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terests in our concerns of trade, manufactures, revenue, and constitution; and instead of increasing the connection between the two kingdoms, may tend to their separation, to our consequent ruin, and to the destruction or dismemberment of the empire ;

"Inasmuch as it endangers, instead of promoting or securing the tranquillity of Ireland, as it degrades the national pride and character, debases its rank from a kingdom to that of a dependant province, yet leaves us every expense and mark of a kingdom but the great essential one of a parliament;

"Inasmuch as it has been proposed and hitherto carried against the decided and expressed sense of the people, notwithstanding the improper means resorted to to prevent that sense being declared, and to misrepresent it when known;

"Inasmuch as it is not grounded in all its intricate and momentous parts on that solemn and full investigation which ought to attend every measure of great moment, and has been introduced and conducted with various delusions and impositions, and with an unbecoming and suspicious haste;

"Inasmuch as it provides for sending one hundred of the present representatives to legislate in another kingdom, though elected only to sit in the parliament in this, and does not give the people an opportunity, by a new election, to exercise their discretion in a new choice of persons for such a new, altered, and increased trust;

"Inasmuch as it leaves to be determined by the chance of drawing lots the choice of thirty-two members to represent as many great cities and towns with a levity which tends to turn into ridicule the sacred and serious trust of a representative, and while it commits to one person the office which the constitution commits to two, of speaking the voice of the people and granting their money, it does not allow the electors to choose which of the two they will entrust with that power;

"And inasmuch as means the most unconstitutional, influence the most undue, and bribes openly avowed, have been resorted to to carry it against the known sense of the Commons and people during the existence of martial law throughout the land;

"We feel it our bounden duty to ourselves, our country and our posterity, to lay this our most solemn protest and prayer before Your Majesty, that you will be graciously pleased to extend your paternal protection to your faithful and loyal subjects, and to save them from the danger threatened by Your Majesty's ministers in this their ruinous and destructive project, humbly declaring with the most cordial and warm sincerity, that we are actuated therein by an irresistible sense of duty, by an unshaken loyalty to Your Majesty, by a veneration for the British name, by an ardent attachment to the British nation, with whom we have so often declared we will stand or fall, and by a determination to preserve for ever the connection between the two kingdoms on which the happiness, the power, and the strength of each irrevocably and unalterably depend."

The motion was very ably supported by Mr. Egan, Mr. Goold,

Mr. Dobbs, Mr. C. Beresford, and Mr. Saurin, who most strenuously urged his former objections to the measure; he contended, that the minister had resorted to the basest means to stiflè the real sense of the people: addresses in favour of the Union had been procured by bribes and threats, and from the lowest description of people. Sheriffs had been appointed in consequence of their known sentiments in favour of the measure; some had been continued in office for their known opinions; others had violated their duty, and refused to hold meetings lest they should be hostile to the measure of Union; the military had been resorted to, to intimidate the people; thus had the minister acted outside the doors of the House: how had he acted within? He had in fact new-modelled Parliament; he availed himself of the Bill, which was to secure the independence of the House, and which he had perverted, for the purpose of destroying the constitution; under colour of that law, by the bartering of offices, 63 new members found their way into the House since last session. Such had been the measures pursued by the noble lord opposite (Castlereagh); he had forgotten his early principles; he had abandoned the polítical opinions of his early acquaintance, and the sentiments of the northern Whig Club, of which he had been a leading member. In 1790, he was an admirer of the doctrines of Paine, he spoke of them in the language of enthusiasm; but now he was an enthusiast of another description; he tells us the Union will do every thing, tranquillize, civilize, enrich, and enlighten. None of the paradoxes in finance by which the noble lord of late amused the House is so extravagant, or so absurd, as this: so far from tranquillizing, it is an insult to the country, and will implant in Ireland a bitterer cause of discontent than has ever yet existed; a cause of discontent which will torture every honest and loyal man in the country by night and by day, and make him doubt for a moment his affection to the British name, and British connexion :

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The motion was opposed by Lord Castlereagh and the Attorney-General (Mr. Toler).

The question being put, the House divided: Ayes 77, Noes 135; Majority against the address 58.

Tellers for the Ayes, Lord Viscount Corry, and Mr. Saurin: Noes, Right Honorable Mr. Attorney-Gen. (Toler), and Mr. Robert Johnson. The question was then put, that the report from the committee on the Union Bill should now be read; on which

The House divided: Ayes 153, Noes 88; Majority 65.
Tellers for the Ayes, Right Hon. Mr. Attorney-General
(Toler), and Mr. Martin:
Mr. John C. Beresford, and Mr.
O'Hara.

Noes,

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Lord Castlereagh then moved, that the bill should be engrossed > on which Mr. O'Donnell moved, by way of amendment, "that the bill should be burned," to which Mr. Tighe also moved, by way of amendment, "that it should be burned by the hands of the common hangman:" on this Mr. John Beresford called the mem

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bers to order, and appealed to the speaker whether such a question could be put. Some confusion hereupon ensued; but the speaker observed, that he considered the motion as a separate and distinct one, and not as an amendment; the noble lord wished to dispose of the report by having it engrossed; the honourable member thinks it would be better disposed of by having it burned, and there was nothing unparliamentary or censurable in such a motion; but the motion for having the report engrossed being first made and seconded, he was bound by the rules of the House to put the question first on that point: should that be negatived, it would then be his duty to put the question on the motion, that the report be burned.

The question being then put, "That the report be engrossed," it was carried in the affirmative.

The next day, Lord Castlereagh moved, "that the bill be read a third time;" on which Mr. O'Donnell moved, "that the bill be read a third time on the second of January 1801,"_this_was seconded by Mr. Ruxton, and warmly supported by Mr. Peter Burroughs, Mr. Tighe, Lord Corry, Mr. Parnell, Mr. Dick, Mr. Plunkett, Mr. Arthur Moore, and Mr. Dobbs, the latter in a most extraordinary speech entered into a long theological discussion, on the subject of the millenium, and the consequences likely to happen to the nation, from undoubted signs, he stated that he could foretel the approach of the Messiah, who was about to establish a kingdom in Ireland, founded upon justice and righteousness. He was listened to with much patience. After a warm and animated debate, Mr. O'Donnell's motion was negatived, and the Union bill was read a third time, and passed: it was ordered to the Lords, read a first time on the 11th; and on the 12th, the House divided on the motion "that it be committed."

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The following Lords entered their protests against the measure:

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The following is the Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland, 40 G. 3. c. 67.

WHEREAS in pursuance of His Majesty's most gracious re

commendation to the two Houses of Parliament in Great Britain and Ireland respectively, to consider of such measures as might best tend to strengthen and consolidate the connection between the two kingdoms, the two Houses of the Parliament of Great Britain, and the two Houses of the Parliament of Ireland, have severally agreed and resolved, that in order to promote and secure the essential interests of Great Britain and Ireland, and to consolidate the strength, power, and resources of the British empire, it will be advisable to concur in such measures as may best tend to unite the two kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland into one kingdom, in such manner, and on such terms and conditions as may be established by the Acts of the respective Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland.

And whereas in furtherance of the said resolution, both Houses of the said two Parliaments respectively, have likewise agreed upon certain articles for effectuating and establishing the said purposes in the tenor following:

ARTICLE I.-That it be the first article of the Union of the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, that the said kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland shall, upon the first day of January, which shall be in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hún-dred and one, and for ever after, be united into one kingdom, by the name of "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,' and that the royal style and titles appertaining to the imperial crown of the said united kingdom and its dependencies, and also the ensigns armorial, flags and banners thereof, shall be such as His Majesty by His royal proclamation under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom shall be pleased to appoint.

ARTICLE II. That it be the second article of Union, that the succession to the imperial crown of the said United Kingdom, and of the dominions thereunto belonging, shall continue limited and settled in the same manner as the succession to the imperial crown of the said kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland now stands limited and settled, according to the existing laws and to the terms of union between England and Scotland.

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ARTICLE III. - That it be the third article of Union, that the said United Kingdom be represented in one and the same Parliament, to be styled "The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland."

ARTICLE IV. - That it be the fourth article of Union, that four Lords spiritual of Ireland by rotation of sessions, and twenty-eight Lords temporal of Ireland, elected for life by the peers of Ireland, shall be the number to sit and vote on the part of Ireland in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; and one hundred Commoners, (two for each county of Ireland, two for the city of Dublin, two for the city of Cork, one for the Uni

versity of Trinity College, and one for each of the thirty-one most considerable cities, towns, and boroughs) be the number to sit and vote on the part of Ireland in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

That such Act as shall be passed in the Parliament of Ireland, previous to the Union, " to regulate the mode by which the Lords spiritual and temporal, and the Commons, to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom on the part of Ireland, shall be summoned and returned to the said Parliament," shall be considered as forming part of the treaty of Union, and shall be incorporated in the acts of the respective parliaments by which the said Union shall be ratified and established.

That all questions touching the rotation or election of Lords spiritual or temporal of Ireland to sit in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, shall be decided by the House of Lords thereof; and whenever by reason of an equality of votes in the election of any such Lords temporal, a complete election shall not be made according to the true intent of this article, the names of those peers for whom such equality of votes shall be so given, shall be written on pieces of paper of a similar form, and shall be put into a glass by the Clerk of the Parliaments, at the table of the House of Lords whilst the House is sitting, and the peer or peers whose name or names shall be first drawn out by the Clerk of the Parliaments shall be deemed the peer or peers elected, as the case may be.

That any person holding any peerage of Ireland now subsisting, or hereafter to be created, shall not thereby be disqualified from being elected to serve, if he shall so think fit, or from serving or continuing to serve, if he shall so think fit, for any county, city, or borough of Great Britain, in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, unless he shall have been previously elected as above to sit in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, but that so long as such peer of Ireland shall so continue to be a member of the House of Commons, he shall not be entitled to the privilege of peerage, nor be capable of being elected to serve as a peer on the part of Ireland, or of voting at any such election, and that he shall be liable to be sued, indicted, proceeded against, and tried as a commoner for any offence with which he may be charged.

That it shall be lawful for His Majesty, his heirs and successors, to create peers of that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, and to make promotions in the peerage thereof after the Union, provided that no new creation of any such peers shall take place after the Union, until three of the peerages of Ireland which shall have been existing at the time of the Union shall have become extinct, and upon such extinction of three peerages, that it shall be lawful for His Majesty, his heirs and successors, to create one peer of that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland; and in like manner so often as three peerages of that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland shall become extinct, it shall be lawful for His Majesty, his heirs and successors, to create one other

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