persons, though they may not be in arms, without waiting for the sanction and assistance of the civil authority, if in your opinion the peace of the realm, and the safety of his majesty's faithful subjects, may be endangered by waiting for such authority.

"His excellency further authorizes you to consider those parts of the country where the outrages before stated have been committed, or where they shall arise, as being in a state that requires all the measures of exertion and precaution which a country depending upon military force alone for its protection would require; and you are therefore required to station your troops with a view to interrupt communication between those whom you may have reason to suspect of evil designs; to establish patroles on the high roads and other passes, and to stop all persons passing and repassing after certain hours of the night; and in order completely to carry into effect any orders or regulations which, in the circumstances of the case, may be considered by you as necessary, you are authorized to issue notices, stating the regulations, and calling upon his majesty's subjects to be aiding and assisting therein.

"I have the honour to be, &c. &c.

" T. P."

GENERAL LAKE'S PROCLAMATION.

"Belfast, March 13th, 1797.

Whereas the daring and horrid outrages in many parts of this province, evidently perpetrated with a view to supersede the laws and the administration of justice, by an organised system of murder and robbery, have increased to such an alarming degree, as, from their atrocity and ex◄ tent, to bid defiance to the civil power, and to endanger the lives and properties of his majesty's faithful subjects.

And whereas, the better to effect their traitorous purposes, several persons who have been enrolled under the authority of his majesty's commissions, and others, have been forcibly and traitorously deprived of their arms, it is therefore become indispensably necessary for the safety and protection of the well-disposed to interpose the king's troops under my command; and I do hereby give notice, that I have received authority and directions to act in such manner as the public safety may require: I therefore hereby enjoin and require all persons in this district (peace officers and those serving in a military capacity excepted) forthwith to bring in and surrender up all arms and ammunition which they have in their possession to the officers commanding the king's troops in their neighbourhood.

“I trust that an immediate compliance with this order may render any act of mine to enforce it unnecessary.

"Let the people seriously reflect, before it be too late, on the ruin into which they are rushing; let them eflect on their present prosperity, and the miseries in which they will inevitably be involved by persisting in acts of positive rebellion; let them instantly, by surrendering up their arms, and restoring those traitorously taken from the king's forces, rescue themselves from the severity of military authority. Let all the loyal and well-intentioned act together with energy and sprit in enforcing subordination to the laws, and restoring tranquillity to their respective neighbourhoods, and they may be assured of protection and support from me,

"And I do hereby invite all persons, who are enabled to give information touching arms and ammunition which may be concealed, immediately to communicate the same to the several officers commanding his majesty's forces in their respective districts; and for their encouragement and reward, I do hereby promise and engage that strict and inviolable secrecy shall be observed with respect to all per

sons who shall make communication, and that every person who shall make it shall receive a reward of the full value of all such arms and ammunition.

"G. LAKE, Lieut. Gen. "Commanding the Northern Districts."

No. VII.

The eloquent extract from Curran's speech, which it was intended to introduce here, had already been selected among the specimens of his oratory in the third book of the present volume. (See pp. 404, 405.) The mistake was not discovered till it was too late to alter the reference in the text to this number in the Appendix.

No. VIII.

Extract from Lord Grenville's Speech on the Union.

"In the performance of his duty it afforded him,” he said, some relief to find that the two main points on which the resolutions were founded had been sufficiently established to preclude the necessity of dwelling upon them, These were, that the legislature of Ireland had an independant right of deciding upon any proposal of Union as well as the parliament of Great Britain; and that the interest of the empire at large, and of every branch of it in particular, required the maintenance and improvement of the connexion between the countries. So far from thinking it unseason

able, he was of opinion, that it was highly expedient and politic to enter upon a speedy inquiry into the merits of the measure. Its nature had been misconceived in Ireland; the views of its advocates had been misrepresented; prejudices and unfounded alarms had thrown an odium on the proposition. To dissipate such delusions, and repel such assaults, early deliberation was necessary, that national animosity might not be embittered or inflamed into a decisive rejection of the offer. It could not be thought an ill compli ment to the commons of Ireland to discuss a scheme which they had not finally exploded, though it did not appear to have received their strong approbation.'

In examining the state of connexion between the kingdoms, his lordship observed, that the settlement of 1782 did not supply the link which the abrogation of the former .system had destroyed. It did not provide both for the independence of the parliament of Ireland, and for the close connexion so essentially requisite for the common interests of the two countries. The supposed identity of the regal power in both was the only bond and security of that connexion. That in a pure and unmixed monarchy might be sufficient, because the power of the sovereign could be exerted in the same manner in every part. The case, however, was different in a mixed government, where the exercise of authority was limited by the different privileges of the component parts. In Holland, for instance, from the time of Sir William Temple to the late subversion of the government of that country, every friend to the United States had lamented the imperfect connexion which subsisted between them, and every enemy had availed himself of the defect. The Americans, on the establishment of their independance, had experienced a similar inconvenience. The power which existed in each of the federal states was found to be too great, and that of the whole too feeble. It had been thought necessary, therefore, to abridge the

authority of the states individually, to draw closer the ge neral union, and to enlarge the authority by which the whole was governed and holden together. Even now, perhaps, it was one of the principal defects in the constitution of the American States that the power of each was too extensive, and that of the general legislature and government too weak for the public interest and security. The want of a general government, to direct the efforts and entploy the resources of the whole confederacy, had contributed to the ruin of Switzerland. Had that country possessed a government capable of employing and directing its united strength, it might have opposed an effectual resistance to the violence and injustice of its perfidious enemy.

Considering the supposed bond of connexions between Great Britain and Ireland, his lordship did not hesitate to say, that it was absolutely null. If by the constitution the royal power could soar above the control of parliament, the royal identity might operate as a medium of connexion; but if the parliament could check that power, and the crown required the aid of the legislature, even for ordinary occasions of government, the connexion was nugatory while each realm had a distinct parliament.

The noble secretary proceeded to treat in detail of the chief branches of the royal prerogative, with a view of illustrating the manner in which they were or might be exercised in the two kingdoms. He argued distinctly upon the exercise of the ecclesiastical, military, fiscal, and political prerogatives of the crown, and plainly shewed how it might be checked and perverted from the constitutional ends of vesting them in the executive, by the possible (and as had actually happened in the case of the regency) discordance of independent parliaments. In the present state of connexion, he contended, that the crown itself might give rise to a contest. The title to the crown was created by par