their long and close attention to public business; he particularly assured the commons, that he should faithfully apply the supplies granted at the beginning of that session to the support of his majesty's establishment, and to the advancement of the public service. Yet that the arrears incurred before their meeting upon his majesty's establishment civil and military had made it necessary for him to borrow 100,000/. immediately after the act was passed; and that that sum not sufficing, he had since been obliged to raise the remaining 100,000. being the full extent of the credit entrusted to him by that act. We have seen that some fruitless divisions were made, upon the different conceptions, which the patriots had of the lieutenant's applications of the revenue, to the advancement of the public service; they did not consider the public purse liable to any of these appropriations by way of bargain or remuneration, by which they openly charged the lord lieutenant with having obtained a majority of the members, in his support, and kept them steady in their ranks. Every effort to countervail the system so successfully established by this lord lieutenant became not only negatively fruitless, but positively mischievous by encreasing the evil and extending the infection. As this governor had completely succeeded in his arduous attempt of reducing the parliamentary influence of Ireland to the uncontrollable direction of the castle, he took care in this farewell speech to leave such a portrait, as he wished to hand down to posterity of his administration of the kingdom of Ireland.

"His majesty gave it in express command to me, to make your interest and prosperity the great object of my adminis"tration, and my own inclination incited me to a strict and zea"lous performance of that duty. I have upon every occasion "endeavoured, to the utmost of my power, to promote the public "service, and I feel the most perfect satisfaction in now repeating to you my acknowledgments for the very honourable "manner, in which (after a residence of near five years amongst "you) you have declared your entire approbation of my conduct. "Be assured that I shall always entertain the most ardent "wishes for your welfare, and shall make a faithful representa"tion to his majesty, of your loyalty and attachment to his royal "person and government."

How far this chief governor of Ireland did in reality promote the interest and happiness of the people of Ireland, the unbiassed observer of past scenes will judge more accurately than the chief actor himself. His lordship however has the credit of having ably performed the part allotted to him; as Dr. Campbell observed in the year 1775, his successor Lord Harcourt then

found the parliament of Ireland as obsequious as that of Great Britain.*

When Lord Harcourt assumed the government in October, 1772, he had little to do, but to continue the system, which his predecessor had with so much perseverance, difficulty and charge to the finance regularly established according to his instructions from the British cabinet. In order therefore to give continuance and stability to the new English interest, which had been raised upon the partial destruction of the Irish oligarchy, as Lord Clare observed, a man was chosen of amiable character, easy disposition, and of no other ambition than to move by the direction, and thus acquire the approbation of his immediate employers. With the active labour of office he considered, that he also threw the burthen of responsibility upon his secretary. He had been nearly twelve months in the government of Ireland before he met the parliament, on the 12th of October, 1773. Nothing particularly commands attention in his excellency's speech: he assured the commons, that he had it in command from his majesty, to lay before them the public accounts and estimates, by which they would be able to judge of the provisions necessary to be made for the honourable support of his majesty's government, and to ask the necessary supplies for that purpose; which on his part he pledged himself should be faithfully applied and frugally administered. The address, thanks and other proceedings usual at the commencement of a session passed without opposition. The first stand made by the patriots, was upon an alarm at the intention of government, in laying the accounts before the house, to hold back several of the documents, which would too palpably bring to light, the means used in the late administration of ensuring a majority to do the king's business. After the house had ordered the different accounts and estimates to be laid before them, a motion was made for an address to his excellency, that he would be pleased to give directions to the proper officers to lay before the house the estimates; and an amendment was proposed to be made to the question, by adding the following words, as far as there are materials for that purpose: upon which a division took place, and the amendment was carried by 88 against 52. Thus was it left in the discretion of the clerks, or rather of their patrons, to bring forward or hold back what materials they chose.§

On the 24th of December, 1773, the commons were summoned to attend the lord lieutenant at the bar of the house of

Phil. Surv. p. 59.

+ Or rather, as Lord Clare observed, the Minister's.

Journ. Com. vol. 9. p. 16.

By this division we see the proportionate strength of the opposite parties in the house.

Peers, when his excellency gave the royal assent to some money bills, and to the repeal of that unconstitutional act for the trial of offenders out of their own counties, passed in Lord Townshend's administration. Mr. Pery had too long sided with the patriots, not to see the real state of distress and difficulty, into which the country was then plunged: and having himself gone over upon terms to the court party, he found it difficult to take any step or suggest any measure to the House of Commons, that could effectually check the ruinous system, in which the patriots would not cordially join; and this would have been considered by the people out of doors either as concession, or coalition. A middle plan was therefore devised, by which the feeling and sense of the representatives of the people should be, in part at least, handed up to the throne through the lord lieutenant, without weakening the majority by hazarding the steadiness of individuals on questions too palpable for plausible controversy. To accomplish this half measure, calculated to commit ministers, no further than to the uncertain result of consequences, Mr. Pery, the speaker, delivered the following speech at the bar of the House of Lords.*

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCellency,

"The commons have exerted their utmost efforts to answer your excellency's expectations, not only in providing "for the discharge of an arrear of 265,000l. but also in making "an addition to the revenue of near 100,000l. a year. Difficult

66

as this task appeared in a kingdom so destitute of resources as "this is, yet it was undertaken with cheerfulness and prosecuted "with vigour; but if the means they have employed shall prove "inadequate to the liberality of their intentions, it must be "imputed to the inability of the kingdom not to any disinclina❝tion or unwillingness in them to make ample provision for his "majesty's service, to which they have sacrificed their most "favourite objects. The moderation and temper, with which "all their proceedings have been conducted during the course "of this session, afford the clearest proof, not only of their "gratitude for his majesty's attention and condescension to their "wishes, but also of the just sense they entertain of your excel"lency's effectual intercession in their favour, to which they "attribute those measures of œconomy, which have been lately "adopted, and which they doubt not will be continued; and "they have the fullest confidence, that the same humane and "benevolent disposition will induce your excellency to represent "to his majesty in the strongest light, not only their duty and "affection to him, but also the state and circumstances of this

* Com. Journ. vel. 9. p. 73.

"kingdom: from which, and from your excellency's credit and "influence, they conceive the most sanguine hopes, that those "restrictions, which the narrow and short sighted policy of "former times, equally injurious to Great Britain and to us, "imposed upon the manufactures and commerce of this kingdom, will be remitted. If Great Britain reaped the fruits of "this policy, the commons of Ireland would behold it without "repining, and submit to it without complaining; but it aggra "vates the sense of their misfortunes to see the rivals, if not "the enemies of Great Britain, in the undisturbed possession "of those advantages, to which they think themselves entitled "upon every principle of policy and justice. It is the expecta "tion of being restored to some, if not to all of those rights, "and that alone, which can justify to the people the conduct of "their representatives in laying so many additional burdens << upon them, in the course of this session; and no time can be "more favourable to their wishes, than the present, when the. "public councils are directed by a minister, who has judgment "to discern, and courage to pursue, the common interest of the "whole empire, and when the throne is filled by a monarch, the "sole object of whose ambition is to render all his people "happy.

Lord Harcourt's administration at first promised so much moderation and fair intention to promote the real interest of Ireland, that it met with the support of several most respectable and popular characters, which afterwards opposed it, when they found it carried forward entirely upon the principles and plan of the administration of Lord Townshend. fectation of correcting some of the defects, errors, and extravaThere was an afgances of the last administration; thus was the insurgent act repealed: thus was the board of excise,* created in the former administration, abolished, and thereby some saving made to the

*The following proceedings in the commons were had upon this subject. (9 Fourn. Com. 28.J

"The house being informed that Mr. Vaughan Montgomery attended at "the door, he was called in, and at the bar presented to the house, pursuant "to their order:

"No. I. An account of all charges that have attended the new boards of "excise and customs, distinguishing each expence, and for what paid, from the "3d of February, 1772, to the 26th of October, 1773.

"No. II. An account of all charges that have attended the appointment of "the four new surveyors general, from their respective appointments to the "26th of October, 1773.

"No. III. An account of all new offices and additional charges on the estab "lishment of the commissioners of excise during the period of Lord Viscount "Townshend's administration.

"The titles whereof were read, and the accounts ordered to lie on the table "for the perusal of the members.

"A motion was made, and the question being proposed, that it be resolved, "that the present expences of government ought to be greatly retrenched;

nation. It must however be allowed, that this lord lieutenant had the exclusive merit of having proposed a measure, which the interests of Ireland had long called for, and which the influence of the great land owners in the country had always opposed. At the beginning of the first session under Lord Harcourt, an absentee tax was offered on the part of government, and wonderful to say, was rejected. In the then distressed and empoverished state of Ireland, it will be neither rash nor harsh, to conclude, that the patriotism of the majority, which rejected this seasonable relief to their country could have been neither disinterested nor pure. It was proposed, that a tax of two shillings in the pound should be laid upon the net rents and annual profits of all landed property in Ireland, to be paid by all persons, who should not actually reside in that kingdom for the space of six months in each year from Christmas 1773 to Christmas 1775. This measure though so equitable in itself, so desirable for the country, which was drained of its own produce to be spent in another country, could not so decently be pressed by the representatives of the English government, as left to the free disposal of the Irish parliament, whose interest it more immediately concerned. It was not therefore made a government question, all their connexions were understood to be left at perfect liberty, and most of the servants of the crown voted

"An amendment was proposed to be made to the question by inserting be "tween the word "resolved," and the word "that," the following words; "that it is necessary and parliamentary at this time to declare."

"And the qustion being put, that the words proposed, stand part of the " question:

"It was carried in the affirmative, Nem. Con.

“An amendment was proposed to be made to the question by inserting be. "tween the word "declare," and the word " that," the following words; "notwithstanding the reduction of expences lately made by government, and 66 though the report is not yet made from the committee of accounts."

"And the question being put, that the words proposed stand part of the "question:

"It was carried in the affirmative, Nem. Con.

"A further amendment was proposed to be made to the question by insert"ing between the word "accounts," and the word "that," the following "words; "and notwithstanding we have the utmost confidence in the present "chief governor."

"And the question being put, that the words proposed stand part of the "question:

It was carried in the affirmative, Nem. Con. "And the question so amended, is as follows:

"Resolved, That it is necessary and parliamentary, at this time, to declare, "notwithstanding the reduction of expence lately made by government, and "though the report is not yet made from the committee of accounts, and not"withstanding we have the utmost confidence in the present chief governor, "that the present expences of government ought to be greatly retrenched." "And the main question put:

"The house divided, when the ayes were 88 and the noes 112. It passed "therefore in the negative."