supply their place with an equal number of foreign protestant troops. The first was granted; the second, to the great surprise of the castle, rejected by a great majority. The Irish commons soon had another opportunity of showing the British their resolution of not parting with their rights. A bill, granting duties on ale, beer, &c. was returned from England altered, upon which it was thrown out, and another framed.

If a strong party in Britain reprobated the American war on principle, the Irish, from similarity of circumstances, assumed the cause of the colonies as allied with her own. The earl of Effingham acquired popularity, for resigning his commission, that he might not draw his sword against his fellow subjects. He received the thanks of the city of Dublin, and the guild of merchants. The latter published an address of thanks to all the peers who protested against the Restraining bills. The sheriffs and commons endeavoured to obtain the concurrence of the aldermen, in a petition to the king, against the measures pursued with regard to America. On being disappointed, they came to the following resolutions. "Anxious to preserve our reputations, from the odium, that must remain to all posterity on the names of those, who in any wise promote the acts now carrying on in America; and feeling the most poignant grief, as well on account of the injured inhabitants of that country, as on that of our own brave countrymen, sent on the unnatural errand of killing their fellow-subjects:

Resolved, that is the duty of every good citizen to exert his utmost abilities to allay the unhappy disputes, that at present disturb the British empire. Resolved, that whoever would refuse his consent to a dutiful petition to the king, tending to undeceive his majesty, and by which it could be hoped, that the effusion of one drop of subject-blood might be prevented, is not a friend to the British constitution."

The encreasing distresses of Ireland seemed to rouze the energies of the people. In 1776, the debt incurred was near a million, and the deficiency of the revenue that year, was £247,797. Pensions, at the same calamitous period, came to no less a sum than £158,685. Contrary to the example of all other nations, the Irish government had been borrowing in time of peace, while it continued to impose new taxes.

Though the catholics gladly embraced the proffered opportunity, by the act passed in 1774, of wiping off the false title of Irish enemy; and, by testifying their loyalty, of being received among his majesty's faithful subjects; they had the mortification to see an act pass, authorizing their dwellings to be entered, by night or day, for the seizure of arms or ammunition; and of being examined upon oath, if the magistrate suspected they had such concealed. But should they refuse to deliver up, or declare, what arms, &c. they had, hinder their delivery, not discover on oath, or neglect appearing before a magistrate, to be examined, they were to be punished, by fine and imprisonment, or pillored, or whipped,

This year, 1776, the first octennial parliament not being considered pliable enough to the mandates of the castle, having in two instnaces disobeyed, and made an unwelcome representation of grievances, was dissolved, and another called, which elected the former speaker, Pery, and met not until October 1777. Lord Buckinghamshire, who had been appointed viceroy early that year, met this, with an address more modest than usually came from his predecessors.

There seemed to be, during this reign, a competition, between the depression of the people and the augmentation of the aristocracy. While peerages were multiplied, to corrupt the legislature, petitions flowed in from distressed traders and manufacturers; the unerring evidence of national calamity, produced by misgovernment. The merchants and traders of Cork stated, that they were reduced to extreme misery, by an embargo, laid in November 1776, on all ships laden with provisions for foreign ports, rigorously enforced. That the perishable commodities, of which this beneficial export trade chiefly consisted, were lost, while the trade fell into the hands of other nations. That great quantities of provisions, such as could be preserved, lay on hands. That his majesty's revenue had of course decreased, in proportion to the decay of trade. That the embargo not being essentially necessary or useful, for any public purpose, and so detrimental to the commerce, agriculture and finance of Ireland, ought to be annulled. The manufacturers of Dublin were reduced to such extreme

indigence, that they would have perished by thousands, had they not been relieved by charity. The revenue was so exhausted, by pensions and bribes to unworthy persons, that government could afford no assistance. They were unable to pay their forces abroad, and obliged to borrow money from England, to pay those at home. The expenditure exceeding the revenue £8,000, ₤166,000 were borrowed in England, on debentures at 4 per cent.: further increase of the drain.

That a resident parliament would be better informed of the wants and wishes of the people, and sympathise more cordially with them, appears from all existing documents. However place and pension could debauch a majority, occasionally national questions were carried; and, even when they miscarried, the minority, by protest or resolutions, entered upon the journals such records, as proved a check to the executive power, and a lesson of political justice to posterity. A national assembly, however imperfectly constituted, or seduced by sectarian faction, or bought at the public expence, must, notwithstanding, be somewhat swayed by public opinion, and have better means of knowing the situation of the nation, and stronger motives for listening to the public voice, than a foreign legislature, in which deputies form an inefficient minority. Emulation, itself, between the two legislatures, might at times benefit the dependency; as appears from the attention given to Irish affairs by the English parliament, in consequence of petitions from the distressed manufacturers of Dublin to

hardly be ex

The petitions That from the

the Irish parliament. It is true, the Irish lost most of the benefits proposed for them, through the intervention of English commercial monopoly pleading against them. Still it cannot be questioned, that the petitions produced an effect in St. Stephens's chapel, that could pected now from similar claims. point out the distress of Ireland. woollen, linen, silk and cotton manufacturers, of the city and liberties of Dublin, stated, that the petitioners, from want of trade, were overloaded with goods, for which there was no demand, amounting to upwards of £300,000. That having worked up their capital and credit, and finding no sale for the goods, they had been under the painful necessity of discontinuing employment to the working people, whereby they and their families, to the number of many thousands, were reduced to extreme poverty. That the relief of half a pound of oatmeal or of flour, per day, for each person, had then ceased; the fund, raised by the humanity of the nobility and gentry for that purpose, being nearly exhausted. That the condition of the unemployed poor, their wives and children, was become truly deplorable, which the petitioners humbly laid before that house, hoping for relief only from the wisdom of parliament.

This miserable situation of Irish affairs, caused the absentee landlords to partake, in some degree, of the common calamity. The English house of commons took the trade of Ireland into consideration, and came to the following resolutions: