governed by their own laws. The first of these conditions might have been a matter of opinion, and subject to discussion; but the two last were holden to be incompatible with the laws and the constitution of Ireland, and as such totally rejected. This disagreement between the parties on leading points stopped all further procedure in the business. Some of the Genevese, however, transported themselves into Ireland; but they soon found by experience, that nothing was gained by changing their situation; and most of them, after a short stay, quitted the kingdom. The reciprocal advantages, which might have accrued to Ireland and the Genevese emigrants, from the proposed settlement, even had it taken place to the fullest extent, could never, it is presumed, have equalled, or been in any degree proportionable to the sanguine expectations some men had been led to form on this subject. It should be considered, first, that the Genevese are, for the most part, mechanics, and that therefore they must have been but ill-suited, from their former habits of life, to the toils of agriculture; next, that they were to be settled in tage and encouragement of the Genevans settling in this kingdom aforesaid, and for the welfare and prosperity of the new colony, that the necessary representations thereupon may be laid before his majesty without loss of time so that every facility may be given to the adoption of every measure calculated to give the said citizens of Geneva the fullest proofs of his majesty's royal protection and regard. Given under our hand and seal of arms, at his majesty's castle of Dublin, the 4th day of April, 1783, By his excellency's command, S. HAMILTON. The following letter was soon after received by Mr. D'Ivernois, from Mr. Se cretary Hamilton. SIR, I am commanded by my lord-lieutenant to acquaint you, that he has signed a warrant to the proper officers to make out the draught of a commission, to be submitted to his majesty for his royal signature, appointing the several noblemen and gentlemen who are to be entrusted with the settlement in this kingdom of the colony of Genevans, as also the draught of a royal letter, granting the sum of 50,000l. to those commissioners for that purpose. His excellency has also given farther directions to the prime serjeant, attorney and solicitor general, to prepare a draught of a grant of a charter of incorporation for the said colony, and draught of such bills to be laid before the parliament at their next meeting, as shall be requisite for effecting the several purposes desired. His excellency has at the same time commanded me to assure you of his cordial disposition to the new settlement, and of his intention to forward every measure which shall be necessary for the protection and encouragement of the colony, with as much dispatch as the necessary forms in a business of so much importance will admit. I have the honour to be, with great regard, Sir, S. HAMILTON. a part of Ireland where their support must have arisen from their daily labours on the soil, and from their having but few. wants of their own to gratify, more than from their ingenuity in forming and constructing a variety of ornamental articles, which the luxury and riches of populous and trading towns can only create a market for. Whether or no this measure of government, had not in fact proved abortive as it did, it is very questionable whether it would ultimately have been productive of any real advantage to that kingdom. Certain, however, it is, government at this time must have entertained the most impli cit and unqualified confidence in the steady attachment of the volunteers and people of Ireland to the constitution of their country, or otherwise they never could have levied the large sum of 50,000l. upon a very distressed country, to purchase the probable introduction of turbulent and democratic principles, with a thousand self-exiled martyrs to democracy, from the Antibazilican school of Geneva. Lord Temple did not quit the government till the 3d of June, 1783, when he was succeeded by the Earl of Northington. The reports of an immediate dissolution of parliament, which in fact took place on the 15th of July, 1783, had thrown the whole nation into a new political fever. The armed body of volunteers assumed to themselves, rather than allowed credit to their representatives for having acquired a constitution at least similar to that of Great Britain. They considered, that it would be a disgrace to quit their arms, whilst any benefit to their country could be still obtained by them; and they now generally bent their thoughts to the improvement of the state of representation of the people in parliament. They had been much encouraged in this pursuit by the spirited addresses of the county of York and of other counties to the commons in favour of reform, as well as by the persevering efforts of the Duke of Richmond, Mr. *Pitt, and other then popular members, to * On the 7th of May, the day after the call of the house, Mr. William Pitt made his promised motion respecting the reform of parliamentary representation. As the mode of proceeding by a committee, proposed last year, had formed one of the principal objections against the reform itself, he thought it more adviseable to bring forward some specific propositions: these were, 1. "That it was the opinion of the house, that measures were highly neces"sary to be taken for the future prevention of bribery and expence at elec❝tions. 2. "That for the future, when the majority of votes for any borough shall "be convicted of gross and notorious corruption before a select committee of "that house, appointed to try the merits of any election, such borough should be disfranchised, and the minority of voters, not so convicted, should be entitled to vote for the county in which such borough should be situated. 3. That an addition of knights of the shire, and of representatives of the metropolis, should be added to the state of the representation." He left the number to future discussion, but said he should propose one hundred. bring about a reform in the representation of the people in England. Committees of correspondence to this effect were instituted with the most forward and zealous advocates for reform in England, and the letters received from them were circulated with avidity throughout Ireland.t On the 1st of July, 1783, at a meeting of the delegates from forty-five companies of the province of Ulster, assembled at Lisburne in pursuance of a public requisition (Lieutenant Colonel Sharman in the chair), it was resolved unanimously, That a general meeting of the volunteer delegates of the province of Ulster, on the subject of a more equal representation of the people in parliament, is hereby earnestly intreated, to be held at Dungannon, on Monday the 8th day of September next. Resolved unanimously, that the following gentlemen (seven to be a quorum) be appointed a committee of correspondence for communicating with the other corps of the province, for taking preparatory steps to forward the intentions of this meeting, and for collecting the best authorities and informations on the subject of a parliamentary reform, viz. Lieutenant Colonel Sharman, Dr. Alex. Crawford, Captain Wad. Cunningham, Dr. Samuel Moore, Colonel Rowley, Major John Crawford, Resolved unanimously, That the following address be pub lished in the public prints: To the VOLUNTEER ARMY of the Province of ULSTER. "FELLOW CITIZENS, "In common with every class of Irishmen, you are sensible, that this kingdom for many centuries might have "continued to bear its chains in ignoble and indigent obscurity, "had not an army of its citizens, by a great effort, dared to cast "them off. The debate continued till near two o'clock, without any novelty of reasoning or diversification of argument. The number of petitioners this year had decreased. Only fourteen counties appeared, and most of the petitions had a very inconsiderable number of names subscribed. The whole amount was said not to reach 20,000. Amongst the converts to the question, appeared Mr. Thomas Pitt and the Lord Advocate of Scotland. The former of these gentlemen made the house an offer of the voluntary surrender of his borough of Old Sarum. The house divided on the order of the day, ayes 293, noes 149. These letters were from the Duke of Richmond, Dr. Price, Mr. Wyvil, Dr. John Jebb, Lord Effingham, Mr. Cartwright, and others. "That the dignified conduct of that army lately restored to "the imperial crown of Ireland its original splendour, to nobility its ancient privileges, and to the nation at large its inhe"rent rights as a sovereign independent state; that by incul"cating the glorious spirit of toleration, it has united the once "distracted inhabitants of this country into an indissoluble 66 mass, and promoted the most exalted reverence for the laws, "are facts that will exhibit a splendid and interesting figure in "the annals of the age. "From a military institution, so singular in its nature as to "comprehend the several gradations of nobles, commons, mer"chants, yeomen, and mechanics, every substantial good will "be expected by wise and virtuous men. "They will with honest pride behold in the state an unparal "leled combination of the military with the civil character, ex"isting only for the general interests of the community, and prepared, on the purest principles of the constitution, to give "efficacy to the wishes of three millions of people. "The idea of a well-digested parliamentary reform, has ever experienced a favourable reception in the uncorrupted breasts "of Irishmen and of Britons. It has been uniformly looked up "to as the true source of public virtue and of political salvation, "by the first characters these kingdoms have produced. In "this age we have seen it warmly supported by that consumแ mate statesman, the late Earl of Chatham; and revived by "the heir to his abilities and name, the present William Pitt. "It has received the sanction of the most eminent and honest "men in both houses of the British parliament, of a great num"ber of the most respectable shires in England, and the volun"teer delegates of the province of Munster, and within these "few days, of the unanimous vote of thirty-eight corps, re"viewed at Belfast. "Among the many glorious effects of which a more equal representation of the people of Ireland would be productive, "the following are obvious: "The destruction of that party spirit, whose baneful influ"ence has at all times been injurious to the public weal; a re"vival of the native dignity of the crown, by imparting to each "branch of the legislature its distinct and proportional weight; "and the abolition of that train of courtly mercenaries, who "must ever continue to prey on the vitals of public virtue, till, "the balance of the constitution being restored, the necessity "for governing by regular systems of seduction, shall no longer " exist. "Then would the constituent body regain its constitutional "control over its trustees, and venal majorities would not be "found to support the most dishonourable and pernicious mea 66 "sures, in opposition to the sense of the unpolluted part of the legislature, as well as contrary to the universal wishes of the public, as to the true intent of the institution of parliaments. "With due deference for the august body, which we have "presumed to address, we therefore beg leave to express our "wishes, that the volunteer delegates of Ulster would assemble "with the same spirit of loyalty, patriotism, and firmness, which "actuated them on the memorable 15th of February, 1782: to "deliberate on the most constitutional means of procuring a more equal representation of the people in the parliament of "Ireland, as the only measure, which can give permanency to "the late renovation of our constitution, or restore that virtue "to the representative body, without which, though the mere "forms of a free government may be preserved, its spirit must "inevitably perish. "Signed by order of the meeting, W. M. SHARMAN, Chairman." On the same day was made, published, and sent to the Dungannon delegates the following report of a committee of correspondence, appointed by forty-five corps, assembled by public advertisement at Lisburne on the first of July last, for the purpose of obtaining information on the important subject of a more equal representation of the people in the parliament of Ireland. "The committee in discharge of the trust invested in them, immediately opened a correspondence with a number of the most eminent and well informed characters in Great Britain and Ireland, and received answers fraught with most valuable information on the subject. "Such of them as enter minutely into the business will be submitted to the provincial assembly if thought eligible, considering the length of their detail, and the great delay which their disclosure will unavoidably occasion. If it be more agreeable to the meeting, for the general diffusal of a body of knowledge on so great a political subject, the principal letters will be published by the committee's secretary; by which means the dispatch necessary to so great an assembly will be greatly pro moted. "The Yorkshire Association, so celebrated for its spirit and numbers, meet about the close of the present month, in order previously to receive the decisions of this province. "The society for constitutional knowledge in London, in which are enrolled the names of the first characters in England (strenuous labourers in the glorious business of reform in our sister kingdom), have ordered the addresses of the Ulster regiment, and of the forty-five corps, convening the provincial meeting of Ulster, to be entered in their books, published in the |