she, in 1707, ceased to be a distinct evil." How immensely, then, has this But this assertion, with regard to annihilation, is based on a fallacy so worthless that it scarcely repays the trouble of exposure. The question is one, not of theory, but of experience. Does the inhabitant of any Irish province lose aught in individual dignity by being enabled to say, that, in addition to being an Irishman, he is likewise a citizen of the most enlightened and commanding nation of modern times, not admitted by courtesy to a participation of its wealth and resources, but enjoying them as of right and inheritance? Is it no accession of dignity to an Irish member of this House that he sits here to legislate, not merely for the concerns of his own little island, but for the interests of the most opulent and powerful empire in the universe,-interests which are his own, in common with every inha-perienced an increase of prosperity since bitant of Britain? Mr. Burke, in one of his most eloquent passages, has described it as the great and leading enhancement of a seat in Parliament, that it gives its occupant an opportunity, on an extended scale," of doing good and of resisting VOL. XXII. Third Series these are trophies toward which the highest ambition of an Irish Parliament could never soar; these are honours which enable us, whilst we pride ourselves upon our birth-place, as Irishmen, to add to our distinctions the glory of being Britons. I need not ask, whether Ireland has ex the Union? This is an admission, which, not merely the intelligence, but the experience, of every uninfluenced man, capable of forming an opinion, must compel him at once to make; and, after the thorough exposition which this point has un2 U dergone during the last three yearsabove all, after the comprehensive and conclusive statements of the right hon. the Secretary of the Treasury (Mr. S. Rice), it is totally a work of supererogation to attempt to enter into any further proofs upon a subject where every circumstance is an evidence, and every aspect an argument. This, at least, is a department of the inquiry in which declamation and sophistry are of no avail against calculations and figures. Every statement which can be looked upon as authority, concurs in the same representation, and affords us the fullest evidence that, during the last thirty years, the prosperity of Ireland has been the greatest in any interval of her history. During this space her shipping trade has been doubled: 1831. 1,420,382 1,073,545 Outwards.. 703,717 I may be pardoned, if, in concluding this topic, I adduce, as an example of the benefits of the Union, the instance of the town from which I have, on a previous evening, presented so important a petition the town of Belfast. It affords, perhaps, the most striking, though by no means an insulated example, of Irish commercial advancement, as promoted by the Union. Population, and its increase in agricultural districts, can scarcely be relied on as an unerring test of prosperity; but, in trading towns, where the means of support are dependent on the extension of traffic, its increase or decrease is an unquestionable evidence of the rise or the decline of prosperity. Now, the population of Belfast was, before the era of Irish independence that is, in 1779, about 13,000; during twenty years, it in creased but one-fourth, and was, at the time of the Union, in round numbers, Her imports and her exports have been 19,000. In 1816, it was 30,720; in increased in a like proportion 1800 1830 : 36,112,361 57,947,413 1829, 55,158; being an increase, since the Union, of more than four-fold. The quantity of shipping which entered the port in 1786, amounted to 761 vessels, of 38,421 tons burthen: at the Union, in 1800, they were 856 in number, and the tonnage 67,855, an increase of about one-third. There were, last year, 2,600 ships, with a tonnage of 264,377, being an augmentation, since the Union, to triple the amount Her exports of corn have been increased in number, and quadruple in quantity. sixfold: 379,679 quarters. 2,226,774 At the time of the Union, there was not a cotton nor a flax mill in Belfast, and the cotton trade alone now gives occupation to upwards of 10,000 looms; and, taking And that of live stock no less than ten- the receipts of Customs and Excise as a fold: 1800 1826 19,891 head. 196,807 fair test of the produce of home manufactures and foreign trade, they afford a most singular evidence of the comparative influence of union and independence. The Custom-house receipts were, in 1782, 60,000l.; twenty years after wards, in 1800, when we had had a full experience of the influence of a free constitution, they were 62,6687., showing an augmentation of but one-thirtieth in all that period. The Union took place in 1800, and five years afterwards they were 228,6451.; they were, in 1820, 306,2637., and are, at this moment, upwards of 400,000l.; showing that the trade of the north of Ireland, has actually doubled in every period of five years since the Union. I say the trade of the north of Ireland, for, although I do not mean to generalize this instance over the whole kingdom, Belfast England her progress has been immense; her British imports having increased, in thirty years, from three millions to seven millions, and her exports from three-anda-half millions to nearly nine millious, whilst her foreign traffic has been almost stationary. Imports from foreign ports from Great Britain Exports to foreign ports is certainly the emporium and the dépôt of Ulster, and I have sufficient evidence to show to the House, that the improvement in the entire of that province has been uniform and immense. I hold in my hand a return of the produce of stamps in the Antrim district since the Union, by which it appears that, from 1800 to 1814, when the proceeds were diminished by the reduction of the rate of duty, the gross receipts for stamps had risen from 6,1987. to 20,6047.; that of advertisement duty, from 5671, to 2,2751.; insurance duty, from 4487. to 1,4451. (and it was last year 2,9447.)—and the total revenue in these departments, from 6,766l. to 35,1637.; and though, owing to the reductions in 1814, it has been considerably decreased in amount, it is at this moment nearly 20,000l. per annum. These, Sir, are our proofs of prosperity-these are the considerations that render us attached, and warmly attached, to British connexion these are the blessings that we have derived under the Union-and, looking to these, all we ask from the hon, and learned Gentleman is, in his own emphatic phrase, that he will "let us alone." "We seek no change, And, least of all, such change as he would bring us." But, whilst I contend for this singular increase of national prosperity, I by no means assert, that the Union is its direct and originating cause; I do not say, that, because the two were concurrent, the one is consequential. I cannot suppose that there is any thing talismanic in the mere abstract fact of a Union, any more than in the mere abstract state of distinctness to generate wealth, or to originate prosperity. I do not conceive, that the Union is in itself prosperity, merely because it promotes and diffuses it, any more than 1 believe that a lens is light, because it collects and concentrates its scattered rays. The Union is not the cause of the prosperity of Ireland-it is only the medium through which she has received and enjoyed it. The source of her prosperity has been British connexion, and the participation of British resources. It is a singular fact, connected with the trade of Ireland, which I have omitted to mention, that the increase of her imports and exports has been confined to her commerce with England alone. In her foreign trade, Ireland has hardly advanced a single step since the Union, but through her intercourse with to Great Britain With proofs such as these before us of our utter dependence upon British connexion, and upon admission to a participation in British resources, the question of Union resolves itself, in my mind, into one simple, and, I think, incontrovertible proposition. In what position will England be most readily inclined to benefit Ireland, and assist her in her progress-as her partner or her competitor-as her rival, or as an incorporated portion of her own empire? I have but one other point to allude to, and have done with this inquiry. I admit it is the most painful and the least satisfactory. Has the Union succeeded in producing peace and tranquillity in Ireland? Unfortunately, as yet, the answer must be in the negative. It would be interminable to enter into the causes which have produced this failure, or to trace the means by which the factious and the vile, the disaffected and the corrupt, have succeeded in operating on the crude minds of the Irish peasantry, so as to thwart and defeat every project for her happiness and welfare. The means by which, whilst the Creator has designed Ireland for a paradise, "Man enamoured of distress, Has marred her into wilderness." The causes are innumerable; the remedy is contained in one single sentence-relieve the destitute, and educate the people. It is to this expedient we must come at last, when bayonets and violence have failed of their object, and when Insurrection Acts and Bills of Coercion have become but a dead and inoperative letter. It is the destitution of the Irish poor, and the ignorance of the Irish people, that exposes them as a ready prey to the dominion of priesteraft, and the delusions of demagogues. It is their ignorance that inclines them "to listen with credulity to the statements of every adventurer who can declaim of patriotisin, and the deceptions of every impostor who, at whatever risk of detection, can promise to them an improvement of their condition. Educate the people, and you raise them at once from this foul degradation. Enable them to examine and judge for themselves, and you liberate them from the thraldom of the political priest and the delusions of the trading agitator. This is the only expedient to restore Ireland to peace and to happiness, and this alone can possibly bestow on her that thorough and absolute independence of mind, not less than action, to which the hon. and learned Member for Dublin has taught her to aspire. any discretion in matters of war or peace, or is she not, as before, to follow implicitly the dictates of England? If she is not, separation, I contend, must inevitably follow sooner or later; and if she is, she is, of course, to be dragged in as heretofore for her share of all the costs and expenditure. Is she to have any control over the services, the number, or the pay of the very army which is to protect her, although she must, of course, bear her proportion of the expenses, however vast may be the armies of England? Is she to have any authority over the navy of the empire, its numbers, or its equipments? No, but she must, in this case also, bear her part of the burthen. Her commerce is at the present moment dependent exclusively upon her intercourse with Great Britain and her colonies. Is she to have such a power vested in her Parliament as will enable her to legislate independently for her own interests in either of these departments? Is she to have any control over the affairs of the Irish Church, its revenue, or its appropriation? This, at least, she will not attempt, constituted, as her Parliament would be, of Roman Catholics, or their adherents, to arrogate to herself. But I have understood from the speech of the hon. and learned Gentleman (Mr. O'Connell), that it is not total independence which he seeks to secure for Ireland by the Repeal of the Union, but a sort of dependent connexion-"a federal Union," as he calls it; a power to deliberate of her own authority, for her own local affairs, but to leave all matters of external and national legislation to the British Parliament. Now I would appeal to the House, to the country, to the speeches of the hon. Gentleman himself, whether the plan he has here proposed be commensurate with the object for which he has taught his countrymen to clamour, or whether it would be a realization of the If, then, she is to have no authority of hopes which he has encouraged them to herself in matters in which she is most cherish? Every patriotic Repealer in nearly interested, in war or peace, alliIreland professes, that his object is to ren ances or treaties, commercial, colonial, or der Ireland an independent nation, and ecclesiastical arrangements, I would ask, no longer a subordinate province. "If I whether this be the full national indewere asked," said Lord Minto, "to de- pendence for which the hon. and learned scribe an independent nation, I should Gentleman has taught his countrymen to say it was one which can make war and insist? And will the Irish peasantry be peace, which can gain dominion by con- so dull as not to discover the cheat?quest, plant colonies, and establish foreign will they not demand from the hon. and relations; and if I would describe a sub- learned Member, whether this be the inordinate and dependent province, I should dependence they were taught to struggle say it is one which must contribute her for?-whether it is for this subordinate quota to all the wars of a neighbouring rank they have been holding their tumulkingdom, incur all the risks, and partake tuous meetings, and signing their petiall the disasters, while all that is acquired tions, deserting their peaceful industry, by success falls to that country, with and robbing themselves and their families which it nevertheless claims to be co- of the very necessaries of life, in order to ordinate and co-equal." Granting, then, raise 15,000l. a-year for the hon. and the full measure of Repeal for which the learned member for Dublin? No doubt hon. and learned Gentleman has asked, I the hon. and learned Gentleman's elowould leave it to the most simple-hearted quence will be sufficient to avert their advocate of the measure in Ireland, to say indignation; but even should it fail with which of his Lordship's definitions would a few, he will still have the consolation of apply to Ireland in her new capacity ::- an amiable character in Horace-whether that of an "independent nation"<< Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo, or a "subordinate province ?" Is Ireland Ipse domi, simul ac nummos contemplar in in this new form of Government, to have arcâ." 66 Great, glorious, and free, First flower of the earth, and first gem of the sea." This, then, at length, is the hon. and | the separate interests of each; each has learned Member's plan for getting rid of its private and its public interests, its imthe "Sassenach" and the Stranger." perial and its local interests. These disIt is thus he proposes to liberate Ireland tinctions invariably and inevitably lead to from the thraldom of "the Saxon Parlia- jealousies and competitions, more espement"-this is his notable expedient to cially, as in the case of Ireland, where render Ireland once more there is a manifest inequality in the power of the confederate parties. All these are feelings and passions which do not fail to exhibit themselves even in moments of common danger, and which all tend, sooner or later, to one common goal, and that goal is separation. Have we not existing examples of these facts at this very moment? Have I not described in these very terms the present condition of the United States of America? America, because it is an imperfect example; its Union is too recent to form an illustration for my opponents, and too green, too unripe, to afford a satisfactory argument to myself. But I conceive that it must be evident to every individual who knows the condition of that country; the jealousies of the northern and southern States; the distinctness of interests on which each is dependent, and the disunion in feeling which already exists and is rapidly gaining head amongst them, that before many years have elapsed—so soon, at least, as they have strength to warrant them in making the attempt-we shall have more than one Carolina preparing to repeal the North American Union. Sir, I know the ardent and susceptible temperament of the Irish people; I know how deeply the love of country and of freedom is engrafted in every Irish bosom, and how every appeal to these wins its way to the heart; and is it not a coldblooded tampering with the feelings and passions of the nation,-is it not a seeth-I admit, is a bad example for either party, ing of the lamb in its mother's milk,-thus to controvert the best affections of a people into instruments wherewithal to delude and to plunder them? But we have at least learned this by the present discussion, that the hon. Member's object in the Repeal of the Union, is not to render Ireland an independent nation, but to establish a sort of federal connexion between her and Great Britain. I remember, Sir, a very striking description of that kind of connexion given by the Irish Speaker, Mr. Foster, in the year 1800. "It must ever be the dearest interest of Ireland," said he, "to be an unalienable and inseparable part of the British empire, not, joined together by the nonsense of a federal union, a connexion which hangs on a thread, exposed to all the attacks of party, and all the effects of accident; and unfortunate, indeed, would it be for us if Ireland were held by a connexion of the mere person of the King." And it is with this "nonsense" of a federal Union with which the hon. Member now comes forward to appease the excited imaginations of the deluded people of Ireland! Against such a species of connexion we have not only all the arguments of theory, but all the practical experience of history to warn us. Its inherent and fundamental defect is, that with an external appearance of identity, it tends to cultivate a feeling of distinctness: distinctness in individuals is but too frequently synonymous with opposition, and in nations it is often a convertible term for hostility, and always for rivalry. There is in every confederacy of this kind not only a distinctness in the interests of the two nations, but even in The whole range of history cannot furnish us with an example in which these species of confederacies, from their internal weakness and the defects of their constitution, have not fallen an easy prey to foreign enemies, or dropped asunder by their own rottenness. The instance of Spain and Portugal is in every respect a perfect illustration of the proposed federal union between Ireland and this country. Philip 2nd of Spain claimed the throne. of Portugal in right of his mother, and in 1581 the two kingdoms formed a federal union under one crown, on the express stipulation that Portugal was to continue a distinct kingdom. How long did this connexion last? Not sixty years. The jealousy of the weaker country could not brook the connexion, and, in 1640, Philip 4th was expelled, and John of Braganza seated on the independent Portuguese throne. And what has been the result of that independence? Would any Irishman. wish to see his country placed on a foot |