Gentlemen have talked of innovation; have they considered the date of boroughs when they talk in this manner? Many of these boroughs were at first free boroughs, perhaps one-half of the whole was free by charter, and have been made close boroughs by its violation, and are in law extinct, and their members now sit in this House in face of the law of the land as well as the principles of the constitution. We moved to go last session into an examination, but gentlemen were afraid; we wish to go now into an examination, and if they will venture we have reason to think we can show you that many of those boroughs are dead in law, and their members sit here by intrusion.

We conclude this head by three observations: 1st, That in Ireland the erection of the majority of boroughs was with a view to subvert her parliamentary constitution. 2d, That the use made of those boroughs since, by the sale of peerages, and by the procuring at each general election portions of the Parliament, has tended to undermine that constitution. 3d, That a great part of those boroughs have at this moment no existence in law. We, therefore, conclude, with Locke and -Bolingbroke:

"Things of this world are in so constant a flux, that nothing remains long in the same state; thus people, riches, trade, power, change their stations, flourishing mighty cities come to ruin, and prove in time neglected desolate corners; whilst other unfrequented places grow into populous countries, filled with wealth and inhabitants. But things not always changing equally, and private interest often keeping up customs and privileges when the reasons of them are ceased, it often comes to pass, that in governments where part of the legislative consists of representatives chosen by the people, that in tract of time this representation becomes very unequal and disproportionate to the reasons it was at first established upon. To what gross absurdities the following of custom, when reason has left it, may lead, we may be satisfied, when we see the bare name of a town, of which there remain not so much as the ruins, where scarce so much housing as a sheep-cot, or more inhabitants than a shepherd are to be found, sends as many representatives to the grand assembly of law-makers as a whole county, numerous in people, and powerful in riches; this strangers stand amazed at, and every one must confess needs a remedy."

Speaking of the Revolution, Lord Bolingbroke adds,

"If it had been such, with respect to the elections of members to serve in Parliament, these elections might have been drawn back to the antient principle on which they had

been established; and the tale of property which was followed antiently, and was perverted by innumerable changes that length of time produced, might have been restored; by which the communities to whom the right of electing was trusted, as well as the qualification of the electors and the elected, might have been settled in proportion to the present state of things. Such a remedy might have wrought a radical cure to the evil that threatens our constitution; whereas it is much to be apprehended, even from experience, that all others are merely palliative; and yet the palliative must be employed, no doubt, till the specific can be procured."

The question was put, that the bill be read a second time on Friday the 1st day of August next. The House divided; Ayes 142, Noes 44; Majority against reform 98. Tellers for the Ayes, Sir H. Langrishe and Mr. Fox. For the Noes, Mr. Ponsonby and Mr. M. Jephson.

OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.. - LORD LIEUTENANT'S

SPEECH.

MR. GRATTAN MOVES THE ADDRESS.

January 22.1795.

PARLIAMENT met on this day, when the session was opened by the Lord-lieutenant, Earl Fitzwilliam, with the following speech from the throne.

'My Lords and Gentlemen,

"In obedience to His Majesty's commands, I resort to your councils, at a period which, in a peculiar manner, calls for the wisdom and energy of Parliament.

"His Majesty's determination is fixed. As long as he is supported by his faithful subjects he never will be wanting to them or to himself. His Majesty has no interest but that of his people, no views but for their happiness, no object but their general safety.

"The uniform tenor of your conduct has demonstrated that you will not only be desirous, but zealous to second and emulate the magnanimity of a sovereign formed to lead a nation that has ever been as firm to assert its liberties, as affectionately devoted to a government which maintains its own authority for the sole purpose of supporting those liberties.

"As you are thus cordially attached to that sovereign, and

to the constitution, which it is his glory to protect, I have to announce to you, with true satisfaction, what you will hear, with equal pleasure, the intended marriage of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, with the Princess Carolina Amelia Elizabeth, daughter of His Most Illustrious Highness the Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburgh, a princess of that illustrious house, to whose mild and constitutional sway these kingdoms are highly indebted for the blessings they enjoy. This marriage promises the perpetuation of the same blessings under the same house.

"I have it also in command to inform you, that His Majesty has concluded a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation with the United States of America, in which it has been His Majesty's object to remove, as far as possible, all grounds of jealousy and misunderstanding, and to improve an intercourse beneficial to both states. As soon as the ratification of this treaty shall have been exchanged, and I shall have received a copy of it, I will direct it to be laid before you, in order that you may consider whether it will be necessary that you should make any provisions for carrying into effect a treaty in which the commerce of this kingdom is so materially and extensively interested.

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons,

"I have directed the estimates of the public service, and the state of the public accounts, to be laid before you.

"His Majesty has that assured confidence, grounded on a long and uniform experience of your loyalty and your zeal for his service and the good of your country, that I think it unnecessary to press you in any particular manner to make a provision adequate to the present awful situation of affairs.

"It is with pleasure I acquaint you, that this provision will in some degree be facilitated by the circumstance, that, during the existence of such a war as the present, the public revenue, together with the commerce of the kingdom, has kept up, and has even been augmented; advantages which are due to the care and vigilance of our sovereign, in the general protection provided by him for all his subjects.

"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 manufacture, 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 superintendence 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 arrangements; 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 manner most beneficial, and the best adapted to the occasions of the several descriptions of men which compose His Majesty's faithful subjects in 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 extensive 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 in 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 civilised society against the inroads of anarchy, His Majesty has availed himself of every rational aid, foreign and domestic; 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 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 cheerful concurrence 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."

Mr. GRATTAN rose to propose the address, and spoke as

follows: Sir, the speech from the throne goes to three great objects, the preservation of Europe, the harmony of the present generation, and the education of the future. We cannot debate the causes of the war, we deliberate the present state of it When Europe's danger, and our own. France covered more ground in Europe; when France took Brabant, conquered Flanders, invaded Holland, she made war on Ireland. You know enough of the levels of Europe to foresee that that great ocean, that inundation of barbarity, that desolation of infidelity, that dissolution of government, and that sea of arms, if it swells over the continent, must visit our coast. Do not depreciate so much your danger or pre-eminence, as to imagine you are no more concerned in the evils of the times, than to read the Gazette which relates them; nor forget that you have raised your head too high on the globe, not to encounter the storm. If the continent of Europe belongs to France, if all the coast from Holland to Brest belonged to France, this island must sink to the bottom of the ocean. You cannot divide the Western Empire; the continent to the French, and Ireland to herself. This is not like your other wars; this is not like the American war; in that war, the object was, tax the last colony; many of the best friends of this country opposed that war, but when France interposed, when the ancient enemy of these realms, and the eternal rival in all shapes, monarchical or republican, of Great Britain, the same men took a decided part against France; for it has been the long habit of this country, to consider her in every new shape, as the old enemy. Nor is this like the seven years' war; there the object was, a distant territory in another hemisphere, and with which you are not to trade; yet then you took the field, voted armies, and incurred a debt, wisely, if you mean to go on with England-idly, if you go back now. Nor is this like the Spanish convention of 1790; and yet, on the sound of that war, you voted a loan.

Nootka Sound, a strip of land, a barren island, a remote and uncultivated tract-the speculation of the produce of a waste, or the vision of a punctilio of honour, do not now, as once, kindle Europe to arms. It is Europe herself and her islands that are at stake; princes, potentates, her orders and degrees the creature and the Creator, man and the Godhead. It follows from this, that the present object of the war is not, because it cannot be, to interfere with the internal government of France; but rather prevent her interference with every realm and government, systematic or actual, by arms, by intrigues, or by money; by land and by