say, that if I and the gentlemen with whom I had the honour to act at that time, were comprehended under that term, we are willing to meet the trial, and ready to refute the charge.

I shall, therefore, move for a committee to enquire into the causes of that recal, and have no hesitation to go into the enquiry forthwith; and am confident that with the assistance of other individuals of more ability than myself, I shall be able to establish a case which will fully prove that the blame of that invidious measure did not in any degree attach to them. I court the trial, and the proper mode of proceeding would be a committee to enquire into the state of the nation; in which, without interfering with the prerogative, the House would be at liberty to investigate the causes of the recal, as well as the merits of the last, and of the Westmorland administration; the measures of the one and the reforms of the other.

I understand that two causes are alleged for the recal of the late chief governor; the first was the removal of certain great officers. I beg to observe that such removal was matter of stipulation on the one side, and engagement on the other. The leading minister declared he accepted office principally with a view to reform the abuses in the government of Ireland. In stating this, I do not betray any confidence, or publish any thing which ought to be kept secret, I only repeat what had been communicated to many people, and what the parties concerned did not affect to keep secret. His Grace the Duke of Portland, had declared, that he conceived the old system of governing this country so extremely bad, that it not only injured Ireland, but endangered the empire; to reform that system was his principal motive for accepting office, and he would have come over to this country in person had he not found such a substitute in Lord Fitzwilliam, whom he prevailed on to accept the government of Ireland, and to whose honest care he entrusted the reformation of those abuses which he had declared to be absolutely necessary. He had obtained, with regard to this country, extraordinary power; the information of that extraordinary power, he communicates to his Irish friends; he consults the members of the Irish opposition touching his arrangements of men and measures; and espouses, as an essential arrangement, those principal removals which are supposed to have occasioned the recal of the deputy. An explanation and limitation of his powers did indeed afterwards take place, but no such limitation or explanation, as to defeat the stipulated measures or the stipu lated removals, one only excepted, which never took place, The persons who had uniformly opposed the old system,

which was now to be reformed, were naturally and necessarily called to the councils of the new viceroy; a change of men became a necessary part of a change of measures; for it would have been egregiously absurd, that the men who had created and continued the abuses which had endangered the empire, should remain still in that power which they had abused, while the persons who had opposed the abuses should be excluded from the councils of the individual who was to correct them; the removal, therefore, of those who had constituted the old administration, could not have been in the mind of one quarter a cause of the recal, for it was an inevitable consequence of the appointment of Lord Fitzwilliam. A question now arises whether that quarter of the cabinet can, without blame, recal the viceroy for carrying into execution those specific engagements; whether they can, without blame, recal their minister of reform, for removing, according to stipulation, some of the supposed ministers of abuse, and to continue the ministers of abuse in the place of the ministers of reformation. I therefore conclude, that if the Irish removals were a ground for the viceroy's recal, blame did attach at least to one quarter of the British cabinet.

As to the other alleged causes of the recal, (for of the real cause I am ignorant); the second alleged cause is the Catholic bill. Of this, it is some what delicate to speak; because it is delicate to talk of the executive government having any influence over legislative decision. I can, however, say, constitutionally, that the idea of promoting a repeal of the penal laws against His Majesty's Catholic subjects, had been suggested by that quarter of the cabinet which was connected with Lord Fitzwilliam, and agreed to by the other; and, therefore, if promoting that repeal was the cause of recalling his lordship, the fault lies with the British cabinet, and not with the Irish administration. On that subject there had been a communication on one side, and no resistance on the other. The minister then forms a coalition, and gives great powers. The general plan of reformation was stated and agreed to, and the specific objects of it defined; the principles and declarations of a certain quarter were decided; Catholic emancipation was not only the concession of that quarter of the cabinet, but its precise engagement. My friends repeatedly declared they never would support any government that would resist that bill, and it was agreed to by that quarter with perfect concurrence; and I was informed, from persons in whom I could not but confide, that the instruction was, if the Catholics insisted on carrying forward their bill, that the government should give it a handsome support. And now a

question arises, whether any blame attaches to any quarter of the British cabinet for recalling the Irish viceroy, for having countenanced the Catholic bill?

My opinion is, that blame does attach on that account as well as on the other, to some part of the British cabinet: but a question may arise, how far that blame extends? and my opinion is that it extends to another quarter of the cabinet; and that blame belongs to both; because when that quarter gave Ireland to the other with such powers (for great they were), he caused that expectation of reformation and arrangement, which, in their disappointment, have created the present alarm. It must have been seen that when great powers to a popular connection in Ireland were confided, were diminished, and, finally, as at present, were revoked, public passions and public hopes were raised and disappointed. One party gives the powers, the other the assurance that those powers will be popularly exercised, and both agree in the particular exercise in question; and then unite to extinguish the power, and of course the expectation.

With respect to the Catholic bill, it has been in public already stated what assent that quarter gave to that measure; and it seems that it sent over to this country a viceroy with a knowledge of those intentions, for fulfilling of which that Lord-lieutenant was recalled. I should therefore say, that in my opinion blame does attach to both quarters of the British cabinet, and that one has been guilty of too much facility, and the other of too much address. I do acknowledge that blame might attach to both administrations, English and Irish; for the approbation of the former by no means acquitted the latter, provided their measures were exceptionable. I will, therefore, relate some of those measures, or the principles of those measures. First, it was an object of the late administration to reform the abuses of domestic government: they were many and dangerous; and, notwithstanding what had been said by persons obliged to the administration that took place in 1789, in its favour, I retained my opinion that the abuses were great, and demanded immediate correction. They wished to unite all ranks of men; but that was to be done by a mild government that should, in its conduct, manners, and language to the subjects in general, and the Catholics among others, afford protection, and denote respect; as a part of that plan it appeared necessary that laws restrictive on the Catholics should be repealed; and as a step necessary for the reform of abuses in the government, it seemed necessary that certain arrangements of men should take place, as well as measures. The principle of government was to unite and harmonize the people of Ireland, by removing all invidious

distinctions, and all animosity arising from religious differences. At any period this measure would have been wise and just; but it was peculiarly so at a time when the question with His Majesty's government should have been, not how many Irishmen they could bring to church, but how many they could muster under the standard of royalty and constitution.

The administration had paid attention to the poverty of the people, by plans for relieving the poor from hearth-money. They had paid attention to their morals by a plan increasing the duty on spirits; they had paid attention to their health by proposing a plan to take off all duties on beer and ale; a plan for education had been intended; a more equal trade between the two countries had not escaped their attention; an odious and expensive institution that obtained under colour of protecting the city by a bad police, was abandoned by that government, and a bill prepared for correcting the same; a responsibility had been introduced, and a bill to account for the public money by new checks, and in a constitutional manner, had been introduced by the persons connected with that government. It was also in contemplation to submit for consideration some further regulations for the better accounting for the public money, and for the better collection of the revenue. Those occupations were accompanied by great exertions for the empire: so that administration established the compatibility of the services, domestic and imperial, and made a good system of domestic government the foundation of unanimity in support of the empire. In consequence of such a conduct, a war not very fortunate had ceased to be unpopular, and levies of an extraordinary proportion were not a ground of complaint.

In the midst of all this, His Excellency is recalled, and in a manner which evinced great ingratitude to Ireland, as the recal was a shock to the passions and affections of the country, coming at a moment when she was calling forth all her strength to assist Great Britain, under the auspices of a chief governor whom she venerated; and just after her Parliament had voted the largest supply which any minister had ever called for, on the faith of those measures which His Excellency was known to have designed.

The subsequent conduct of the people of Ireland has evinced, that the recal has produced that shock on their passions which I have mentioned; the subscriptions which had been entered into, to a large amount, are withdrawn,`and a universal and loud complaint followed. I will not say, that any minister can ever alienate this country from Great Britain,

but this I can safely say, that the premature recal of Lord Fitzwilliam has damped the affection of Ireland.

That recal connected with the loss of the Catholic measure, and combined with other circumstances, has procured complete unanimity against the present government; whereas the late administration, by the aid of domestic reform, had obtained complete unanimity in defence of the empire.

The British cabinet have not only dissolved the government, but they profess to dissolve it for the preservation of the empire. Thus they make domestic reformation a crime against the empire; and, in so doing, they stop the operations of government; check the recruiting service; put an end to private subscription; insult the nation, just when they had gotten the supply, and when they knew, or must have been certain, it had been voted; they convert a nation of support into a nation of remonstrance, and make unanimity in favour of government turn to unanimity against her. They do this for reasons so low, that they cannot be credited, or so rash, that they cannot be believed, without increasing that indignation which already they have excited; they interrupt the plans of defence; and they lose the warm heart of the country.

As far, therefore, as I or my friends are concerned in any part of the Irish government, we come to meet and to solicit an enquiry; and therefore I shall move, "That this House do, on this day seven-night, resolve itself into a committee of the whole House, to take into consideration the state of the nation."

The motion was opposed by Mr. Cuffe, Lord Maxwell, Mr. Archdall, the Attorney-general (Mr. Wolfe), Mr. Corry, Mr. Barrington, Sir H. Cavendish, Mr. S. Moore, Mr. Pelham, Sir John Blaquiere, Mr. Ogle and Mr. D. Browne. They maintained that Lord Fitzwilliam had exceeded his instructions; that the dismissals which he made were unauthorized; and that the introduction of the Catholic question had agitated the kingdom, which, consistently with the safety of the country, it would have been impossible to grant.

Mr. Stewart (afterward Lord Castlereagh) said, that on Lord Fitzwilliam's arrival, his confidential friends had declared that no removals would take place. He had listened however to the advice of certain men, who had given him the most mistaken counsel. They were deceived if they thought that he alone was fitted to conduct a mild government; the present chief governor was fully adequate to it; the large supply had not been voted in consequence of Lord Fitzwilliam's appointment, for it was granted after his recal was generally known. In his opinion, if parliamentary reform or the repeal of the convention bill were in the contemplation of the late ministers, he rejoiced they were no longer in possession of power. The motion was supported by Doctor