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SPEECHES

OF THE

RIGHT HON. HENRY GRATTAN,

WITH

PREFATORY OBSERVATIONS.

301

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INTRODUCTION.

WHEN the editor of Mr. GRATTAN's speeches first entertained the idea of collecting and compiling the eloquence of his distinguished countryman, he was influenced by two considerations to the prosecution of so important and national a work. The first, that the present circumstances under which his country was placed, required more than ever, the general diffusion of those principles which first tended to promote the happiness and prosperity of Ireland. The second, that he conceived he would add, in a great and eminent degree, to the many valuable works of this kind which are daily issuing from the press, and gratify that taste for eloquence which has been so much the object of every man's attainment and ambition. The only claim which the editor of this volume has to public patronage is, that he has spared no labour in endeavouring to give to the public the most faithful reports of the speeches which he has collected, and that he has diligently examined the various records

ere the best and most faithful reports could be found.--That he has made every effort to do justice to the splendid talents of Mr. GRATTAN, by an attentive comparison of those reports, will, perhaps, be acknowleged by such readers, who have been witnesses of the great exertions of our orator; exertions which now constitute a new era in English eloquence. In collecting the productions of that mind which so eloquently poured forth its treasures-in compiling, with industry and care, the labours of that man, whose talents raised his country from slavery to freedom, the editor hopes, if he shall not enjoy the praise, he may at least escape the severity, of the critic; and that he shall have gratified the friend of literature, and the man of taste, the admirer of genius, and the advocate of liberal principles and enlightened legislation, by rescuing the speeches of Mr. GRATTAN from the mouldering records of newspapers, and the widely extended surface of parliamentary debates: and it is a debt which the editor owes to the fame of this distinguished senator, to state, that those, and similar records, are the only sources from which he has taken the speeches now given to the public.

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SPEECH OF MR. GRATTAN,

IN THE

DEBATE ON NATIONAL ECONOMY.

PREFATORY OBSERVATIONS.

On the 9th of February, 1786, Mr. Thomas Connolly, of Castletown, the first Irish Commoner, brought forward the two following most important resolutions:

The first resolution-"That this House did, in the last session, grant certain new taxes, estimated at 140,000l. per annum, for the purpose of putting an end to the accumulation of debt."

The second "That should the said taxes be continued, it is absolutely necessary that the expenses of the nation should be confined to the annual income."

Few questions were ever discussed in the Irish parliament, on which its character so much depended, as those very important resolutions submitted by Mr. Connolly to its consideration.

In the session of 1785, hopes were held out to the nation, that such an arrangement would be grounded upon the celebrated eleven Commercial Propositions, as would enable it to bear the burden of increased taxation with ease and convenience-that trade would be so extended-the resources of the country so enlarged-its condition in every respect so ameliorated-the additional taxation of 140,000l. per annum would, without distressing the people, have the happy effect of equalizing the expenses of the nation to its revenues.-The eleven propositions, which had so elevated the hopes of Ireland, had equally alarmed the jealousy and intolerance of the English merchants; and an universal clamour having been raised against them by ignorance and political intrigue, the minister was obliged to abandon a system which promised so much immediate relief to Ireland, and such certain, though more remote, advantages to England. In the place of

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