reference to the regency which George the Third's mental aberration had made necessary. The Prince of Wales at this period professed not unpopular politics, and favoured the Catholic claims. Mr. Pitt, apprehensive that the regency might prove fatal to his ambition and to his cabinet, powerfully resisted the heir-apparent's right to the prerogative of his father, and declared on 11th Dec., 1788, that "the Prince of Wales had no better right to administer the government during his father's incapacity than any other subject of the realm".* An address to his Royal Highness from the Irish Parliament requested that he would "take upon himself the government of Ireland during the continuation of the king's indisposition, and no longer, and under the title of Prince Regent of Ireland, in the name, and on behalf of his Majesty, to exercise, according to the laws and constitution of that kingdom, all regal powers, jurisdiction, and prerogatives to the crown. and government thereof belonging". Ireland called upon the prince, in virtue of the federative compact, to assume at once the sceptre of authority; but Mr. Pitt's followers furiously struggled against it. Grattan headed the independent party in the Commons. Mr. Pelham, afterwards Lord Chichester, after speaking of what he styles "the tricks and intrigues of Mr. Pitt's faction", says, " I have not time to express how strongly the prince is affected by the confidence and attachment of the Irish Parliament. I have only time to say in his own words, 'Tell Grattan that I am a most determined Irishman"". The Duke of Portland, writing to Mr. Grattan on the 21st February, 1789, says: "I beg most sincerely to congratulate you on the decisive *The Prospect Before Us. 1788, p. 4.

effect of your distinguished exertions. Your own country is sensible and worthy of the part you have taken in defence and protection of her constitution. The prince thinks himself no less obliged to you; and whenever this deluded country becomes capable of distinguishing her true friends, she will contribute her quota of applause and gratitude".*

"The probability of his Majesty's recovery", writes Sir Jonah Barrington, "had a powerful influence on placemen and official connections. The viceroy took a decisive part against the prince, and made bold and hazardous attempts upon the rights of the Irish Parliament". The recently published Buckingham correspondencet confirms Sir Jonah's statement. Every day a bulletin announcing the monarch's convalescence reached the viceroy. The good news was orally circulated among his supporters. Mr. Fitzgibbon was promised the seals and a peerage if he succeeded for Mr. Pitt. Each member of the Opposition was menaced, that he should be made the "victim of his vote". Lures were held out to the wavering-threats hurled at the independent.

This extraordinary threat elicited that spirited

* Life and Times of Henry Grattan, by his son, vol. iii., pp. 373-4.

† Memoirs of the Courts and Cabinets of George III, from Original Family Documents, by the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, 1853. The noble editor of these valuable state papers admits that "the Parliament of Ireland preserved the unquestionable right of deciding the Regency in their own way. The position of Lord Buckingham", he adds, "had become peculiarly embarrassing. What course should be taken in the event of such an address being carried? The predicament was so strange, and involved constitutional considerations of such importance, as to give the most serious disquietude to the Administration".-Vol. ii. p. 101.

protest familiarly known as "the Round Robin", to which the Duke of Leinster, Lords Charlemont, Shannon, Granard, Ross, Moira, and a host of other influential men, affixed their signatures. The document dwelt on the recent threat of making individuals "the victim of their vote", and stigmatised it "as a reprobation of their constitutional conduct, and an attack upon public principle and the independence of Parliament; that any administration taking or persevering in such steps was not entitled to their confidence, and should not receive their support".

The address to the regent having passed both the Lords and Commons, it was presented to Lord Buckingham for transmission; but the viceroy declined to have anything to say to it, and thus parliament was reduced to the necessity of forwarding the address by the hands of delegates. Previous to their departure the following resolution was carried by 115 to 83:"That his Excellency's answer to both Houses of Parliament, requesting him to transmit their address to his Royal Highness, is ill advised, contains an unwarrantable and unconstitutional censure on the proceedings of both Houses, and attempts to question the undoubted rights and privileges of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and of the Commons of Ireland". The viceroy, as a last resource, endeavoured to multiply his partizans by the most venal means. Mr. Fitzgibbon gave it to be understood that half a million of money had been placed in his hands for corrupt purposes; and as the first law officer of the crown made this disgusting avowal, he casually confessed that one address of thanks to Lord Townshend, a few years before, had cost the nation £500,000!*

*The corrupt policy and proceedings of the Townshend administration received effective exposure in a publication called Baratariana.-See Appendix.

Grattan, who was an eye-witness of all these disreputable proceedings, observed at a later period: "The threat was put into its fullest execution; the canvass of the minister was everywhere in the House of Commons, in the lobby, in the street, at the door of the parliamentary undertakers, rapped at and worn by the little caitiffs of government, who offered amnesty to some, honours to others, and corruption to all; and where the word of the viceroy was doubted, they offered their own. Accordingly, we find a number of parliamentary provisions were created, and divers peerages sold, with such effect, that the same parliament who had voted the chief governor a criminal, did immediately after give that very governor implicit support". "They began", said Curran, "with the sale of the honour of the peerage the open and avowed sale for money of the peerage to any man who was rich and shameless enough to be the purchaser. It depraved the Commons, it profaned the sanctity of the Lords, it poisoned the sources of legislature and the fountains of justice, it annihilated the very idea of public honour or public integrity!" Curran did not speak thus strongly from any cankering feeling of wounded pride at slights received from the government. Describing the events of 1798, his biographer tells us: "To Mr. Curran it was communicated that his support of the government would be rewarded with a judge's place, and with the eventual prospect of a peerage; but, fortunately for his fame, he had too much respect for his duties and his character to sacrifice them to personal advancement".†

Grattan, Curran, and Ponsonby offered to prove,

*Life and Times of Henry Grattan, v. iii., p. 338. † Life of Curran, by his Son, v. i., p. 240.

on evidence, the startling charges to which we have referred; but the government, knowing that it had been guilty of an impeachable offence, shrunk from the inquiry. The peerages of Kilmaine, Cloncurry, and Glentworth were, beyond doubt, sold for hard cash in 1789, and the proceeds laid out for the purchase of members in the House of Commons.

Mr. Wright, in his history of Ireland, pronounces Mr. Johnson's to be the ablest speech on the government side during this struggle. He quotes it in full; but the effect is spoiled by Mr. Johnson's confession to Thomas Moore in 1831, that he had always supported Grattan's policy until the regency question, when he ratted, and at once became the recipient of state favours. "In fact", added the ex-judge John son, we were all jobbers at that time".

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The struggle between the viceroy and the parliament was a sadly exciting one. Political profligacy stalked, naked and unblushing, through the Senate and the Castle. Vows, resolutions, rules, reputations, and faith were daily broken. Meanwhile, the royal physicians opined that the king would soon be restored to health. "Your object", says the secretary of state, in a letter to the viceroy on Feb. 19th, 1789,"your object will be to use every possible endeavour, by all means in your power, debating every question, dividing upon every question, moving adjournment upon adjournment, and every other mode that can be suggested, to gain time!" Sheridan's politically penetrating eye saw through the ruse. "I am perfectly aware", he writes in a private letter to the prince, "of the arts that will be practised, and the advantages which some * Diary of Thomas Moore, vi., p. 55.

† Buckingham Correspondence, v. ii., p. 117.