Rathfriland Banbridge Lisburne True Blue Newry Troop of Rangers Captain Samuel Barber Province of Leinster, Royal Exchange, November 10, 1780. The deputies from the following corps, having met pursuant to public notice, Colonel Hayes in the chair:-County Dublin light dragoons; Rathdown light dragoons, county Dublin; Rathdown carabineers, county Wicklow; Dublin light horse; Union light dragoons; cavalry of Arlington legion; independent Wicklow horse; Meath light dra goons; Curragh rangers; Kilkenny rangers; Naas rangers; Naas corps of light infantry; Ralph's Dale grenadiers; Skreen volunteers; Slane, Duleek, Drogheda, and Dun dalk corps of infantry; Rathdown infantry, county Dublin; Rathdown infantry, county Wicklow; independent Wicklow foresters; Rockingham volunteers; Talbot'stown invincibles; Dunlavin independents; Aldborough legion; Wexford independents; Longford infantry; Newcastle and Donore union; South Coolock, North Coolock, Upper Cross fuzileers; Dublin volunteers; goldsmiths', lawyers', merchants', liberty, and independent Dublin volunteers, &c. &c. The following Resolutions were come to, viz. : "Resolved unanimously,-That, preparatory to a provincial review, it will be expedient to have three reviews, at three of the most convenient places in said province. "That the first of the said reviews be held at Dublin, on Tuesday, the 5th of June next; and it is recommended that the second be held at Bellew's-town, in the county of Meath, on the 1st of July next; and the third, at Carlow, on the 1st of August. "That deputies from such corps as choose to attend the first of said reviews, do meet at the Royal Exchange, Dublin, the 2nd of February next, at one o'clock, to appoint a reviewing general, and an exercising officer, and to transact such other business as shall be necessary." 152 CHAPTER VIII. Removal of the Lord Lieutenant.-Lord Carlisle appointed Viceroy. —Administration of Lord Buckingham reviewed.—State of Ireland before and after his rule.-To whom and what her misfortunes were owing. Degrading means of obtaining majorities. - Disgraceful state of the Pension List.-Mr. Grattan's speech on the sale of peerages. His prophetic anticipation of the consequences of corruption.-Letters of Lord Buckingham confirming the charges of corruption. In the month of September Parliament was prorogued, after having failed in their resistance to an English Mutiny Bill, and having passed merely the Tenantry Bill. The surrender of Charlestown to Lord Cornwallis in the month of May, and the victory obtained by him in August over the Americans under General Gates, at Camden, had given to the Ministry a short-lived confidence, which had operated to the injury of Ireland, and proved fatal to the Mutiny and Sugar Bills. . As the Lord Lieutenant had now held that office nearly the allotted time, and the aspect of affairs had not much improved under his management, it was thought advisable to remove him; and, accordingly, on the 29th of September, Lord Hillsborough informed him that the King had nominated Lord Carlisle his successor. The administration of Lord Buckingham merits attention. During his Viceroyalty, the most important subjects were discussed; the most vital measures were proposed; and the greatest efforts were made by the people in favour of the country. His letters show how he opposed Irish freedom, and how zealous he was to uphold the British interest, which at that time was but another phrase for Irish subjection. He appears to have been a vain-glorious and pompous character, who fancied he could do every thing himself; but the whole extent of whose abilities consisted merely in purchasing, and at a dear rate, majorities in Parliament: the worst, the vilest, and most degrading of occupations. When Lord Buckingham came over to Ireland, he found some things in his favour. Several of the men who had opposed his predecessors were retained in his service; so that they were compelled to support his administration; or if they attempted to oppose it, they could only do so occasionally upon trifling questions, and without public effect, because without public character. The abilities of some being thus retained or discredited, the Viceroy had other advantages; he had to deal with the shattered and disgusted relics of former party, whose attacks, often repeated, began to turn to despair; and who were left at large to brood over personal disappointment. There was, then, as is generally the case under every new Minister, much corruption, much dereliction of duty, an interested partiality, much open-mouthed credulity, and some folly. There were men who, under the pale flag of affected moderation, covered a want of zeal, and felt an itching to be of consequence in a court which of itself had none. The minds of men in Ireland, jaded by repeated injuries, had indurated towards public grievances, and with languid despondency they despaired of any improvement in their fortunes. The bills from England, though Lord Buckingham had no merit in them, served him; he had opposed them in public, and in private had decried all efforts in behalf of the liberties of the country. Yet the bills that were passed served him; though not to come into operation till years after, -they were in the mouths of his servants, who gave him all the merit ; though he had infinitely less merit in obtaining them than the Opposition, who urged the question of free trade, and considerably less than the English Minister, who had pursued a frantic course of civil war, and thereby gave independency to America and commerce to Ireland. Lord Buckingham's Administration found Ireland plundered even beyond the patience and example of a Roman province.* Pimps, parasites, * In 1763, there stood a pension of 1000l. a-year in the name of George |