This support of his majesty's government." brought on a violent debate, in the course of which occurred that celebrated altercation between the two rival orators, Flood and Grattan, which redounds so little to the credit of either, but in which, Mr. Grattan certainly was the aggressor. Mr. Flood moved as an amendment, "that the military establishment, in its present state affords much room for effectual retrenchment." The motion was lost by a majority of 57, in favour of government. The invitation from the volunteers of Ulster was eagerly embraced, by those of the other provinces, and delegates from all four of them met, according to the previous arrangement, in the Rotunda in Dublin, on the 10th of November, having first assembled at the Royal Exchange, but moving from thence on account of their number and the smallness of the place. Lord Charlemont had been elected their president, and he led the way to the Rotunda, accompanied by a squadron of horse, the delegates following two and two. The convention now sat in form and presented a numerous and truly respectable body of gentlemen. The following interesting account of the singular proceedings, of this singular day is from the animated pen of Mr. Hardy. "A singular scene was soon displayed, and yet such a scene as any one, who considered the almost unvarying disposition of an assembly of that nature, and the particular object for which it was convened, might justly have expected. From every quarter and from every speculatist, great clerks or no clerks at all, was poured in such a multiplicity of plans of reform*, some of them ingenious, some which bespoke an exercised and rational mind, but, in general, as I have been well assured, so utterly impracticable, so rugged and so wild in their attire, they looked not like the offspring of inhabitants of the earth, and yet were on it; that language would sink in pourtraying this motley band, of incongruous fancies, of mis-shapen theories, valuable only if inefficient, or execrable, if efficacious. All this daily issued from presumptuous empirics, or the vainly busy minds of some political philanthropists, whom the good breeding alone of their countrymen, permitted to be regarded as not totally out of their senses. The committee shewed a perseverance almost marvellous, but the murky conceits and solemn vanities of such pretenders, would have put even the patience of the man of Uz to flight. At last, after being for several days bewildered in this palpable obscure of politics, and more and more theories fitting round the heads of the unfortunate committee, that which must for ever take place on such occasions, took place here. A dictator was appointed, not indeed * To understand this, it should be remembered that a subcommittee had been formed, whose business it was to receive plans of reform from whatever quarter proceeding. in name, but in substance. The Bishop of Derry moved, that Mr. Henry Flood, who had not been one of the committee, should be nominated as an assessor, or joint member. And here was displayed the potency of oratorical talents, in such a body of men, and the justice of Lord Bolingbroke's observation, that the house of commons, or in short any assembly partaking of the nature of the house of commons, is like a pack of hounds; they will always follow the man who shews them most game. So rapid and decisive was the superiority which Flood obtained, that without his concurrence, nothing was approved of. The bishop now, as has been often experienced, found himself outdone by his auxiliary. All his hopes of pre-eminence in the convention, and elsewhere, rested in his ill timed support of the elective franchise, as a measure then, and at once, to be conceded to, the catholics. The grossest adulation would blush to say, that this support arose from superior discernment, or, superior benevolence. Yet, when we consider his peculiar volubility, his long residence on the banks of the Arno or the Tiber, and general society there, we may justly conclude that, at any period of our history, Tros Tyriusve, catholic, or protestant electors, or statesmen, would have been objects of the most entire indifference to him. They in truth, were so; and his propositions, as to the catholics, though dignified by his adherents, with the terms of highly philosophical, were resisted by Flood, with that gentleman's usual success. This rejection of the catholics brought forward various plans of reform in favour of the protestants, or electors as they then stood. Flood's angry frown and angry comments exiled them all. Adieu to all the theories, phlegmatic or airy, of the learned, and the unlearned! They were no more heard of. At last, Mr. Flood produced his own plan for new modelling the house of commons. It was unanimously adopted by the inferior, and then submitted to the grand committee as it was called. A long debate arose. The difficulties under which the assembly laboured in this great work of legislation, were now apparent. Flood's plan, notwithstanding all his subtle interpretations and comments, was, on sober investigation found not much superior to many which preceded it. Nay, there were some who, like Dangle in the play, thought that the interpreter was the hardest to be understood of any of his coadjutors. But, with all his plan's acknowledged imperfections, it was submitted to as the best that could be patronized, without put ting the assembly to the blush, and, indeed, the state itself to the most eminent hazard. "A short scene was now acted, and, according to the rules of criticism, in perfect unison with the former. Two or three lords and gentlemen, who possessed borough property, declared in the convention, that any proper plan of reform should meet with no obstacle from such possessions remaining in their hands. They would willingly relinquish them for the benefit of the people. Immediately after those gentlemen, who at that moment of enthusiasm were, I make no doubt, perfectly serious in what they said, and were capable of very generous derelictions, up rose several patriotic personages and professing equal ardor in the public cause, made similar renunciations. Unfortunately, however, their pre tensions to this invidious species of property, were by no means so unequivocal. Some of those boroughs which they were pleased to call exclusively their own, presented only very debateable ground, and were, in general, known to those gentlemen, merely by the long sufferings which they sustained for even a dubious and transitory interest in them. To abandon such boroughs altogether would at any time, be consummate prudence. To immolate a set of voters, periodically corrupt, or law agents perpetually rapacious, would be most laudable, if a convention or reform had never been heard of. Upon such sacrifices, the Gods themselves would' I think, throw incense,' could they have really been made. Yet, with no other offerings to lay on the altar of public freedom, than what might justly be termed their own personal embarrassments, and molestations, did those gentlemen rise, one after the other, and, with the most untired gravity nobly bestow on the people, their untenable claims and unsound interests. But, they seemed resolved, on that day, that every proceeding in the con |