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propositions. The Civil Establishment of Ireland including pensions, for two years ending March 1781, was 328,5027.; in March 1783, 343,6357.; the Military Establishment in 1781, was

920,2247.; in 1783, it was only 898,620.; the National Debt in 1783, was 2,034,9537.; and the ordinary revenue in 1783, was 2,430,8937. Custom's, Excise, &c. &c., were 2,227,9471.; the Carriage Duty was 7,664/.; the Hearth-money 125,8247.; the Stamps 69,458/.; and the debt ending March 1784, was only 1,997,4177. So that, from this statement, it appears there was a clear surplus-revenue above expenditure. Lord Temple's government had looked to every expence with the eye of scrutiny, and the dawn of Lord Northington's bore no appearance of extravagance.

Notwithstanding these favourable symptoms, the question that first engaged the attention of Parliament was that of retrenchment, a popular subject certainly at all times, and one that affords constant food for angry opposition. Sir Henry Cavendish, on the 28th of October, 1783, made a motion, that the condition of the kingdom required every practicable retrenchment in its expenses. Mr. Flood, who at that time sat in opposition, after some severe remarks upon the Government, proposed an amendment, to the effect that the Military Establishment afforded room for practicable retrenchment. This was the subject which drew forth from Mr. Grattan and Mr.

Flood, the severest philippics against each other, that any public men in modern times have indulged in; and perhaps we need not except those between Demosthenes and Eschines, or between Milton and Salmasius. The latter certainly were coarser and less polished. In the present case, exclusive of personal considerations, the subject in dispute was one on which these individuals entirely differed.

It has been already mentioned in the preceding volumes, that in the viceroyalty of Lord Townshend, 15,000 men was the number of troops to be kept up by Ireland: it was now proposed to dispense with a portion of this force. Mr. Grattan thought that Ireland was bound by the covenant, and was averse to any diminution. It might have been injudicious to keep up such a force in 1775, 76, and 79, when England refused everything; and it may have been wise and just in 1783, when she refused nothing; in fact, the gratitude of the Irish now, was the voluntary effusion of generous and equal minds-and no longer the sad tribute of reluctant slaves. But the minds of men had not grown up to their situation; they contended that some expense might be saved; and that the house of Commons had a precedent, inasmuch, as former governments had withdrawn the troops even in the time of war; leaving thereby the state unprotected. No doubt this had proved a fortunate circumstance for Ireland, as it gave birth

to the Volunteers; but a wise people should never make the violation on the part of a minister the rule of their own conduct; such errors should be beacons to avoid, and not precedents to follow; for they may be certain that government will encroach still more, and adduce the very proceedings of the people as a ground for further violations of compact; and in the present case, the best chance that Ireland had of making Government preserve their covenants, was by upholding her own. Such

a course too was inglorious in the extreme: for a scruple of revenue, it was proposed to depart from a solemn agreement, which was nothing to Ireland as a nation, having just obtained trade and commerce, and which was certain to lessen her character, and lower her in the estimation of other countries, especially in that of England. At this moment in particular, Ireland was required to shew moderation, and avoid all questions of party, and above all, any questions that brought the affairs or the interests of the two kingdoms into collision. Sir Henry Cavendish's motion was opposed by Mr. George Ponsonby, Mr. Grattan, Mr. Bushe, Mr. Kelly, (Prime Serjeant,) and Mr. Pelham, the Secretary; and after a long debate, the motion of adjournment was agreed to.

These debates served to alarm the minds of both parties in England; they saw an attempt to reduce the army to almost nothing, and a latent design to set up the Volunteers as a permanent

army of observation in their place. They beheld also in the debates within, as well as without the walls of Parliament, an indifference manifested towards its authority. Lord Charlemont, who was strong in his attachment to the British connexion, seemed scarcely aware of the impolicy of the proposed measures, or perhaps felt jealous of what he supposed an encroachment on his prerogative; for he was at the head of an army which he had commanded for four years; and though he could not consider it possible that such a force could be continued, yet he was naturally unwilling to admit the necessity of keeping up so large a regular army as was necessary to form a counterpoise to the one which he had so long commanded.

Mr. Flood, too, had assisted at the provincial meetings; he was pledged to attend the Convention; he had taken great pains in the management of the question of Reform, and Lord Charlemont was now much influenced by him, and was induced to side in opinion with him on the question of retrenchment.

Mr. Grattan, though a friend to economy, was afraid of any step that tended to lessen the character of the country. He thought the measures now proposed were ineligible and injudicious, and declined to join in an opposition of that character, lest it might be said that every effort had been made to gain the affections of the Irish by a series of concessions, and every experiment had been tried

to cultivate their friendly disposition, but all to no purpose. In fact, the country stood too high for such squabbling measures, and nothing was wanting to complete her character but her moderation and immutability, both as to men and measures; and if, after obtaining her requisition, she pursued the principle she then professed-that of mutual harmony-of being one people, having common interest with England-and under which she had preferred her claim of right; she was certain to be advanced in prosperity as much as she was in reputation. But if these principles were to be cried down, under the pretence that men were not to ruin Ireland to serve England, it was clear that nothing would be wanting to complete such a separation of mind, but that Great Britain should reciprocate the sentiment. Ireland had an interest in the British Empire, of which she formed a principal part-an interest in her navy-an interest against the House of Bourbon; and consequently an interest in maintaining fifteen thousand men for the common cause; so that this establishment may justly have been considered, not as a measure of gratitude (which it was termed), but as an act of empire. It appeared not only ungenerous, but impolitic on the part of Ireland, to withdraw her proportion of troops, at a time when England had acceded to the terms of Ireland, and had herself suffered great loss of troops and territory in America. It did not now become the

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