they not at the fame time be loyal and free? Muft the conftitution be effaced to admit the king into their hearts, or if they feel for the conftitution as their ancestors felt, muft their loyalty give way? Such fingleness of worship is not due to any thing human, and is treafon against the fovereignty of the British conftitution. I cannnot préfume fuch infatuation, and I look, my countrymen, with confidence, to the good fenfe of the people of England, for protection against the revolution with which you and they are equally menaced. What are the advantages held out to that people to induce them to proftrate the conftitution of their ancestors, under the feet of the minifter?

This country, they are told, abounds with unexhaufted, perhaps untried, fources of wealth. Its taxes as yet are light, and its debt, compared with its refources, a trifle. In fifteen years from the period of its conftitutional and commercial freedom, it has profpered beyond the anticipations of the most fanguine. Ought young Ireland to be fuffered to lean on old England, and not divide the burthen of debt and taxes under which she is staggering? Should not the refources of that rifing country be fubftituted for affeffed taxes, the fale of the royal forefts, or perhaps of the church lands? Will not the whole wealth of that country, under any poffible modification of an Union, be at the difpofal of the British parliament, to be applied at the difcretion of the British minifter, to relieve the exigencies of the parent country? Do not the growing military propenfities of Europe, and parti.cularly of France, demonftrate that enormous standing armies must in future be kept on foot for the protection of the empire; and can any thing be more defireable than that the population of Ireland fhould be rendered completely fubfervient to that neceffary purpofe? That the manufacturer and husbandman of England Thould be spared, and the armies levied and paid by Ireland, and ftationed in that country, where the empire is most vulnerable, and from whence, upon any emergency, they can be fo readily transported to England or elsewhere?

The establishment of fo great a military force as exifting circumstances may probably in future require, is fomewhat repugnant to the genius of the British conftitution, and will not that neceffary evil be much mitigated and reconciled to the feelings of Englishmen, even by the remoteness of the military ftation? By keeping Ireland as an imperial barrack, and a nursery of feamen. Befides the exchange of militia between the nations, which, after an Union will ceafe to be unconftitutional, and will become the conftant practice, will give to that body all the vigour of a standing army, and will be a strong defence against the growth of faction, and revoJutionary principles, in fuch a country.

Oh! infatuated and befotted English, if you are tricked out of your liberties by fuch falfe pretences, fuch fhallow artifices? If you have forgotten the millions, which, feduced by fimilar fuggeftions, you fquandered upon loft America! If you do not fee, that if Ireland could be chained down to fuch a state of flavish and impoverishing dependance, the fame arrangement, which gives the purfe and the fword of that nation to your minifter, gives him uncoutroulable dominion over your liberties.

I repeat it that thefe pretences are falfe, or at beft, but fecondary motives in the mind of the minifter. He already commands the refources of Ireland, as much as is necessary for the general good of the empire. 'Tis the encreased influence of the crown in the British parliament, about which he is folicitous. When I perceive one confequence from a propofed innovation, more certain, more immediate, and more important, than all others united, I cannot credit that that .confequence has been the inducement to the measure. I would as foon believe the minifter that the opening the Scheld was the real caufe of the war with France, as I would, that the hundred votes which he will add to his following in the Britifh parliament, is not his prime motive for proposing an Union.

Bnt as it often happens, that very different language is fpoken upon the fame fubject by the fame party, upon different occafions, I fhould not be much furprised at hearing it faid, that the prefumed fervility and dependance of the Irish reprefentatives, in the united parliament, is a libel upon the Irish nation, and that they will be incorruptible "guardians of the interefts and rights of their conftituents, and independent members of the British fenate.

Upon the patriotifm or independence of an abfentee legislature, under any circumftances, I fhould place but very little reliance. Will there be any thing in the appointment or condition of the Irish representatives in England, to distinguish them from thofe of Scotland, or expatriated legiflators of any other country? I fhall take the most favourable cafe: I shall fuppofe them elected from the counties; I pafs over the appointment of every returning officer, and confequently the command of every return by the minifter; I dwell not upon the mockery of a petition to Westminster, or to a dependent and degraded parliamentary junto in Dublin; I fuppofe the hundred members elected, tranfported, and ftationed, in the British parliament. What a formidable phalanx of Irifh virtue, to a corrupt minifter! Surely the English nation will be stunned by the declamations of Irish Patriots, in fupport of poor Ireland. I confess I have very flight fears for the minifter upon that fcore, when I reflect, that the expences of a London refidence to a diffipated Irishman must be recruited at St. James's; that national prejudices will be softened down by minifterial intercourfe; that the whole paronage of Ireland, which the advocates for an Union have told you has completely weaned three hundred reprefentatives from their conftituents, with whom they were in contact, may be applied to one hundred of the fame men with the ocean rolling between them; that the example of Scotland fhews how perfuafive a minifter always is to an absentee member of parliament; and that as nothing can ever be obtained by your reprefentative for himself or his country but through the favor of the minifter, he will always be a most patriotic courtier..

Oh, illuftrious and immortal Chatham! Is it then, thus, your lineal defcendant, the inheritor of your fame, commutes his patrimony for power? Is it thus he would realize your wife and grand conceptions? Is it thus he would pour new blood and freth vigor into that parliament which gave birth to your talents, and feat you forth the minifter of the

conftitution of Great Britain-the fcourge of its enemies the pride of its fubjects, and the guardian of its liberties? If one hundred additional votes had been in poffeffion of the minifter, could the voice of Lord Chatham have ever reached the throne through the conftitutional organ of the people's will? Could a corrupt, incapable, and unpopular minifter, who was a favorite, ever have been removed without a revolution? If one hundred additional votes be now given to the crown, can the fon of Lord Chatham, or any future minister who fhall be a favorite, be removed without a revolution? Mr. Fox's laft India bill, it was faid, would have fubverted the conftitution by ftripping the crown of patronage, which, it was computed, might have influenced one hundred votes between the two houfes of parliament. Can the conftitution ftand, when one hundred votes in the house of commons alone, are at once added to the overgrown influence of the crown? I do not fay that the people of England ought, at this crifis, to fpeculate upon projects of reform, but if they folicit or fubmit to an antireform measure of fuch portentous magnitude, they are no longer worthy of the conftitution of their ancestors, and if they barter their liberties for fpeculations of profit or gain, they are as unwife as they are unworthy.

The commerce of England has arrived at its prefent unparalleled prosperity under the culture and protection of that free conftitution, to the growth of which it fo amply contributed, and by which it has been fo profufely repaid its early obligations. It cannot long furvive that conftitution. Let no man believe that trade can flourish upon the ruins of liberty-the voice of history uniformly negatives the fuppofition. Under any fimple form of government, which must be more or lefs defpotic, property must be infecure, and commerce imperfectly encouraged and protected. In man the love of acquiring and hoarding is not mere inftin&t. He will not, like the industrious bee, collect treafures of which he may be plundered at pleasure, and which may become a bounty against his life.

But it may be faid, that one hundred members is more than ought to be allotted to Ireland upon an Union. I anfwer-that if the principles of our prefent conftitution be obferved, and that the new fyftem be defigned for perpetuity, double that number would be nearer the equitable proportion, which should be governed by the relative population, territory, and wealth of the refpective countries, and not as thefe things now are, but as they probably will be, when the commercial aptitudes of this country fhall be fully ripened. Can any man believe that it is feriously intended to call forth and encourage the refources of this country, and give it in future a due weight in the common legiflature, and alfo, fay, that one hundred members out of fix hundred and fifty-five would be a due proportion for the permanent state of Ireland?

But as an Irishman I wave this filly competition. Two hundred abfentee reprefentatives would be too few for Ireland, and fifty would be too many for the British conftitution. It is my folemn opinion, that if the measure must be carried, every enlightened Irifhman fhould exert himself to reduce the number, and, if poflible, to avoid fending any. If we

are to depend upon the liberality of a foreign parliament, let us not corrupt and degrade that parliament by fo unwholefome an infufion. If our parliament be attainted, and muft perish, let us have no fuch unrighteous refurre&tion. As long as these remain in England, a feeling for the high privileges of a British fubject, and that the parliament be not totally enslaved, there will be found feeling and enlightened men who will not be indifferent to the government of this country; who will think perfonal liberty in fome danger there, if it be totally trodden down here. But when an hundred Irish voices are added to the chorus of the minister, I fhould defpair that any man should ever be heard in fupport of British, not to fpeak of Irish, liberties, if, indeed, any man should be bold and fanguine enough to lift his voice in oppofition in such an affembly.

As to the filly notion that we shall be fecure because all laws must be univerfal, and therefore, equal, I anfwer, that if fuch a rule fhall inflexibly prevail, there is an end to the conftitutional rights of Englishmen; and if it be violated, Ireland is devoted to the lafh of defpotifm.

Are Englishmen ready to confent that the habeas corpus act fhall be fufpended in England; that government by proclamation fhall fuperfede government by law; that the press fhall be filenced at the pleasure of the crown; or that they fhall be liable to be tranfported to Botany Bay by inferior magiftrates, without trial by jury, whenever treasonable practices fhall be difcovered in Ireland, or imputed to that ill-fated country? Are Irishmen fatisfied that a foreign legiflature-I beg pardon-a legislature in a foreign country hall give to them, exclufively, the bleffing or the curfe (it will be differently denominated) of fuch laws and fuch government? No infatuation can tempt the English so to cling to us, that the poignard which stabs our liberties muft penetrate theirs. The very contrary will take place. In diverfity of law they will seek an antidote against identity of legiflature-they will endeavour, by every poffible means of artificial diftinction, to separate from us, and to prevent the mortification which already begins to appear in our political ftate from fpreading to theirs.

But it may be faid, that the laws to which I allude are temporary laws, and temporary laws may be different, though perpetual laws, by the terms of the Union, may be decided to be always the fame.

Need I answer, that a law for one hundred years is a temporary law, and that an annual law may be revived for an hundred years. Is any man fo giddy from youth, or from health, or from any other caufe, as to imagine, if an Union fhall take place, that he will live to fee the habeas corpus act reftored, or a repeal of any of thofe temporary ftatutes, under which the genius of our conftitution langunhes, and the preffure of which he cannot long furvive. The very Union itself will furnish a caufe, or a pretence, for continuing them, until flavery becomes the habit of the country.

But though it is clear, that Englishmen will endeavour to feparate their political condition from ours, it is equally clear, that they will finally and foon fail.

Familiar contemplation of adjacent flavery will blunt that fenfibility which has been an Englishman's beft protection

his honorable conduct Lad now enabled her to ref pect herfelf. Tears of gratitude and affection glistened in her eye, while honeft pride and dignity fwelled in her bofom;-her fituation and rank rofe, and the rofe with them; the feemed to grow young again, and bloomed with fuch new charms, that Mr. Britton often regretted, that he had not fooner done justice to her, and credit to himfelf. She was vifited by the beft company, and feveral foreign ladies of punctilious delicacy, who would fcarcely acknowledge her before, now courted her acquaintance, and were proud of exchanging civilities with her. This happy couple continued for a few years to lead a life of the moft exemplary felicity, when a young gentleman from France arrived in the neighbourhood, and was the first interruption of their happiness. He was a youth of very loofe morals, and abandoned principles, but of a moft plaufible and impofing demeanour. His affairs had lately undergone a dangerous revolution, and the ingenuity peculiar to his country, had fuggefted to him a new and strange expedient for recruiting his finances. He travelled almoft all over Europe, and even to America, in fearch of intrigues, and too frequently fucceeded. His perfon was handfome, his exterior captivating, and his manners infinuating. Few women were proof against his allurements, and fome moft refpectable ladies now lament the facility with which they liftened to his addreffes. He was fuch a refined votary of vice, that he was not content to feduce the affections, unless he alfo debauched the principles of his victim; and the confummation of his crimes was often the murder of the husband, and always the plunder of the family. This dangerous gallant, conceived the profligate enterprize of corrupting the fidelity of Ierne, and difplayed all the refources of his feduction, for that purpose. He worked upon all the most obvious paffions of her bofom, alarmed her jealoufy, flattered her vanity, reminded her of the early injuries, and the tardy penitence of Mr. Britton, reprefented that gentleman's declining age, and growing infirmities, with ridicule, vaunted his own youth, beauty and vigour, offered the moft tempting rewards, affected the most difinterested paffion, and left no avenue to the frailty of the female heart, unapproached or unaffailed; nor did he forget the ufual artifice of bribing feveral of the fervants of the family. Mrs. Britton liftened, but only liftened, to the voice of the feducer, the permitted him to proceed to fuch lengths, as would enable her to af certain his villainy: the afterwards armed the moft able of her domeftics, and the most refpectable of her tenants, with orders to horfewhip the intruder, whenever he should have the infolence to approach her, and the then made a private, but full, communication, and fecret report to Mr. Britton of all the fpark's proceedings from the beginning. Mr. Britton's refentment may be eafily conceived; it was not the lefs when he recollcted that an elder branch of this Lothario's family had been inftrumental to the elopement of his ward, Columbia, to America, he therefore, took his meafures

daughters chafte; their confidence in each other enercafed; their common intereft flourished and improved; he was induftrious, the was laborious; univerfal refpect rewarded their united merit, and the world was liberal enough, almost to forget the circumftances of their first acquaintance. It occurred to Mr. Britton, who had much generofity in his nature, that a woman who had conducted herself with fuch propriety, and contributed fo effentially to his happinefs, who had identified her interefts with his, who had forgiven his injuries, and lavishly fubmitted her property to his difpofal, deferved every recompenfe in his power to beftow; he therefore determined, in a moment of magnanimous feeling, to make her his wife, (or according to a vulgar phrafe) to make her an honest woman. His former ill-advifer, Henry, had been long fince dead, and he was at this time very much under the influence of a refpectable fucceffor of the steward's, whofe name was George. This worthy man encouraged him in this virtuous intention, and he fhortly afterwards carried it into execution. He had recently fuffered much forrow, and agreeably to the conftant operation of affliction, it had foftened his heart, and awakened his compunction. A young lady who lived in his family, (and whom, as he is ftill alive, we fhall, from motives of delicacy, call Columbia) had, from fome difagreements of temper, eloped from his houfe to America. He purfued her at great expence and hazard, but ultimately failed to recover her. This, and other matters, had highly mortified him; and in this temper of mind, he took the ftep I have related, and led to the altar his old and attached friend. Some of the illiberal and profligate of his acquaintance, remonftrated with him upon the folly of marrying a perfon, whom they filed by names of the moft unqualified abufe, and urged many worldly and cautious arguments, in fupport of their opinion. But Mr. Britton was under the influence of a generous moment, and the wedding was celebrated with much pomp and rejoicings. The date of this aufpicious connexion, fo honorable to both parties, was the year 1782, the bride (being an orphan) was given away by the Duke of Portland, a nobleman then confidered Mr. Britton's particular friend, and every thing was conducted in a manner complimentary to the feelings, and advantageous to the interefts, of the parties. Mr. Britton's prudence and generofity concurred in a liberal arrangement as to fettlements, and as he had already experienced her munificent difpofition, he confented that her fortune fhould be at her own difpofal, notwithstanding her coverture. Never was there a marriage which promifed more felicity, and never was there one more calculated to produce it, but alas! happinefs, which fo often, and fo unjustly, we confign to the dominion of fate, depends upon ourfelves; and if it were not for Mr. Britton's own conduct, he might this day have been an enviable man. A good heart can eafily imagine, but the best language could with difficulty exprefs, the joy which filled the confcious heart of lerne. She always loved, the now refpected, Mr. Britton, and