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present maimed and debilitated state, outweighs in the prince's mind every other consideration, and will determine him to undertake the painful trust imposed upon him by: the present melancholy necessity (which of all the king's subjects he deplores the most) in full confidence that the affection and loyalty to the king, the experienced attachment to the House of Brunswick, and the generosity which has always distinguished this nation, will carry him through the many difficulties, inseparable from this most critical situation, with comfort to himself, with honour to the king, and with advantage to the public.

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(Signed)

G. P...

Carlton House,

Jan. 2, 1789.

No. III.

To his Royal Highness George Prince of Wales, The humble Address of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons in Parliament assembled.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS,

We, his majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects the lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons of Ireland in parliament assembled, beg leave to approach your royal highness with hearts full of the most loyal and affectionate attachment to the person and government of your royal father; to express the deepest and most grateful sense of the numerous blessings which we have enjoyed under that illustrious house, whose accession to the throne of these realms has established civil and constitutional liberty, upon a basis which we trust will never be shaken; and at the

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same time to condole with your royal highness upon the grievous malady with which it has pleased Heaven to afflict the best of sovereigns.

"We have, however the consolation of reflecting, that this severe calamity hath not been visited upon us until the virtues of your royal highness have been so matured, as to enable your royal highness to discharge the duties of an important trust, for the performance, whereof, the eyes of all his majesty's subjects of both kingdoms are directed to your royal highness.

"We therefore beg leave humbly to request, that your royal highness will be pleased to take upon you the government of this realm, during the continuation of his majesty's present indisposition, and no longer; and under the stile and title of Prince Regent of Ireland, in the name of, and on behalf of his majesty, to exercise and administer according to the laws and constitution of this kingdom, all regal powers, jurisdiction, and prerogatives to the crown and government thereof belonging."

No. IV.

The following was the answer of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.

(6 MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

"The Address from the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons of Ireland, which you have presented to me, demands my warmest and earliest thanks. If any thing could add to the esteem and affection I have for the people of Ireland, it would be the loyal and affectionate attach

ment to the person and government of the king my father, manifested in the address of the two houses.

"What they have done, and their manner of doing it, is a new proof of their undiminished duty to his majesty, of their uniform attachment to the House of Brunswick, and their constant wish to maintain inviolate the concord and connection between the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, so indispensably necessary to the prosperity, the happiness, and the liberties of both.

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If, in conveying my grateful sentiments on their conduct, in relation to the king my father, and to the inseparable interests of the two kingdoms, I find it impossible to express adequately my feelings on what relates to myself, I trust you will not be the less disposed to believe, that 1 have an understanding to comprehend the value of what they have done, a heart that must remember, and principles that will not suffer me to abuse their confidence.

"But the fortunate change which has taken place in the circumstance, which gave occasion to the Address, agreed to by the Lords and Commons of Ireland, induces me to delay, for a few days, giving a final answer; trusting, that the joyful event of his majesty resuming the personal exercise of his royal authority, may then render it only necessary for me to repeat those sentiments of gratitude and affection to the loyal and generous people of Ireland, which I feel indelibly imprinted on my heart."

Soon after the above answer was given by the Prince of Wales to the commissioners, delegated by the Lords and Commons of Ireland. His majesty was restored to the prayers and wishes of a loyal and affectionate people.. The Irish commissioners were again requested to wait on his royal highness, who addressed them in the following terms, equally honourable to his heart and to his head; displaying, with equal happiness, his gratitude to Ireland, and his filial piety to his royal father :

66 MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

"The happy event of the king's recovery, and the consequent re-assumption of the exercise of his auspicious government, announced by his royal commission, for declaring the further causes of holding the parliament of Great Britain, has done away the melancholy necessity which gave rise to the arrangement proposed by the parliament of Ireland; nothing can obliterate from my memory, and my gratitude, the principles upon which that arrangement was made, and the circumstances by which it was attended; I consider your kindness to his majesty's royal family and the provision you made for preserving the authority of the crown, in its constitutional energy, as the mest unequivocal proof which could be given of your affectionate loyalty to the king at this time, when by an afflicting dispensation of Providence, his government has suffered an intermission, and his house was deprived of its natural protector.

"I shall not pay so ill a compliment to the lords and commons of Ireland, as to suppose that they were mistaken in their reliance on the moderation of my views, and the purity of my intentions-A manly confidence directing, the manner of proceeding towards those who entertain sentiments becoming the higher situation to which they are born-furnishes the most powerful motives to the performance of their duty--at the same time that the liberality of sentiment which, in conveying a trust, confers an honour, can have no tendency to relax that provident vigilance, and that public jealousy which ought to watch over the exercise of power."

66 MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

"Though full of joy for the event which enables me to take leave of you in this manner, personally, I cannot but

regret your departure. I have had an opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of your private characters, and it has added to the high esteem which I had before entertained for you, on account of your public merits; both houses made you the worthy representatives of the great bodies to which you belong. I am confident that I need not add my earnest recommendation to the parliament and people of Ireland, to continue the harmony of the two kingdoms, which in their mutual perfect freedom will find the closest as well as happiest bond of their connection.

No. V.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE FORMATION OF THE WHIG

CLUB.

"It consisted of the leading members of opposition, in both houses of parliament, with the addition of many gentlemen who were not in parliament, nor belonged to any party, except that of the constitution. To this description of men there were some exceptions, which I shall take no notice of hereafter. Unlimited has been the abuse and misrepresentation of this society, as if it were a species of monster, engendered by faction, any thing like to which the state had never before seen. The truth is, that many political societies, not unlike this in some respects, but with different appellations, and more miscellaneous in their construction, had from time to gradually died away, in Ireland.

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time, been set up, and Not ten years before, a

political association of several of the nobility and gentry had taken place, under the auspices of that great lawyer,

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