enjoy the bleffings of equal liberty, with as little reftraint as they breathe the vital air, or as they partake of the influences of the enlivening fun. Is it the law of juftice? No; for to exact obedience, where it is not due, is most unjust. Is it the law of compact Quite the reverfe; for that we should have parliaments of our own, uncontrouled in their authority by any foreign jurifdiction, and a conftitution as free as that of England, was the original condition, ratified by fubfequent conceffions, upon which we became and continued fubject to the Britifh kings. Is it the law of England? Neither could this be; for it is no law to us; befides no antecedent law exifted there, refpecting the dependance of Ireland; the declaratory act is the firft of the kind which disgraced their statute books. The only law which remained, forbidding our legiflature the exercife of their conftitutional privileges, was the law of force, the law by which the robber takes away my property, or the affaffin bereaves me of life; the law by which tyrants trample on the rights of human nature, and reduce freemen to the abject condition of flaves. If from the beginning of our intercourfe with Britain, this law of power had been uniformly exerted, so as to prevent us from being poffeffed of either laws or conftitution; if no conceffions had been made in our favour; if none of thofe agreements with the British kings had ever existed, from which we derive our chartered rights; our claim to national independance, and to the bleffings of a free government, would ftand upon the most immoveable foundation. It would be fanctified by the love of liberty, wrought fo deeply into the human mind, as to be infeparable from it's existence; it would be fanctified by the dictates of reason, and the great privileges of humanity. This claim, how ever ever borne down by fuperior force, would ftill exift in full vigour. In vain would the defpot plead in opposition to it, the prescription of myriads of centuries. There is no period in which exertions to raise it from oppreffion, would not be rewarded with that sense of innate dignity, with that glory and honour, which the uncorrupted part of mankind delight to bestow on public virtue. The freedom of their country has been a darling object to Britons; no nation in Europe, or of the most remote antiquity, is more confpicuously distinguished by an averfion to tyranny. Continuing under the influence of this generous principle, let them fuppofe that they had exchanged fituations with Irishmen, and confider how they would have been affected, by a treatment fimilar to that which we have experienced from them. Let them fuppofe that we had reftrained their commerce, that after numberless acts of violence to their conftitution, our parliament had deprived their peers of their privilege of appellant jurifdiction, and declared themselves vefted with a right to control their legislature, and to bind them by their laws in all cafes whatever; would they not have reprobated fuch affumed, fuch tyrannical authority, and thought it their indifpenfible duty to wreft it from us, by all the methods in their power? HAD Henry the Fifth lived to compleat the conqueft of France, it is highly probable he would have removed thither the feat of empire. In that cafe, would the British legislature have been pleased had the parliament of Paris affumed a power of controuling their determinations? IRELAND has merited better treatment than she has received from her fifter country. Her favourites have been penfioned with thousands from the fruits of our labours. She has been enriched by our commerce commerce and our manufactures. From their eftates in this kingdom, amounting in value to nearly one third of the rents of the whole, wealth has been derived to her nobility and gentry. Oppreffion has not extinguished our good will. We have rejoiced in her profperity and glory. We have contributed to her fame. By recruits from Ireland her fleets and her armies have been affifted, in gaining the laurels she has won in every quarter of the globe. WILL you pardon, my dear friend, this long digreffion? The branch of our fubject which led to it is deeply interefting. I have deviated from the ftrict rules of narration, on every occafion when neceffary to enlarge our views, with respect to our privileges as Irishmen, and to attach us more warmly to our country. LETTER Adieu. LXX. A N infamous job disturbed the peace of Ireland, in the year feventeen hundred and twenty four. Commercial transactions cannot be carried on without a medium of exchange. Money which has been made use of for this purpose must be of a different value, to reprefent fully the various kinds of property which are to be transferred. The quantity of it also, in every country must be proportional to it's internal commerce, and to that in which it is engaged with foreigners, Many years had paffed fince there was a coinage of halfpence and farthings for Ireland. In confequence they became fcarce. The deficiency was found to be attended with much inconvenience. To remove it, we applied to England for leave to coin them as usual. This privilege de- · nied nied to the repeated follicitations of the Irish nation, was by falfe representations obtained clandeftinely by William Wood, an Englishman and a very inconfiderable individual. To this man his Majefty granted a patent to coin copper halfpence and farthings, for the use of Ireland, to the amount of a hundred and eight thousand pounds. Such an indignity would probably have been fubmitted to with little oppofition, had he executed his truft with fidelity. But it was the intention of Wood to cheat the nation, for his own private emolument. He made his halfpence of such base metal, and so small, that a fhilling of them was fcarcely worth a penny. Or these large quantities were sent over to this country. Brafs money multiplied beyond all proportion. It was not only used in change, but accounts in general were likely to be paid in it. This danger, fo threatening to the intereft of the public, with the first intimation of it, roused the spirit of the nation. They perceived that the diminution of property, in proportion to the quantity of this coin which should be received, and the alloy of bafer metal with which it was adulterated, must be the inevitable confequences. They forefaw, that Wood might coin, and fend over without detection, any fum beyond that to which he was limited by his patent. It was likewife evident, that whilft his halfpence were permitted to circulate, the Dutch and other foreigners might pour in counterfeit copper, to any amount. Men of all ranks and of every denomination, with united efforts, laboured to remedy an evil which began already to be sensibly felt. THE Irish parliament, în an address to the King, told him that they were called upon by their coun try try, to represent the ill confequences to the kingdom likely refult from Wood's patent; that the diminution of the revenue and the ruin of trade was the profpect which it prefented to view. An application of the privy conncil to his Majesty spoke the fame language. He was likewife addreffed upon the fubject by most of the city corporations. The grand jury of the county of Dublin presented all perfons, who would attempt to impose upon the people of Ireland the bafe coin. as enemies to government, and to the fafety, peace and welfare of his Majesty's subjects At the quarter feffions, the country gentlemen declared against it almost unanimously. It was no wonder that an attempt to ferve an individual, a foreigner, a man deftitute of principle, to the ruin of thousands of individuals, and the injury of the community, should excite general indignation. WOOD, instead of relinquishing a fcheme, the bafenefs of which now appeared in a glaring point of view, used every means to support it. By the influence of his friends the English privy council published a report in his favour, in which, for opposing his patent, they caft fevere afperfions on the Irish parliament. He employed emiffaries to purchase privately the halfpence of the old coin, which were in the kingdom, to encrease the fcarcity, and to re-. move the objections against the circulation of his own. But his efforts were vain. After the minds of the people had been agitated a year, by this difagreeable affair, the King revoked the patent, by which the base money was entirely ftripped of it's nominal value, and the nation restored to it's former tranquillity. THE want of a mint, for which we have applied in vain, was the fole caufe of this public diftur bance, |