that measure was naturally to be expected from the protestant ascendancy, it behoved the catholics to be active in their own cause, and to be prepared with petitions from all quarters. This intimation overcame a resolution formed by very many of that persuasion, that they would never again consent to meet as a distinct body. On the 23d, the former sub-committee, therefore, advised the catholics to petition in their different counties and districts, for the entire restoration of their rights.

On the 4th of January, 1795, lord Fitzwilliam took possession of the government of Ireland. The principal streets of the metropolis were illuminated on his arrival, and the public exultation, as he was understood to possess the inclination, and a plenitude of power to satisfy the wishes of the Irish nation, was unbounded. Addresses of affection and respect were framed in every corner of the kingdom; all descriptions of persons, all political and religious opinions, blended in one unanimous expression of reliance upon his excellency's virtues and the principles of his administration. Of these principles, then publicly known, the Irish Protestant Dissenters conveyed their approbation in the following address.

To his Excellency William, Earl Fitzwilliam, Lord Lieutenant General, and General Governor of Ireland.

"May it please your Excellency,

"We beg leave, in the name, and by the appointment of his Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the Protestant Dissenters of Ireland, to present our sincere congratulations to your Excellency on your safe arrival in this kingdom.

While we approach your Excellency with peculiar satisfaction, as the approved friend of civil and religious liberty, and the inheritor of the virtues of your illustrious kinsman, the late Marquis of Rockingham, we cannot but deem your Excellency's appointment to the high station you now hold, a distinguished mark of his Majesty's paternal regard for the interests of this country.

Deriving from our ancestors a high and sacred vene. ration for the principles of the glorious revolution, which placed the august house of Hanover on the throne of these kingdoms, we humbly trust that our conduct will on every occasion secure your Excellency's favourable representation of our affectionate and steady attachment to the person, family and government of our most gracious Sovereign.

Permit us to express our conviction, that your Excellency's administration will be directed by that enlightened wisdom, which cannot fail to promote the true dignity of his Majesty's crown, and your Excellency's highest honour, as inseparable from the real welfare, prosperity and happi. ness of Ireland."

The address of the catholics of the city of Dublin was presented with unusual pomp. A numerous and respectable assemblage of this description of his majesty's subjects, assembled at the Rotunda, and proceeded thence, in a train of carriages, led by the chairman of the late general committee, Edward Byrne, to the castle. The deputation was received in the most gracious manner, and the procession returned in the same order to the Rotunda.

To his Excellency William, Earl Fitzwilliam, Lord Lieute. nant General, and General Governor of Ireland.

"May it please your Excellency,

66 We, his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Catholics of the City of Dublin, beg leave to approach your Excellency with our most sincere and heart-felt congratula. 3 Y

VOL. IV.

tion on your appointment to the high and important office of lord lieutenant of this kingdom. We entreat your Excellency to believe, that it is with more than ordinary gratitude we receive this additional proof of the paternal goodness of our most gracious Sovereign, in deputing a Nobleman who, from his character, situation and talents, his intimate connexion with, and extensive property in this country, we entertain the most founded hopes, will stre. nuously and successfully promote the interests of Irelandand our gratification is still heightened by the strong im pression we feel, that those men will stand foremost in your Excellency's confidence, who have on all great occasions appeared the most powerful supporters of the interest of their country-and to whose exertions the Catholics of Ireland are so peculiualy indebted.

"Relieved, as we have been recently, from the pressure of many severe and degrading incapacities-we hope to manifest to your Excellency, that our gratitude is commensurate with the benefits we have received, of the value and extent of which we are deeply sensible-and we can, with confidence, assert, that when it shall seem good to the legislature to remove those disabilities which yet remain, our demeanour will be that of men worthy of receiving complete relief from a gracious and beneficent Monarch, and a liberal and enlightened legislature.

"We entreat your Excellency to receive our sincere professions of loyalty to our Sovereign, to whose paternal recommendation we feel so much indebted-and of inviolable at tachment to the principles of our most excellent constitution, into whose bosom it is our atmost ambition to be admitted; and we trust that to your Excellency's administration is reserved the glory of compleating the benevolent wish of the Father of his People, for the union of all his subjects in sentiment, interest and affection, by an abolition of all partial restrictions, founded only on religious distinction;-thereby insuring security and protection to the Catholics, and strength, honour and prosperity to Ireland.”

The eventful session of 1795 commenced on the 22d of January. The speech from the throne

distinctly, yet cautiously, alluded to the measures of his excellency's administration.

"My Lords and Gentlemen,

"I earnestly recommend to you a continuance of the laudable pains you have constantly taken to cultivate all your domestic advantages in commerce, in manufactures, and in such public works as have appeared directed to promote those important objects. These are the true foundations of all public revenue and public strength. Your endeavours have had their fruit. The great staple manufacture of this kingdom has increased beyond the most sanguine expectations: an advantage principally owing to the constant superintendance and wise provisions of the parliament of Ireland; and, next to those, to the assured, liberal, and most merited encouragement which it receives in the rich and extensive market of Great Britain; a circumstance tending to cement the union, and to perfect the harmony which happily subsists, and, I trust, will subsist for ever, between the two kingdoms.

"Attached as you are to the general cause of religion, learning and civilization, I have to recommend to your consideration the state of education in this kingdom, which, in some parts will admit of improvement, in others may require some new arrangement. Considerable advantages have been already derived, under the wise regulations of parliament, from the Protestant Charter Schools, and these will, as usual, claim your attention: but as these advantages have been but partial, and as circumstances have made other considerations connected with this important subject highly necessary, it is hoped, that your wisdom will order every thing relating to it in the mauner most beneficial, and the best adapted to the occasions of the several descriptions of men which compose his Majesty's faithful subjects of Ireland.

"We are engaged in an arduous contest. The time calls not only for great fortitude, and an unusual share of public spirit, but for much constancy and perseverance. You are engaged with a power, which, under the ancient forms of its internal arrangement, was always highly formidable to the neighbouring nations. Lately this power has assumed a new shape; but, with the same ambition, with much more exten

sive and systematic designs, far more effective, and, without comparison, more dreadful in the certain consequences of its eventual success, it threatens nothing less than the entire subversion of the liberty and independence of every state in Europe. An enemy to them all, it is actuated with a peculiar animosity against these kingdoms, not only as the natural protection of the balance of power in Europe, but also, because by the possession of a legal, humane and rational freedom, we seem to reproach that false and spurious liberty, which, iu reality, is an ignominious servitude, tending to extinguish all good arts, to generate nothing but impiety, crime, disorder and ferocious manners, and to end in wretchedness and general desolation.

"To guard his people from the enterprises of this dangerous and malignant power, and for the protection of all civilized society against the inroad of anarchy, his Majesty has availed himself of every rational aid, foreign and do. mestic; he has called upon the skill, courage and experience of all his subjects, wheresoever dispersed, and you must be duly sensible, in such a crisis as the present, which rarely occurs in the course of human affairs, of the advantage of his Majesty's thus endeavouring to profit of the united strength and zeal of every description of his subjects.

"I have to assure you of his Majesty's most chearful con, currence in every measure which your wisdom and comprehensive patriotism shall point out for this salutary purpose.

"On my part you shall find me, from principle and from inclination, thoroughly disposed to concur with his Majesty's paternal wishes, and with the wise measures of his parliament. On a cordial affection to the whole of Ireland, and on a conduct suitable to that sentiment, I wish to found my own personal estimation, and my reputation in the execution of the great trust, committed by the most beneficent of sovereigns to my care."

The address was moved by Mr. Grattan, who after recommending with the greatest energy, the most ample support of Great Britain, in a vigorous prosecution of the war, against the principles and power of France, returns to the