under the painful appearance of delinquency, were perfectly innocent....nevertheless we have to lament, that there were too many guilty.

The compulsive sway and irresistible predominancy of a wicked and armed conspiracy dragged many peaceable and loyal subjects from their home into the field, and forced them, however reluctant, to take or to seem to take a part, and to appear in arms under the criminal banner of rebellion, during that dreadful paroxysm of political phrenzy, which we earnestly pray and hope God in his mercy will never again permit to convulse and desolate this once prosperous and happy country.

s atten

Allow us likewise, my Lord to express our deep indelible sense of gratitude to our beloved monarch for his majesty's tion to the happiness of all his subjects in this kingdom, clearly evinced by the appointment of your excellency to the chief government thereof at a difficult and awful crisis, when the social band was broken asunder, and social order appeared shaken from its very foundation by the wildest anarchy, excited and fostered by the baneful operation of modern French revolutionary maxims, which threatened us with all the moral and political evils that have so long and so grievously afflicted that ill-fated country.

The presence of your excellency happily arrested the progress of this contagious malady, and the inflexible perseverance in the wise, humane, and decisive measures, which so eminently characterizes your excellency's administration, has overawed the conspirators, reclaimed the deluded rebel, protected the loyalist, and gradually introduced into the mind of even the most obdurate offender an anxious desire to submit to legal government, and to live in an uninterrupted state of eternal peace in the spirit of Christian Charity with his fellow subjects of every religious persuasion or denomination whatsoever.

As we look forward with an anxious interest to the most effectual means of establishing the internal peace and prosperity of this hitherto distracted country, upon a comprehensive and permanent basis, we consider it a duty we owe to ourselves and to our posterity, thus openly to declare, that we conceive these desirable objects can only be attained by the happy completion of the great and useful measure of a legislative Union between Great Britain and Ireland, which the common father of the people has in his wisdom recommended to the serious consideration of his parliament.

We are indeed firmly persuaded, that the proposed incorporation of both legislatures must give additional energy to the resources and vigour of the empire, by consolidating and identifying the common interests of the whole people, and that by the liberal efficiency of its operation, diffusing from the centre to the ex

tremities of the empire, all those blessings which naturally flow from the genuine principles of the British constitution, it will afford to every description of his majesty's subjects in Ireland perfect security in the full enjoyment of civil, political, and religious freedom.

Resolved, That the Right Honourable the Earl of Ely be humbly and respectfully requested to present this our address to his excellency the Marquis Cornwallis.

MY LORD,

[Signed by above 3000 persons.]

Dublin Castle, Nov. 6, 1799.

IN answer to the honour of your lordship's letter of yesterday's date, and its inclosure, I am directed by my lord lieutenant to request, that you will have the goodness to convey his excellency's sincere acknowledgments to the Roman Catholic inhabitants of the town of Wexford and other parishes in that county, for their address transmitted by your lordship.

His excellency desires me to state to your lordship, the satisfaction he receives from finding from the Roman Catholic inhabitants of the county of Wexford, so general a concurrence of sentiment in favour of a legislative Union with Great Britain, which measure he considers essentially necessary for the future prosperity and tranquillity of his majesty's loyal subjects in Ireland.

The Earl of Ely.

I have the honour to be,
My Lord, &c.

E. B. LITTLEHALES.

To His Excellency Charles Marquis Cornwallis, Lord Lieutenant General, and General Governor of Ireland.

The Address of the Roman Catholics of the city of Cork. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY,

WITH the most affectionate and unfeigned respect, we beg leave to congratulate your excellency on your arrival in this city, and to assure your excellency of the high sense we entertain of the wisdom, firmness, and benevolence of your government, which has so happily subdued a desperate rebellion, and restored this lately distracted country to peace and tranquillity.

Our most gracious sovereign lord the king, to whose illustrious house we are bound by every tie of loyalty and gratitude, having in his parental care recommended to his parliaments in both countries the consideration of an Union of the legislatures of his kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, on the broad and permanent basis of mutual advantages and general security, we beg leave to express our sentiments on so important a question, and to declare to your excellency, that we consider it the most effectual means to promote the strength and happiness of the empire, to allay the unhappy distractions which have raged, and that nothing short of this salutary measure can ensure to us a continuance of the confidence, of the tranquillity, and the blessings which the wisdom of your auspicious government has restored to this country.

[Signed by 308 Subscribers.]

To the Roman Catholics of the City of Cork.

IT affords me singular pleasure to be assured, that the government of Ireland has been administered in a manner that has given you satisfaction during the period in which his majesty has graciously thought proper to commit it to my care.

In full expectation that the salutary measure to be brought forward will upon the completion of it, be the means of eventually terminating all religious and civil dissensions, and of giving reciprocal advantage and general security to the whole empire, it is with unfeigned gratification that I find a coincidence of opinion in this great work on the part of the loyal Roman Catholic inhabitants of the ancient and opulent city of Cork.*

CXIX.

THE ARTICLES OF UNION....PAGE 294.

RESOLVED, 1. That in order to promote and secure the essential interests of Great Britain and Ireland, and 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.

Resolved, 2. That for the purpose of establishing an Union upon the basis stated in the resolution esolution of the two houses of parliament of Great Britain, communicated by his majesty's command in the message sent to this house by his excellency the lord lieutenant, it would be fit to propose as the first article of Union, that the 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 hundred and one, and for ever after, be united in 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.

Resolved, 3. That for the same purpose, it would be fit to propose, 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 the Union between England and Scotland.

Resolved, 4. That for the same purpose it would be fit to propose, 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.

Resolved, 5. That for the same purpose it would be fit to propose, that the charge arising from the payment of the interest and sinking fund, for the reduction of the principal of the debt incurred in either kingdom before the Union, shall continue to be separately defrayed by Great Britain and Ireland respectively.

That for the space of twenty years after the Union shall takeplace, the contribution of Great Britain and Ireland respectively, towards the expenditure of the united kingdom in each year, shall be defrayed in the proportion of fifteen parts for Great Britain and two parts for Ireland, that at the expiration of the said twenty years, the future expenditure of the united kingdom, other than the interest and charges of the debt to which either country shall be separately liable, shall be defrayed in such proportion as the said united parliament shall deem just and reasona ble, upon a comparison of the real value of the exports and im

VOL. V.

ports of the respective countries, upon an average of the three years next preceding the period of revision, or on a comparison of the value of the quantities of the following articles consumed within the respective countries, on a similar average, viz. beer, spirits, sugar, wine, tea, tobacco and malt; or according to the aggregate proportion resulting from both these considerations combined, or on a comparison of the amount of income in each country, estimated from the produce for the same periods of a general tax, if such shall have been imposed on the same descriptions of income in both countries, and that the parliament of the united kingdoms shall afterwards proceed in like manner, to revise and fix the said proportions according to the same rules or any of them, at periods not more distant than twenty years, nor less than seven years from each other, unless previous to any such period the united parliament shall have declared as herein after provided, that the general expences of the empire shall be defrayed indiscriminately by equal taxes, imposed on the like articles in both countries.

Resolved, 6. That for defraying the said expences, according to the rules above laid down, the revenues of Ireland shall hereafrer constitute a consolidated fund, upon which charges equal to the interest of the debt and sinking fund, shall, in the first instance be charged, and the remainder shall be applied towards defraying the proportion of the general expence of the united kingdom, to which Ireland may be liable in each year.

That the proportion of contribution to which Great Britain and Ireland will by these articles be liable, shall be raised by such taxes in each kingdom respectively, as the parliament of the united kingdom shall from time to time deem fit, provided always, that in regulating the taxes in each country by which their respective proportion shall be levied, no article in Ireland shall be liable to be taxed to any amount exceeding that which will be thereafter payable in England on the like articles.

Resolved, 7. That if at the end of any year, any surplus shalt accrue from the revenues of Ireland, after defraying the interest, sinking fund, and proportioned contribution, and separate charges to which the said country is liable, either taxes shall be taken off the amount of such surplus, or the surplus shall be applied by the united parliament to local purposes in Ireland, or to make good any deficiency which may arise in her revenues in time of peace, or invested by the commissioners of the national debt of Ireland in the funds, to accumulate for the benefit of Ireland, at compound interest, in case of contribution in time of war. Provided the surplus so to accumulate, shall at no future period be suffered to exceed the sum of five millions.

Resolved, 8. That all monies hereafter to be raised by loan in peace or war, for the service of the united kingdom by the par