the prosperity of the one is the support of the other. The pe tition therefore presented to this house, by an honourable gentleman, from certain landholders of his county, cannot with any degree of propriety be urged against this measure.

Mr. Gardiner then read the following resolutions.

1st. That it appears to this house, that the working manufacturers of this kingdom, are in the greatest poverty and dis

tress.

2dly. That the importation of foreign manufactures into this kingdom, has of late years considerably increased, and still continues to do so.

3dly. That this great importation, by impeding our manufactures, is the cause of this poverty and distress.

4thly. That the interference of parliament is necessary to remove those evils.

No. LXXIV.

PASTORAL EXHORTATION OF THE RIGHT REVEREND DOCTOR TROY, THE CATHOLIC BISHOP OF OSSORY TO HIS FLOCK..... P. 99.

DEAR CHRISTIANS,

AT this particular time, when the blessings of peace and a plentiful harvest should warm the hearts of Christians with becoming gratitude to the Father of Mercies, and excite a spirit of industry amongst all ranks of people, we are much concerned to observe riot and disorder pervading many of our communion in several parts of this county and diocese. Unmindful of the untimely and ignominious death of their relations and acquaintances formerly distinguished by the execra ble appellation of White Boys, and deaf to the dictates of reason and religion constantly enforced by our exhortation from the altars, they are endeavouring to renew the horrid scenes of confusion and bloodshed, which disgraced this part of the kingdom not many years ago. They again seem to glory in the opprobrious name of White Boys, and have lately assembled at unseasonable hours, and in different parties, sounding their riotous horn. The have presumed to administer oaths of combination, and proceed to barbarous acts of violence against the persons and property of several individuals. In a word, they notori

1

ously violate the most sacred laws, and equally despise the injunctions of their spiritual and temporal rulers. Such accumulated enormities call to heaven for vengeance, which will most assuredly fall on the deluded offenders, if they do not speedily expiate their crimes by sincere and exemplary repentance. As our silence upon this occasion might be misunderstood by ignorant, or sinistrously interpreted by malevolent persons, we think it highly incumbent on us to declare, as we do hereby solemnly, in the name and by the authority of our holy mother the church: First, that the association oaths usually taken by the misguided and unhappy wretches called White Boys, are bonds of iniquity, and consequently unlawful, wicked and damnable. They are not, therefore, binding in any manner whatever. Secondly, we in like manner declare, that we condemn, abhor, and detest the above mentioned outrages, as contrary to the maxims and canons of our holy religion, destructive of the public peace, injurious to private property, and subversive of every law. Finally, we condemn these deluded offenders, who call themselves Roman Catholics, as scandalous and rotten members of our holy church, from which they have been already cut off by the sentence of excommunication solemnly fulminated against them on the 17th of October, 1779, in all the chapels of this diocese. We cannot conclude without beseeching you, dearest Christians, to join us in fervent and constant prayer for the speedy conversion of these unthinking creatures. Their condition is truly deplorable; in this life exposed, by their nocturnal excursions and wanton depredations, to sickness, loathsome imprisonment, and an infamous death; whilst in the next their obstinacy will be punished with endless torture. May our gracious God, by his efficacious grace, avert this greatest of all evils, and thereby prevent the bitter recollection of their having disregarded our timely and pastoral admonitions. We shudder at the very apprehension of the manifold evils which must necessarily ensue to themselves, to their families, and to their country, from a continuation of their unwarrantable proceedings.

It being equally our wish and duty to promote the happiness of mankind in general, and that of our country and flock in particular, we shall invariably conduct ovrselves in a manner be coming ministers of the gospel and members of society. Uninfluenced by fear or any worldly consideration, we are determined to adopt such further means, as shall be found conducive to the above mentioned, and other great objects of our vocation. J. T. TROY,

Kilkenny, 12th November, 1784.

No. LXXV.*

ADDRESS PRESENTED TO HIS MAJESTY, AT ST. JAMES'S, BY THE LORDS AND COMMONS ON THE 29TH OF JULY, 1785. PAGE 124.

MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN,

WE, your majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons of Great Britain in parliament assembled, have taken into most serious consideration, the important subject of commercial intercourse between Great Britain and Ireland, recommended in your majesty's speech at the opening of the present session, and the resolutions of the two houses of parliament in Ireland, which were laid before us by your majesty's command, on the 22d of February last.

After a long and careful investigation of the various questions necessarily arising out of this comprehensive subject, we have come to the several resolutions, which we now humbly present to your majesty, and which, we trust, will form the basis of an advantageous and permanent commercial settlement between your majesty's kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland.

We have proceeded on the foundation of the resolutions of the parliament of Ireland; but in considering so extensive an arrangement, we have found it necessary to introduce some modifications and exceptions, and we have added such regulations and conditions as appeared to us indispensably necessary for establishing the proposed agreement, on just and equitable principles, and for securing to both countries those commercial advantages to an equal enjoyment of which they are in future to be entitled.

Your majesty's subjects in Ireland, being secured in a full and lasting participation of the trade with the British colonies, must, we are persuaded, acknowledge the justice of their continuing to enjoy it on the same terms with your majesty's subjects in Great Britain.

*This work having encreased under the author's pen to so large a bulk, the debate intended to have been here inserted, which is very long, is omitted, and the reader is referred for it to the 18th volume of the Parliamentary Register, p. 546 to 592.

And it is, we conceive, equally manifest, that as the ships and mariners of Ireland are to continue in all time to come to enjoy the same privileges with those of Great Britain, the same provision should be adopted in Ireland as may be found necessary in this country, for securing those advantages exclusively to the subjects of the empire. This object is essentially connected with the maritime strength of your majesty's dominions, and consequently with the safety and prosperity both of Great Britain and Ireland.

We therefore deem it indispensable, that these points should be secured as conditions necessary to the existence and duration of the agreement between the two countries; they can only be carried into effect by laws to be passed in the parliament of Ireland; which is alone competent to bind your majesty's subjects in that kingdom, and whose legislative rights we shall ever hold as sacred as our own.

It remains for the parliament of Ireland to judge, according to their wisdom and discretion, of these conditions, as well as of every other part of the settlement proposed to be established by mutual consent.

Our purpose in these resolutions is to promote alike the commercial interests of your majesty's subjects in both countries; and we are persuaded, that the common prosperity of the two kingdoms will be thereby greatly advanced; the subjects of each will in future apply themselves to those branches of commerce which they can exercise with most advantage, and the wealth so diffused through every part will operate as a general benefit to the whole.

We have thus far performed our part in this important business; and we trust that in the whole of its progress reciprocal interests and mutual affection will insure that spirit of union, so essentially necessary to the great end, which the two countries have equally in view.

In this persuasion we look forward with confidence to the final completion of a measure, which, while it tends to perpetuate harmony and friendship between the two kingdoms, must, by augmenting their resources, uniting their efforts and consolidating their strength, afford your majesty the surest means of establishing, on a lasting foundation, the safety, prosperity, and glory of the empire.

To which his Majesty made the following most gracious

Answer.

MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

I RECEIVE with the greatest satisfaction these resolutions, which, after so long and diligent an investiga

tion, you consider as affording the basis of an advantageous and permanent commercial settlement between my two kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. Nothing can more clearly manifest your regard for the interests of both my kingdoms and your zeal for the general prosperity of my dominions, than the attention you have given to this important object. A full and equal participation, of commercial advantages, and a similarity of laws in those points, which are necessary for their preservation and security, must be the surest bond of union between the two kingdoms and the source of reciprocal and increasing benefits to both. The same spirit, in which this great work has begun and proceeded, will, I doubt not, appear throughout the whole of its progress; and I concur with you in thinking, that the final completion of it is of essential importance to the future happiness of both countries, and to the safety, glory and prosperity, of the empire.

No. LXXVI.

SPEECH OF MR. GRATTAN ON THE EAST INDIA TRADE

[PAGE 125.]

Mr. Grattan....Sir, I can excuse the right honourable member, who moves you for leave to bring in the bill. He is an Englishman, and contends for the power of his own country, while I am contending for the liberty of mine; he might have spared himself the trouble of stating his own bill. I read it before, I read it in the twenty resolutions, I read it in the English bill, which is to all intents and purposes the same; and which he might read without the trouble of resorting to his own. His comment is of little moment; a lord lieutenant's secretary is an unsafe commentator on an Irish constitution; the former merit of the right honourable gentleman in pressing for the original propositions and contending against the present, which he now supports, may have been very great, and I am willing to thank him for his past services; they may be a private consolation to himself. No more; I differ from him in his account of this transaction. He was pledged to these eleven propositions