able purpose of the nation. Let other nations basely suppose that the people were made for government; we assert that government was made for the people; great and august as they are, they do but perform their periodical revolutions; even the crown, that great luminary, whose brightness they all reflect, receives his cheering fire from the flame of the constitution; and therefore we may seek the sentiments of public meeting; and when we speak, let us speak with effect; let us speak to the king, as to a man who has feelings like ourselves, and like ourselves will speak the claims of liberty.

"You did not expect some time ago it would come to this; you did little imagine that those men, whom some of you laughed at, parading the streets at first in awkward squads, who were the scoff of saucy affectation, should have proved the saviours of their country; should proceed with such moderation as to be dreadful only to the enemies of their country, and of their country's constitution; would have formed themselves to the solidity of strength and the eminence of virtue, so as to have proceeded to the heighth of things! wonderful propriety of conduct, there must have been to have preserved those associations; no license, no turbulence, no eccentricity; infallible as the laws of motion, they live in the constitution they preserve, and the spirit they inspire.

"Let not England fear the Irish volunteers; if she wishes well to Ireland, she has nothing to

fear from her strength: the volunteers of Ireland would die in support of England. This nation is connected with England not by allegiance only, but liberty; the crown is one great point of union, but Magna Charta is a greater: we could get a king any where, but England is the only country from which we could get a constitution; and it is this which makes England your natural connection. Ireland has British privileges, and is by them connected with Britain; both countries are united in liberty. This island was planted by British privileges, as well as by British men; it is a connection, not as Judge Blackstone has falsely said, by conquest, but as I have repeatedly said, by Charter. Liberty, we say, with England: but at all events liberty. This is the decided sense of the nation; and the men who endeavour to make our connection with England of quadrate with this fixed passion of the country, contend for. the British nation and the unity of the empire. We are not growing in our claims, nor inmoderate in our demands, nor vehement in our language: We are friends to England on perfect political equality. This house of Parliament knows no superiors; the men of Ireland acknowledge no superiors; they have claimed laws under the authority of the British constitution, and the independence of parliament, under the authority of the laws of God, and man. This right is so interwoven with your nature, that you cannot part with it though you were willing; you received

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it from God, and you cannot yield it to man. Beside, you are too high in pride, character and power, to suffer any nation to claim a right to make your laws: it becomes a question of pride, as well as privilege. What would Europe say of you? What would history say of you? subterfuges, negotiations, and all qualification, or composition, will never do you cannot negotiate upon fundamental rights. Will the noblemen, the gentlemen, the armed men in Ireland, stoop to any other people? No, never. The nation is committed, she cannot bend; the armed presence of the nation cannot bend; besides, England. has brought forward the question, not only by making Jaws for this kingdom last session, but by enabling his majesty to repeal all the laws which England has made for America. What is this, but that America, differing from Ireland in not having a constitution, in not having a charter, in having less loyalty than Ireland, in having shed much English blood, that America shall be free! And -will Ireland sink in a new point, and be the only nation whose liberty England will not acknowledge, and whose affection she cannot subdue? What! has she consented to repeal the Declaratory Act against America, and will she retain the Declaratory Act against Ireland? Is she ready to acknowledge the independence of America, and will she not acknowledge the liberty of Ireland, the ancient kingdom of Ireland with her charter, and her crown? This indeed were an unconditional

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surrender, a surrender to arms. Llaugh at those! who call the liberty of Ireland the disgrace of England; such a principle would be the dis grace of England; it has already been her destruction.

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For acknowledging American liberty, England has the plea of necessity; for acknowledging the liberty of Ireland she has the plea of justice; the British nation, if she consults with the head, or with the heart, will not, or cannot refuse our claims: or, were it possible she could refusé, will not submit. If England, (which I cannot believe,) is capable of refusing to repeal the De, claratory Act against Ireland, after she has ena bled his majesty to repeal that which was made against America, if she were capable of imposing that distinction, you are incapable of sub mitting to it; the members of this house cannot submit to it: no nation is so little formed to bear any thing that looks like personal disrespect; many of us have received great honours from the people; can we, can I for instance among others, take the civic crown from my head, and go under the yoke of the British supremacy real or imaginary? Some of the gentlemen of this country are the descendants of kings; can they pay allegiance to their ancest tors crown, on the head of every common man in England? I know the gentlemen of this country too well. I know they will not submit. The submission would go against their personal esti

62 The appellant jurisdiction of the lords vindicated. mation, as well as against their public right. They would not submit to the insult in the face of Europe. Are colonists to be free, and these royal subjects slaves? Can the nation, in this po pular and royal predicament, live cordially with the people of England except on terms of perfect equality ?

"I have done with the supremacy of England, and shall now say a word on the appellant jurisdiction of the house of lords. The Irish house of lords must have their judicature," their birtli right, their unalienable privilege; it is the English constitution, and must be restored. I must hear very strong argument indeed before I can be brought to think that this country is unfit for the British constitution. The supposed incapacity of the lords to decide the question of law is an absurd way of talking. Give them power, and you give them capacity. Cannot they have the opinion of the judges? Do not they correspond with the judges of England? Are not the lay lords of England as unacquainted with the law as the lay lords of Ireland? And is not Ireland capable of having law lords competent to law? The present men are so. Are they not to adjudicate under the public eye? Will they not be ambitious of a chaste discharge of a new power? We can never fear any abuse of it. The lords will exercise with caution a power restored to them by the virtue of their countrymen. Sir, I see in that house