and a union among one another, founded on a common interest, a free and proud condition under a reign, whose glory it has been to give to his subjects in this country, privileges and protection. In the same mildness His Excellency enters into the spirit of the legislature, in its act of liberality, and teaches you to expect, that in the administration of the government, he will second the bountiful intentions of the laws, the spirit in which they were made, and the liberality in which they were recommended. These recommendations are accompanied by a certain style of love and tone of graciousness, coming as it were from a breast too just to injure, and manners too high to insult.

The union of all the property of the country in support of the laws, and all the talents in support of the property, with measures to redress and to unite; accompanied with the graciousness of manner to the subject, that he may feel not only a privilege under the government, but a pride in the condition of being a subject. Another pledge of his allegiance is an experiment worthy of a wise government, whose primary object is your prosperity, and whose secondary object is your lovea government, looking in its arrangement of measures for the constitution, a solid strength, and for itself an honest power, to administer the country according to its confidence in pursuit of its advantages, with a spirit too high for resentment, and alike superior to plunder or proscription.

From the union of the present generation, the public care of the speech proceeds to the education of the rising gene

ration.

A report of the committee appointed to enquire into the institution for public education was laid before government in 1790; it will be submitted to this House now. The extract I have seen, and from that extract I collect that the fund is above 40,000l. per annum, of which 18,000l. is for Protestant charter schools, in which this extract states that there are 1700 children, whose situation is by no means such as the funds would bespeak. Of this 40,000l. a considerable fund is for schools of royal donation, of which the extract states one only to be in a state of prosperity. Of the remainder of the 40,000l., 9000l. is a fund of private donations; 4000l. a fund of Erasmus Smith, the rest principally diocesan and parish schools.

When the report shall be laid before this House, it will see how far the intention of public education has been answered, and how far the benefits arising from the funds have been adequate to the expence. Your wisdom, I make no doubt,

will administer the remedy without any obstruction from any private interest, certain that the abuses will receive no protection from the government.

On this subject it is intended that a plan should be submitted for colleges for the education of Catholic clergy, who now are excluded from the continent; and also two or more colleges, where the children of the Protestant clergy shall be in a great proportion on the foundation, and where the patronage of the minister will be less considered than that of the university; the ministers of the crown never proving their attention to letters more effectually than when they suffer the academician to enjoy the honours of his own university, and to sit, in his age, under the shade of that laurel which, in his youth, he had planted.

Of the disturbances in Meath and the borders, the speech is silent; wisely, lest it should magnify a banditti into a rebellion, implicate the lower orders in the crime of a gang of robbers, and bespeak on the part of His Majesty any thing less than a complete satisfaction in the loyalty of ALL HIS

PEOPLE.

But though the mischief has not been stated, the thing has not been neglected. On the contrary, means have been taken already, and further means will be resorted to, and if the laws when put in full execution, are not sufficient, Parliament will be resorted to for power to extinguish a banditti which cannot be tolerated by any government, and must now prepare to forfeit either their lives or their practices.

There is a part of the speech of which no subject and no Irishman can speak without emotions of joy and affection, viz. the marriage of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales; an event the most auspicious, whether we consider the mild government of his family, the blessings this country has derived under his father, or the qualities of the august personage himself.

Mr. Grattan then moved the address.

Mr. Duquery rose to propose an amendment. He deprecated the war, and contended that Mr. Pitt had greatly erred in refusing to treat with the French government. When Monsieur Chauvelin was in England, the two countries were, by the obstinacy of the British minister, involved in a bloody and a disastrous war, of which he could discern neither the object or the end. He concluded by moving the following amendment:

"To assure His Majesty that his faithful Commons of Ireland are steadily and sincerely attached to the safety and prosperity of the British empire; that they feel themselves inseparably united with the fate of England; and that they most humbly implore His Majesty to take the earliest opportunity of concluding a peace

with France, and not to let the existing form of government in that country be any obstacle to that great and desirable object."

Mr. George Ponsonby opposed the amendment, and maintained that Mr. Duquery should, at an earlier period, have made his objections to the war. The object of the French government was to reduce the power of Great Britain. The war must come sooner or later; and these countries were better prepared to meet it now.

The address was then agreed to. Mr. Conolly moved an address to the Lord-lieutenant, which was likewise agreed to. On the 23d the report was brought up; its import was similar to the speech from the throne. The following were the most remarkable paragraphs:

"We assure your Excellency, that we consider His Majesty's appointment of your Excellency to be our chief governor as a signal instance of His Majesty's attention to the interests, and condescension to the wishes of his people of Ireland; that we are convinced that in your Excellency, we shall always find a ready concurrence with His Majesty's paternal wishes, and with the wise measures of his Parliament, for the happiness of his subjects. That on a cordial affection to the whole of Ireland, and on a conduct suitable to that sentiment, your Excellency wishes to found your own personal estimation and your reputation in the execution of the great trust committed by the most beneficent of sovereigns to your care. On our part, your Excellency may depend upon a firm and affectionate support, prompted by inclination as much as by duty. We shall second with peculiar pleasure the measures of a chief governor, no less remarkable for his unshaken loyalty to his sovereign than for his invincible attachment to the rights and liberties of the people, and whose possessions in this country, however ample, afford a pledge much less valuable than his character for his attention to its interests.

"Attached as we are to the general cause of religion, learning, and civilization, we feel ourselves bound to return your Excellency our warmest thanks for recommending to our care the state of education in this kingdom; we feel that considerable advantages have been already derived from the Protestant charter schools, which shall, as usual, receive our attention; but as these advantages have been but partial, and as circumstances have made other considerations connected with this important subject highly necessary, your Excellency may be assured, that we shall endeavour to order every thing relating to it in the manner which shall, upon the most mature deliberation, seem most beneficial, and the best adapted to the occasions of the several descriptions of men which compose His Majesty's faithful subjects of Ireland.

"We request your Excellency to represent to His Majesty our unshaken loyalty to his royal person, family, and government, and our fixed and unalterable determination to support, to the utmost of our power, our sister country against the rancorous animosity and dangerous rivalry of her ancient enemy. Great Britain, assailed by France, may rely with confidence on the firm and affectionate support of Ireland; and we entreat your Excel

lency to believe, that we esteem it a signal happiness to this nation, to be governed in such a crisis as the present by a nobleman whose manners are formed to conciliate, and whose councils, we trust, will be directed to unite the whole body of His Majesty's faithful subjects in the support of the honour of his crown, and the safety and prosperity of all his dominions."

To this address the Lord-lieutenant returned the following

answer:

"This cordial address, justifying with such promptitude and alacrity the confidence which His Majesty reposes in the spirit and loyalty of His faithful Commons of Ireland, is of so salutary and animating a tendency, reflects such high honour on the national character, and gives so happy an earnest of the cheerfulness, vigour, and extent of the national exertion, at this ardous and trying crisis, that it calls for more than ordinary expressions of satisfaction and acknowledgment.

"Such sentiments, communicating themselves from one kingdom to the other, such conformity in attachment to the constitution, and in affection for the best and most beloved of sovereigns, a spirit so firm and persevering in the support of a cause which they consider as common to both, and a determination so fixed and unshaken to stand or fall together, must be as encouraging to the friends as formidable to the enemies of the British name and empire. Standing on this ground, we have nothing to dread. The disturbers of the peace of Europe will see that, bound indissolubly together in interests, in principles, and in affection, Great Britain and Ireland disregard their menaces, and are determined, under Providence, to check the course of their exterminating ambition.

"If any thing could be wanting to complete my satisfaction at this happy and auspicious commencement of my administration, I should find it in the flattering terms in which you express your approbation of my principles and past conduct; and in the generous confidence with which you anticipate future benefits to be derived to this kingdom, from my loyalty to my sovereign, and from my inviolable attachment to the rights and liberties of the people.

"The stake which I have in your country, you naturally conclude, ought to bind me in a peculiar manner to its interests; but such considerations are languid and cold indeed, when compared with the ardent desire I feel to recommend myself in this new connection which I have formed with you, to the approbation, the esteem and the affection of the whole of Ireland."

Mr. Grattan then presented a petition from the Roman Catholics of the city of Dublin, thanking His Majesty and the Parliament for the removal of certain disabilities in the year 1793; and stating the existence of various other restraints and penalties, by which their body was still affected, and humbly submitting their case to the consideration and wisdom of the House. The petition was received, and ordered to lie on the table.

GRANT TOWARDS MANNING THE FLEET.

MR. GRATTAN MOVES THAT 200,000l. BE GRANTED FOR THE PURPOSE OF RAISING MEN FOR HIS MAJESTY'S FLEET.

February 3. 1795.

MR. GRATTAN said: Sir, I should not attempt to move for a grant towards manning the fleet, if I did not know that measures were taken already for the defence of the country: forty-one thousand men for your home defence will be, by the right honourable gentleman, proposed in the committee of supply on the next Saturday, with such a train and such other incidental force as will be necessary to enable an army of forty thousand men to act against the enemy. In this forty thousand men is not included such a county force as may be judged necessary to be commissioned by His Majesty for the purpose of preserving the peace, while the troops of the line and the militia may act without diversion against the enemy. The particulars of this force, the right honourable gentleman whose department it is to state the supply, will set forth, and set forth this day, in order to give the public that satisfaction which is due to them at all times, particularly at a moment so important and critical; the expence will be considerable, but you will bear it with fortitude, and teach the people to imitate your example. How unworthy had it been if government at such a moment had chosen to expose the country to the danger of an invasion, in order to avoid the odium of expence. The government appeals to your generosity and your judgment, and above all to your spirit, which must assist the recruiting service, assist the augmentation of the militia, and preserve the peace of your country, against all kind of disturbance from at home or abroad; such spirit and such unanimity assisting the efforts of government in the defence of every thing which is dear to us, will baffle the designs of our enemies, and preserve the constitution which you adore, and the monarchy which you revere.

Mr. GRATTAN then moved, "That a sum not exceeding 200,000l. be granted for the purpose of raising men in this kingdom for manning the fleet."

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said: that the estimates to which his right honourable friend alluded were before the House. They contained an account of the forces for the defence of the country: 20,386 regular forces, and 21,339 militia; in all, 41,725.