sedition or treason, the attorney general was directed to file an information ex officio against Mr. A. Hamilton Rowan for dis tributing a seditious libel with the intent and design of exciting and diffusing amongst the subjects of that realm discon "tion, yet neither could a sufficient number be thus accommodated, nor would "it prove grateful to the feelings of the parties; and many other inconvenien"cies might arise, if young men should observe great temporal advantages "conferred upon their fellow students, whilst they were restricted to the hum"ble walk of a subordinate ministry. "From these considerations, and conceiving that piety, learning, and subor"dination would be thereby essentially promoted, your excellency's memorialists are induced to undertake the establishment of proper places for the "education of the clerical youth of their communion. Being advised by counsel "that his majesty's royal license is necessary, in order legally to secure the "funds which they may appropriate for that purpose, they humbly beg leave "to solicit your excellency's recommendation to our most gracious sovereign, "that he will be pleased to grant his royal license for the endowment of aca"demies or seminaries, for educating and preparing young persons to discharge "the duties of Roman Catholic clergymen in this kingdom, under ecclesiasti"cal superiors of their own communion. "JOHN THOMAS TROY, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, "January 14, 1794. * The libel laid in the information, was to the following effect: "The Society of United Irishmen at Dublin to the Volunteers of Ireland. "William Drennan, Chairman. "Archibald Hamilton Rowan, Secretary. "CITIZEN soldiers, you first took up arms to protect your country from "foreign enemies and from domestic disturbance; for the same purposes it "now becomes necessary, that you should resume them; a proclamation has "been issued in England for embodying the militia, and a proclamation has "been issued by the lord lieutenant and council in Ireland for repressing all "seditious associations; in consequence of both these proclamations, it is "reasonable to apprehend danger from abroad and danger at home, from "whence but from apprehended danger are these menacing preparations for war "drawn through the streets of this capital, or whence if not to create that "internal commotion which was not found, to shake that credit which was not "affected, to blast that volunteer honour which was hitherto inviolate, are "those terrible suggestions and rumours and whispers that meet us at every "corner, and agitate at least our old men, our women, and children; what"ever be the motive, or from whatever quarter it arises, alarm has arisen, and "you volunteers of Ireland are therefore summoned to arms at the instance of government as well as by the responsibility attached to your character, and "the permanent obligations of your constitution. We will not at this day "condescend to quote authorities for the right of having and of using arms, but we will cry aloud, even amidst the storm raised by the witchcraft of a "proclamation, that to your formation was owing the peace and protection of "this island, to your relaxation has been owing its relapse into impotence and "insignificance, to your renovation must be owing its future freedom and its "present tranquillity: you are therefore summoned to arms, in order to pre"serve your country in that guarded quiet, which may secure it from external "hostility, and to maintain that internal regimen throughout the land, which, "superseding a notorious police, or a suspected militia, may preserve the "blessings of peace by a vigilant preparation for war. 16 "Citizen soldiers, to arms, take up the shield of freedom and the pledges "of peace-peace; the motive and end of your virtuous institution: war, an "eccasional duty, ought never to be made an occupation; every man should VOL. IV. tent, jealousies, and suspicions of his majesty, and disaffection and disloyalty to his person and government, and raising dangerous seditions and tumults within the kingdom of Ireland. To this information Mr. Rowan appeared by his attorney, and 66 66 "become a soldier in the defence of his rights; no man ought to continue a "soldier for offending the rights of others; the sacrifice of life in the service "of our country is a duty much too honourable to be intrusted to mercena"ries; and at this time, when your country has, by public authority, been "declared in danger, we conjure you by your interest, your duty, and your "glory, to stand to your arms, and in spite of a police, in spite of a fencible "militia, in virtue of two proclamations, to maintain good order in your "vicinage, and tranquillity in Ireland; it is only by the military array of men "in whom they confide, whom they have been accustomed to revere as the "guardians of domestic peace, the protectors of their liberties and lives, "that the present agitation of the people can be stilled, that tumult and licen“tiousness can be repressed, obedience secured to existing law, and a calm "confidence diffused through the public mind in the speedy resurrection of a "free constitution, of liberty and of equality, words which we use for an op"portunity of repelling calumny, and of saying, that by liberty we never un"derstood unlimited freedom, nor by equality the levelling of property, or "the destruction of subordination: this is a calumny invented by that faction, "or that gang, which misrepresents the king to the people, and the people "to the king, traduces one half of the nation to cajole the other, and by keeping up distrust and division wishes to continue the proud arbitrators of "the fortune and fate of Ireland; liberty is the exercise of all our rights, "natural and political, secured to us and our posterity by a real representa"tion of the people; and equality is the extension of the constituent to the "fullest dimensions of the constitution, of the elective franchise to the whole "body of the people, to the end, that government, which is collective power, may be guided by collective will, and that legislation may originate from public reason, keep pace with public improvement, and terminate in public "happiness. If our constitution be imperfect, nothing but a reform in re"presentation will rectify its abuses; if it be perfect, nothing but the same "reform will perpetuate its blessings. We now address you as citizens, for "to be citizens you become soldiers; nor can we help wishing, that all soldiers "partaking the passions and interest of the people would remember, that they 64 were once citizens, that seduction made them soldiers, but nature made "them men. We address you without any authority, save that of reason; "and if we obtain the coincidence of public opinion, it is neither by force nor stratagem, for we have no power to terrify, no artifice to cajole, no "fund to seduce; here we sit without mace or beadle, neither a mystery nor "a craft, nor a corporation; in four words lies all our power-universal eman"cipation and representative legislature; yet we are confident, that on the "pivot of this principle, a convention, still less-a society, still less-a single Iman, will be able first to move, and then to raise the world: we therefore "wish for Catholic emancipation without any modification, but still we con"sider this necessary enfranchisement as merely the portal to the temple of "national freedom; wide as this entrance is, wide enough to admit three "millions, it is narrow when compared to the capacity and comprehension of "our beloved principle, which takes in every individual of the Irish nation, "casts an equal eye over the whole island, embraces all that think, and feels "for all that suffer: the Catholic cause is subordinate to our cause, and in"cluded in it; for, as united Irishmen, we adhere to no sect, but to society; "to no cause, but Christianity; to no party, but the whole people. In the "sincerity of our souls do we desire Catholic emancipation; but were it ob"tained to-morrow, to-morrow would we go on as we do to-day, in the pur"suit of that reform, which would still be wanting to ratify their liberties as 66 pleaded the general issue. The trial came on the 29th of January, 1794, though the information had been filed as far back as the 8th of the preceding June. Upon calling over the jury one of them was objected against, as holding a place under the crown, but the attorney general insisted upon the illegality of the objection, and observed, that it went against all that was honourable and respectable in the land. It was therefore overruled by the court. After a trial of about ten hours, the jury found him guilty. This was very unexpected by Mr. Rowan's party. A motion was afterwards made in court to set aside the verdict, and grant a new trial grounded on several affidavits. The motion was argued for six days, and was at last discharged. The grounds, upon which the defendant's counsel rested their case, were 1. Upon the declaration of a juror against Mr. Rowan, viz. that the country would never be quiet till he was "well as our own. For both these purposes it appears necessary, that pro"vincial conventions should assemble preparatory to the convention of the "Protestant people; the delegates of the Catholic body are not justified in "communicating with individuals, or even bodies of inferior authority, and "therefore an assembly of a similar nature and organization is necessary to "establish an intercourse of sentiments, an uniformity of conduct, an united "cause, and an united nation; if a convention on the one part does not soon "follow, and is not soon connected with that on the other, the common cause "will split into the partial interest, the people will relapse into inattention and "inertness, the union of affection and exertion will dissolve, and too probably "some local insurrections, instigated by the malignity of our common enemy, may commit the character and risque the tranquillity of the island, which "can be obviated only by the influence of an assembly arising from, assimi"lated with the people, and whose spirit may be, as it were, knit with the "soul of the nation, unless the sense of the Protestant people be on their part as fairly collected, and as judiciously directed, unless individual exertion "consolidates into collective strength, unless the parts unite into one mass; we may perhaps serve some person or some party for a little, but the public not at all; the nation is neither insolent, nor rebellious, nor seditious; while "it knows its rights, it is unwilling to manifest its powers; it would rather supplicate administration to anticipate revolution by well-timed reform, and "to save their country in mercy to themselves. The fifteenth of February "approaches, a day ever memorable in the annals of this country as the birthday of new Ireland; let parochial meetings be held as soon as possible, let each parish return delegates, let the sense of Ulster be again declared from Dungannon on a day auspicious to union, peace and freedom, and the spirit of the North will again become the spirit of the nation. The civil assembly ought to claim the attendance of the military associations, and we have addressed you, citizen soldiers, on this subject, from the belief, that your body uniting conviction with zeal, and zeal with activity, may have much influence over your countrymen, your relations and friends. We offer only a general outline to the public, and meaning to address Ireland, presume not at present to fill up the plan, or pre-occupy the mode of its execution; we have thought it our duty to speak-answer us by actions; you have taken time for consideration; fourteen long years are elapsed since the rise of your associations; and in 1782 did you imagine, that in 1792 this nation would "still remain unrepresented? How many nations, in this interval, have got"ten the start of Ireland? How many of your countrymen have sunk into "the grave?" 66 86 66 66 46 66 hanged or banished. 2. Upon the partiality of Mr. Giffard, the sheriff, who had so arrayed the pannel as to have him tried by an unfair jury. 3. Upon the incredibility of one Lister, the chief and only witness against him: and 4. The misdirection of the court. The sentence of the court upon Mr. Rowan was to pay to his majesty a fine of 500l. and be imprisoned two years, to be computed from the 29th of January, 1794, and until the fine were paid, and to find security for his good behaviour for seven years, himself in 2000l. and two sureties in 1000l. each. The verdict and judgment of the court gave great dissatisfaction to the popular party. Their disapprobation of the verdict was expressed in court by the most indecent groans and hisses. On the 21st of January, 1794, the parliament was convened, and the lord lieutenant in his speech from the throne expressed the highest satisfaction, that by the success of his majesty's arms, and those of his allies, the hopes of France, in their unprovoked declaration of war, to impair the stability or shake the constitution of Great Britain and Ireland, had been utterly disappointed.* "The forces of his majesty, and his allies, were in possession of many "important fortresses, which had belonged to the French, and many of their "oppressive and unjust conquests had been wrested from them; and while "the trade of the empire had been generally protected, the resources which "their enemies derived from their wealthy settlements and extensive commerce "had been almost entirely cut off. He had the further satisfaction to acquaint "them, that the spirit of insurrection, which had been for some time preva"lent among the lower orders of the people, was in general suppressed, and "no exertion should be wanting on his part to bring them to a due sense of or"der and subordination, and to prevent and punish the machinations of those "who might aim to seduce them from their accustomed loyalty into acts of se"dition and outrage. "The law for rendering a militia in that kingdom effectual had been carried "successfully into execution; and he was happy to find, that the people were "at length fully reconciled to that institution, which had already been attend"ed by the most beneficial consequences, in producing internal tranquillity, and "contributing to the general strength and force of the empire. He also had "it in command to acquaint them, that his majesty had appointed a commis"sion, under the great seal, to execute the office of lord high treasurer of that "kingdom, in order that the payment of the civil list granted to his majesty, "and a regular appropriation of the revenue to distinct services, might be car"ried into execution in a manner as conformable to the practice of Great Bri"tain, as the relative situation of this kingdom would permit. "His majesty had the fullest reliance upon the loyalty and attachment of his "people of Ireland; they were now, by the unjust aggression of France, in"volved in a contest for their religion, for their constitution, and for the pre"servation of every principle which upheld social order, or gave security to "their persons or properties. In such a cause his majesty had no doubt of "being cordially supported by the efforts of all his subjects, in resisting the "desperate designs of men, who were endeavouring to erect their own power "and dominion on the ruins of law and order, and to involve every government "of Europe in a general scene of confusion and anarchy. "His majesty's object was peace, and he would exert himself, in conjunc "tion with his allies, whenever an occasion should present itself, for obtaining "that desirable end, without surrendering the honour of his crown, or sacrificing the present or future security of his people and the rest of Europe." 66 So much had been done in the late busy session, that one single point only was debated in the present. On the 4th of March, Mr. W. Brabazon Ponsonby presented his promised bill,* for amending and improving the state of the representation of the people in parliament. The bill, which towards the close of the last sessions had been presented by his right honourable relative in his absence, had been received in such a manner as induced him to hope, that its principle met the approbation of the house. He knew not whether the country or the house had changed their opinion on the subject, for himself he certainly had not changed his opinion. One capital objection which then existed against the measure, was now done away. The country was then in a state of disturbance, it was now in perfect tranquillity. Having moved, that the bill should be read a second time on the morrow, sir Hercules Langrishe, who had always been a determined enemy to every thing in the shape of reform, opposed it in a vehement harangue upon the fatal warning of France. It was impossible they should for a moment, under the existing circumstances, engage themselves in problematical experiments, on a constitution which they knew was competent to all the ends of civil liberty and progressive happiness: that they should turn the minds of the people from the duties of a critical situation: that they should, as it were, tamper with turbulence, and favour disquisitions, which would make the people politicians instead of husbandmen, and agitators instead of defenders of their country: the objections to the bill itself, though great and numerous, were lost in the predominant objection to their agitating the question at all at that time. It was incompetent to the end proposed, and would be utterly unsatisfactory to the people it professed to gratify; it did not improve or extend the basis of representation, it rendered the representation of the people still more unequal; and on the whole it was a transfer of power, and not a reform in parliament. The House of Commons, constituted and composed as it was, had for several years past been engaged in the uniform practice, session after session, of adding some new protection to constitutional liberty, some new advancement to the prosperity of the country; and that to hazard such a condition of progressive happiness in the lottery of experiment or adventure, would at all times be rashness, and at that time infatuation. Under such impressions, he wished to put an end to the discussion, moved, "That the bill be read a second time on the 1st of "August." Mr. Grattan observed, that if France were to be a lesson, they should take the whole of that lesson; if her frantic conven The form of this bill is to be seen in the Appendix, No. XCVII. |