make a speech, but failed, went behind the Chair. He meant to have spoken strongly in favour of Union, but to object to parts of the Representation clause.

The House of Commons received some formidable Petitions on the woollen subject, heard counsel, and is now examining witnesses, and it is uncertain whether the case will be finished to-night.

I am to be with Mr. Pitt to-morrow, upon the subject of the Countervailing Duties.

The Duke of Portland has desired me to state to your Excellency, that the brigade of Guards shall be sent, and whatever troops you may require.

I enclose a Gazette Extraordinary, and the Duke of Portland stated to me, that the letters from Lord Minto and Mr. Wickham are very satisfactory. They speak of the language of the Cabinet of Vienna being more warm and cordial than at any former period, and they are highly satisfied with the position of the armies.

When the French were evacuating Vado, a fleet was in sight, supposed to be ours, and it was hoped that the French transports would be intercepted.

I believe the readiness to send your Lordship troops arises from the Mediterranean expedition being dropped.

I forgot to mention that Lord Holland gave notice to-day, that he would, on Wednesday, move for admitting Catholic Peers to vote and sit in the Lords.

E. COOKE.

I have received all Colonel Littlehales' letters, whose intelligence, as to the success of the Assizes, has given great satisfaction.

Lord Auckland to Lord Castlereagh.

General Post Office, April 28, 1800.

My dear Lord-I write at a Board to say that, during the last four or five days, Mr. Pitt sacrificed several hours in each

day to the adjusting the Countervailing Duties, and we sent them last night to the press, and hope to expedite a copy to you to-day. We hope that the principles adopted are sound, that the calculations are accurate, and that there can be no objection to arise thereon from either side of the Channel. As, however, it is so very complicated a transaction, and so essential both to manufacturers and to finance, and indeed to commerce also, we have determined to proceed only to complete the articles which you have sent to us, in the hope of returning them to you on Monday next, at the latest; and to take up the Countervailing Schedule, three or four days afterwards, hoping, in the mean time, to hear from you.

I do not write separately, to-day, to Mr. Beresford, being a good deal pressed for time, but I hope that you will summon him and Mr. Corry to a consideration of this countervailing bore. It is clearly best to complete it, if possible; and I really believe that what we sent to you will stand the test of a strict examination-still I say this with diffidence. It is so essential a part of the arrangement, you could not, I fear, leave it to Commissioners: it must have a legislative sanction before the Union can be considered as completed.

To-day, in the Lords, we shall go through the fourth article; and, in the Commons, Mr. Pitt hopes to satisfy our woollen assailants, or, at least, to parry their attack, and to proceed to-morrow.

Believe me, &c.,

AUCKLAND.

The opening of the campaign in Italy promises well.

Lord Auckland to Lord Castlereagh.

House of Lords, May 1, 1800, half-past three, p.m. My dear Lord-Here we are since one o'clock, hearing counsel and witness against the exportation of woollen. We hope to finish the examination, and to vote to-morrow the Church article; and we shall adjourn to Monday, to give time

for the woollen examinations to be printed. On Monday, we hope to go through the Commercial article, and on Tuesday to receive the report from the Commons, and to move thereon the joint Address, and to carry that Address to the King, on the Wednesday, or Thursday, at latest; and, Wednesday being the 8th, I feel tolerably accurate in the result, as to what I originally stated to you respecting our probable progress.

I enclose the Church article, in which there are many small alterations; but they are merely in style, and to obviate the inaccuracy of that part of the article, which supposed only one Convocation to exist in this country. Nothing passed in our yesterday's debate that ought to do mischief on your side of the water: and what was said by Lord Lansdowne tended, in its impression, rather to do good than harm.

Upon the whole, we seem to go forwards famously; and I hope that we have inserted nothing that can create difficulty with you. It seems to be within a reasonable speculation that we may arrive at the completion of the Act of Union before the 4th of June.

It is desirable to see what degree of credit should be given to the French accounts of pretended advantages in Italy; but there is nothing in those accounts to preclude the possibility of Massena being cut off.

I am, &c.,

AUCKLAND.

Fifth Article of the Union.

That it be the fifth article of Union, that the Churches of that part of Great Britain called England and of Ireland shall be one Church, and that, whenever his Majesty shall summon a Convocation of the Clergy, the Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, and Clergy of the several provinces in England and Ireland shall be respectively summoned to and sit in the respective Convocations of the several provinces of the United Church, in like manner and subject to the same regulations as are at present by law established with respect to the Convoca

tions of the Church of England; and that the doctrines, worship, discipline, and government of the said United Church shall be preserved as now by law established for the Church of England, and shall be deemed and taken to be a fundamental article of the Union; and that the formal worship, discipline, and government of the Church of Scotland shall likewise be preserved, as now by law and by the Act of Union established for the Church of Scotland.

Lord Auckland to Lord Castlereagh.

Friday evening, May 2, 1800.

My dear Lord-We heard a long speech, to-day, on the Woollen business, made by Mr. Plomer and the rest of the Petitioners; after which, Lord Grenville gave notice, that on Monday next he proposed to move the remaining resolutions.

I should mention that the Church article is no longer in the form that I sent to you yesterday, in which form it had been prepared by W. Williams Wynne and Sir William Scott. It has been thought better to omit what relates to Convocations, as being unnecessary and liable to objection; and also to restore the words which state the continuance, &c., as an essential fundamental article.

We had our last meeting on the articles this morning, with Mr. Pitt and Lord Grenville to make the corrections for the report; and we agreed, and Mr. Cooke agreed with us, that none of the alterations are of a kind to be considered as materially departing from what you transmitted to us.

There is to be a long debate in the House of Commons, today, on reporting the articles, and Mr. Pitt doubts whether he shall be able to get through the whole to-night. Opposition seem to be seeking delays, and expect more opposition from the Woollen counties. I have not, however, any doubt that we shall complete our task on Wednesday or Thursday next; but I always think it possible that the Countervailing Schedule may give us some trouble.

We have accounts to-day, that Admiral Duckworth has taken, and carried into Gibraltar, two frigates and nine rich ships, bound from Cadiz to Lima, and valued at £600,000.

I am, &c.,

AUCKLAND.

Private.

Lord Castlereagh to Mr. Rose.

Dublin Castle, May 3, 1800.

My dear Sir-I am sorry Mr. Beresford's absence from town should occasion any delay in your receiving from hence such observations as occur to us on the schedule of Protecting Duties, as transmitted by Mr. Cooke. I have forwarded the printed papers, &c., to Mr. Beresford, and have no doubt that he will be prepared, on his arrival in town, to enable me to reply to the despatch I have received. In looking over the subject with Mr. Corry, a doubt has suggested itself, whether the proposal of calculating the future countervailing duties from the drawbacks, as hitherto given on exportation, may not be stated, though well calculated to protect the manufactures of Ireland, as contravening a broad principle upon which the treaty of Union is professed to be founded. Take it on silks. The duty on thrown silk in England is 8s. Od. per Ib.; in Ireland, 4s. 2 d., Irish currency. The countervailing duty proposed in your paper, as calculated from the drawback you now give, is upon the first article 5s. Od. The countervailing duty, as proposed by Mr. Beresford in the schedule sent over, as calculated upon the duty actually paid on import, is 5s. 7§d. Thus, according to your mode of calculation, the countervailing duty does not much exceed half of the import duty per pound, while ours exceeds the full duty about a fourth.

From Mr. Cooke's letter, it appears that we are to take a proportional duty to that which is to be your countervailing duty, which will reduce our proposed duty from 5s. 7 d. to about 3s. In reasoning upon this arrangement, the first observation of our manufacturer would be, that the counter