachio received the ambaffador with his wonted courtefy; but having on a late occafion made that immeafurable oration (which is now, diftributing gratis by the French Directory over the Furopean Continent) in favor of incorporation of legislation; he referred the ambaffa lor to Fofter, Saurin, and Co. and the Conduclors of the Anti-Union, in Ireland, to receive the best Anti-Union inftructions; the ambaffador is expected in Dublin every moment, on his important miffion; and it is whispered that the ORATORS of the bar meeting, feveral of the HOSIERS, Reger Gower the humbugger, Counfellor Bethell, and feveral Anti-Union city orators, are to país the gagging months in Portugal, where they are to be attended by proper interpreters, in infaming the Portuguefe against the monfrous measure of an Incorporate Union.

N. B. The moment the account arrived in Dublin, a reward was offered to discover the author of Ceafe your Funning; and great offers made for the literary affillance of that Anti-Jacobin writer; a fpecial meffenger was immediately fent after Tom Goold, who had proceeded on the Munster Circuit, and that Anti-Union

Atlas was hourly expected to join the expedition to
Portugal; 5,000l. is the fmalleft fum which has been
offered to any person whofe affistance has yet been foli- TO THE
cited.

AMBASSADOR FROM MADRID.

Soon after the above ambassador left London, a mef

fenger from the Cabinet of Madrid, who came over in one of Lord St. Vincent's fleet, brought the important intelligence that the bafis of an Incorporate Union was nearly agreed on, between that country and France; the courts of justice were to remain as before, that the religious establishment was ftill to continue; the ambaffador expreffed the ftrongeft indignation of his court against the monstrous meafure; complained extremely of the effect which certain jacobinical fpeeches and pamphlets in favor of Incorporate Unions, had occafioned; and after expreffions of ftrong regret, and feeing that the Signor Pittachio could give his court no effectual relief, he immediately left town for Madrid.