ornament of human nature, to prevent the decision. He said there were no more Irish causes, and it was now impossible, that there should be any more. Mr. Fox declared, that the intentions of those ministers, who had sent the repeal of the declaratory law, were thereby to make a complete, absolute, and perpetual surrender of the British legislative and judicial supremacy over Ireland. This was the intention of government; and it was the clear conviction both of ministers and of the gentlemen of Ireland, who interested themselves in the business, that the manner in which this was done was the best possible way, and the least liable to exception, Since that had been done, opinions had been propagated, that a renunciation was better than a repeal. A renunciation was then thought of; but it was the opinion of the gentlemen, that if Britain did it by a renunciation of the right, it would be offensive to Ireland, because thereby we should have declared, that we possessed the right. Again, a renunciation, stating it to be a right, which we never legally possessed, was what England would not be brought to agree to, and therefore that plan pursued was preferred to every other: it was clearly understood to be a complete surrender, and was received with cordiality by those gentlemen, whom he would pronounce to be the best and truest friends to Ireland. *On the next day Mr. William Grenville (secretary to his brother, the lord lieutenant of Ireland) said, he lamented, that he had not been present at a conversation, which he understood had taken place the preceding night, relative to Ireland; if he had been present, he would have informed the house, that the late decision in the King's Bench in England, which had occasioned much jealousy in Ireland, had been taken notice of immediately by the lord lieutenant, who had not lost a moment to remonstrate on that subject with his majesty's ministers, and to make known to them the effect it had produced in the minds of the people of Ireland; and he must do ministers the justice to say, he had found them very well disposed to remove the ground of jealousy; it was necessary also, that he should do justice to the lord lieutenant, by declaring, that there was not a man in either kingdom, more decidedly of opinion than his excellency was, that the faith of England was pledged to Ireland for the truth of this proposition, that England had fully and completely renounced all legislative and judicial jurisdiction; and that nothing could be more conducive to the harmony and interests of both kingdoms, than that this national faith should be preserved inviolate. He said, he intended to move for a call of the house at an earlier day than the 22d of next month: how * Parl. Debates, p. 121. ever, he hoped, that gentlemen would be in town before that day; in that hope he gave notice, that a motion would be made in the house relative to Ireland. Mr. Secretary Townshend complained, that what he had said in the conversation last night on the subject of Ireland, had been grossly misrepresented in some publications; for though he had said, that "great pains had been taken to prevent any more appeals being brought from Ireland," yet he was represented to have said just the very contrary: it was not of much importance, he observed, what he, as an individual member of the house, might have said; but when it might be supposed, that he was speaking the sentiments of his majesty's ministers, it was of great consequence, that he should not be misrepresented. Lord Beauchamp said, that as a friend of both kingdoms, his only object was to secure a lasting harmony between them; if he should be able to root out every remains of jealousy, his great object would be accomplished, and he would sit down the happiest of men. As to the writs of error to England, he knew they could in future be of no effect; for as a law had passed in Ireland to prevent the judges of that kingdom to certify into England the record of the proceedings in any cause, so of course there was an end of appeals, as far as Ireland could put an end to them; but as an act of parliament of Ireland could not shut up a court of law in England, it was necessary that an English act should be passed for that purpose; for, until such an act should pass, he should hold it to be sound law, that whatever person feels, or thinks himself aggrieved by a decision of a court of law in Ireland, may apply to the King's Bench in England, which court is bounden to entertain his cause, though it be at present impossible that the judges of that court could give redress in such a case, as every decision in England affecting a cause, that originated in and belonged to Ireland, made since the passing of the Irish act alluded to, must of course be null and void. He appealed then to the house, if it would not be proper to pass a law, which should direct the courts not to entertain Irish causes, their decisions on which must necessarily be ineffectual. On the 22d of January, 1783,* Mr. Secretary Townshend brought forward the business of Ireland before the House of Commons, with an explicit avowal, that the principle, upon which the parliament had acted last session, was to give Ireland every satisfaction, that justice demanded, and that was consistent with the dignity of Great Britain. The mode, that had been adopted to convey that satisfaction, might not have been 9 Parl. Debates, p. 138. such as to prevent all cavil, and to take away every pretext from those, who might have a greater wish for embroiling, than for settling public affairs. Ireland did not desire, and would not accept of a grant of rights from Great Britain; and at the same time her good sense, and her regard for this country, would not suffer her to propose or demand what England would not do, what she could not do, without recording her own shame, namely, to declare, that for centuries she had usurped the rights of Ireland. As for himself, nothing was farther from his intention, than to impeach the mode of proceeding of the administration, under whose direction the Irish business had been conducted last year; he believed that sincerity and wisdom had guided their steps; but some untoward circumstances had intervened, to prevent them from producing all the good effect, that might have been expected from them, particularly a late decision in the court of King's Bench here, which had excited jealousies in the breasts even of the best intentioned men in Ireland. In what he had just said, Mr. Secretary declared, nothing could be farther from his meaning, than in any, the most distant manner, even to reflect on the conduct of the judges of the court King's Bench, with regard to their determination of the writ of error. He was perfectly conscious, that they were bounden to act as they had done; that it was not in their own power legally to have acted otherwise; and, that in reality, what they had done, did not affect the question between the two countries. Ireland claimed a sole and exclusive exercise of judicature, as well as of legislation; having given up the legislation, the judicature was certainly not worth contending for; and therefore, were there not other great and weighty reasons of policy and justice in the case, he should think England ought, knowing what the wish of Ireland was, to meet it cheerfully and readily. He wished that his motion might pass unanimously, that the people of Ireland might see that England meant fairly, when she set out to remove the causes of their jealousies and discontents. He then moved for leave to bring in a bill" For re"moving and preventing all doubts which have arisen, or may arise, concerning the exclusive rights of the parliament and "courts of Ireland in matters of legislation and judicature, and "for preventing any writ of error, or appeal, from any of his "majesty's courts in that kingdom, from being received, heard, "and adjudged, in any of his majesty's courts in the kingdom of "Great Britain." Mr. W. Grenville (Secretary to Lord Temple) seconded the motion; he was happy to find that government had so early, and of their own accord, brought forth the business; for though he would not say how jealousies had been excited in Ireland, there was no doubt, but jealousies did exist there; and that the late transaction in the court of King's Bench here, had in no small degree contributed to spread them wider. The necessity of taking some steps that should amount to such a prevention, struck him so forcibly, that he could not but rejoice exceedingly at what he had heard that day; at the same time he meant not to suggest the smallest impeachment of the measures of government last session, or of the intention of those gentlemen, who had managed the business on the part of Ireland. Mr. Eden rose next. He said, that when Mr. Fox's propositions were discussed on the 17th of May last, he had ventured to declare his belief, that those propositions would be satisfactory to Ireland, and his opinion, that they ought to be satisfactory. He had not yet seen any reason to believe he had erred in either idea: he added, that he was far from meaning to express or convey censure, either on the ingenuity of the individuals, who had raised the doubt, or of the jealous sensibility of the people, who had adopted it. A doubt originated by the noble lord, forcibly stated in Ireland by the legal precision of Mr. Walshe, supported by the admirable and unwearied abilities of Mr. Flood, and countenanced by the manly firmness and eminent integrity of the Recorder of Dublin, was certainly not to be treated otherwise, than with respect. He never had admitted, nor would admit, that Ireland owed her acquisitions to the battalions of her volunteers, farther than as the volunteers were understood to express the general sense of the nation. His deference in these matters had been paid, not to their English firelocks, but to their Irish unanimity; he would have paid at least an equal deference to as many farmers or manufacturers, with the implements of their industry in their hands. Ireland ought then to found and rest her security, which she safely might, on the basis of national wisdom, national affection and national faith. Colonel Fitzpatrick said, there was one expression, which he found fault with, and that was, that there were doubts and jealousies subsisting in the kingdom of Ireland. He knew of no such doubts and jealousies, and that house knew of none. There had not come to their knowledge, by any petition, memorial, or representation whatever, any account of these jealousies. If they noticed all rumours of reports, they would never know where to stop; for there would always start up some individuals, who would, by weak pretexts, and under various masks, endeavour to raise clamours as distinct from the voice of the nation, as the purpose, which they had in view, was distinct from the true interests of their country. The minds of men in Ireland had been, as it were, fermented and worked up into a kind of political fever; and he that expected that they would subside altogether in an instant, and grow every where perfectly calm and tempe rate, must be equally unacquainted with the state, humours, and sensations of the body politic, and the body natural. It was naturally to be imagined, that there would be in that country, as there must be in all countries, certain restless spirits, to whom the return of peace and order must be unfavourable. That such men should be ready to propagate stories and suspicions, was not strange; and it was no ways to be wondered at, if, by their address and cunning, they should bring over a certain set of men to listen to them. But was a wise and prudent government to call such clamours the voice of the nation? Certainly not; and he therefore wished that on the present occasion, there had not been any mention made of the jealousies of the Irish nation. Lord Beauchamp said, that there were jealousies in Ireland, was not to be doubted: that there were grounds for these jealousies, was an incontrovertible proposition*; that the writ of error from Ireland, returnable into the King's Bench of England, was coeval with the constitution of Ireland; it was impossible, therefore, that the mere repeal of the 6th of George I. could take this writ away: now, if it did not take it away, with what truth in argument could the right honourable gentleman say, that this country had fully and completely surrendered every legislative, every judicial jurisdiction over Ireland. But the right honourable member would say, "it was only of the appellant jurisdiction of the House of Lords that the Irish complained." To what did a writ of error brought into the King's Bench here ultimately tend? Why, to establish that very appellant jurisdiction of the British House of Lords, of which the Irish had complained; for no man could doubt but the party, who, in the appeal to the King's Bench, should think himself aggrieved, was by law entitled to take out a writ of error returnable in parliament; and thus the English lords come once more into possession of that very judicial jurisdiction, which the right honourable gentleman would have the Irish erroneously believe had been fully surrendered up to then His lordship took up the other branch of jurisdiction, the legislative; and he maintained, that the Irish had been as much deceived in this point as in the former; for though it were said, and erroneously said, that the rights of England over Ireland in matters * Colonel Fitzpatrick, on this occasion, read a paragraph out of a letter published by Lord Beauchamp to the Belfast volunteers, in which he had said, if the people acquiesce in what has been done, my lips are for ever closed on the subject. He contended, the people had acquiesced; and was therefore surprised to find the noble lord running a race with the minister, who should first open his lips. On the very next day, (23d of January, 1783) Mr. Secretary Townshend announced to the house the signing of the preliminaries of peace between Great Britain, France, and Spain; and that a cessation of hostilities with the United States of Holland had been agreed upon. |