firft of these gentlemen, after ftating the prefent fituation of Ireland, with refpect to the advantages the had already acquired, compared it with the condition it would be left in by the fyftem now propofed. "See," faid he, "what you obtained without compenfation-a colony trade, a, free trade, the independency of your judges, the government of your army, the extenfion of the conftitutional powers of your council, the reftoration of the judicature of your lords, and the independency of your legiflature!

"See now what you obtain by compenfation-a covenant not to trade beyond the Cape of Good Hope and the Streights of Magellan-a covenant not to take foreign plantation produce, but as the parliament of Great Britain fhall permit-a covenant not to take British plantation produce, but as Great Britain fhall preferibe-a covenant not to take certain produce of the United States of North America, but as Great Britain fhall permit-a covenant to make fuch acts of navigation as Great Britain fhall prefcribe-a covenant never to protect your own manufactures, never to guard the primum of those manufactures!"

In favour of the bill it was urged by Mr. Fitzgibbon*, Mr. Hutchinfon +, and Mr. Forfter §, that the fourth propofition, which had excited fo much jealoufy and alarm, could not on any fair conftruction be faid to take from Ireland her right of commercial legiflation, any more than the acts pailed in 1779 and 17S2 had done before; wherein Ireland

The Attorney General.

had ftipulated to trade with the British colonies and fettlements in fuch manner as Great Britain herfelf traded, to impofe the like duties, and to adopt the fame reftrictions and regulations. That in the bill before them, it was proposed to trade with Great Britain on the fame principle; the liberty of either complying with the conditions, or renouncing the agreement in toto. whenever the conditions fhould become obnoxious and diffatisfactory, would be left by the prefent bill fall as much in the power of the Irith parliament, as it was by either of the foregoing acts.-The difference only was, that by the former acts Ireland had fubfcribed to the commercial laws which had been adopted by Great Britain for 290 years back; by the prefent, to fuch as that country fhould bind itfelf to in future; but that it would be still in the power of the Irish parliament to renounce thefe laws, and the whole agreement together, whenever the thought proper. On the other hand, the commercial advantages offered to Ireland by the bill were stated to be very important; the linen trade was thereby fecured to her for ever -the colony trade through Ireland to Great Britain was given herthe British markets were thrown open to Irith manufactures-and again, as thefe manufactures were allowed to be re-exported from Great Britain, with a drawback of all duties, the Irith would, in effect, export on the foundation of British capital, at the fame time that they' were left to employ their own capital in the extenfion of their home inanufactures.

The

The house at length divided upon the question; when there appeared for leave to bring in the bill, 127, against it, 108.

So fmall a majority in favour of fo important a measure, was looked upon as a defeat; and accordingly, although Mr. Orde afterwards moved to have the bill read a first time, and to be printed, yet he declared he should not proceed any further in the bufinefs during the prefent feffion, nor at all, unless the kingdom in general fhould grow to a better liking of a measure, which he was confident, upon a further and more temperate re-confideration of its principles, would obtain their approbation.

Thus terminated the intended commercial arrangement betwixt Great Britain and Ireland, after having exercised the attention of both kingdoms for upwards of feven months.

We fhall take this opportunity, before we difmifs our review of Irifh affairs, to mention the intended fettlement of the Genevefe emigrants in Ireland.

The difputes and diffenfions which had fo long fubfifted betwixt the arifecratic and democratic powers in the republic of Geneva being finally terminated in favour of the former, through the interference of the kings of France and Sardinia, and the cantons of Zuric and Berne, a number of the citizens of the popular party refolved to quit a country, in the government of which their weight and authority was totally at an end.

On this occafion they turned their eyes upon Ireland, and commiflioners were accordingly fent by them to Dublin, to confult and treat with government there, rela

tive to their reception into that kingdom. The commiffioners, on their arrival, received the greatest perfonal attention from the people in general, but more especially from the different corps of volunteers in the province of Leinster, into feveral of which,,as a mark of respect paid to the cause they came to folicit, they were chosen as menbers.

Their requeft, with refpect to the admiffion of their countrymen into Ireland, was complied with, and a particular tract of land in the county of Waterford was afterwards fet apart for the new fettlers.

Notwithstanding thefe preparations, the whole fcheme in the end proved abortive. The terms infifted upon by the Genevefe, previous to their becoming fubjects of a new ftate were, 1ft. That they should be reprefented in parliament. 2dly. That they should be formed into a diftin&t corporation. And, 3dly, That they thould be governed by their own laws. The firft of these conditions might have been a matter of opinion, and fubject to dif cuffion, but the two laft were held to be incompatible with the laws and the conftitution of Ireland, and as fuch were totally rejected.

This difagreement between the parties, on leading points, ftopped all further procedure in the bufinefs. Some of the Genevefe, however, tranfported themfelves into Ireland, but they foon found by experience, that nothing was gained by changing their fituation, and most of them, after a thort flay, quitted the kingdom.

The reciprocal advantages which might have accrued to Ireland and the Genevete emigrants from the propofed fettlement, even had it

taken

TH

HE fruitfulness of the queen of France, which had for feveral years been a matter of much doubt and great anxiety to the king and the people, though at length eftablished by the birth of a princefs in 1778, yet the failure of a fon ftill continued to excite impatience and apprehenfion, until all uneafinefs upon the fubject was at length determined by the birth of a dauphin on the 22d of Odober 1781, to the inexpreflible joy of a nation, who, through a long feries of ages, have been more peculiarly attached to their monarchs than perhaps any other on the face of the earth. It was a new and unexpected fpectacle to mankind upon this occafion, and one among the many grievous mortifications which Great Britain was about that period doomed to endure, that the birth of a dauphin of France fhould have occafioned the greatest public rejoicings that had ever been known in the Englifh American colonies.

The queen, in the year 1785, produced another pledge of fecurity to the reigning line in France, by the birth of a fecond fon, in whofe favour the old Norman and English title of duke of Normandy was, for the first time, revived in a French prince.

The celebrated count de Maurepas died at the cattle of Verfailles in the month of November 1781, and in the 81ft year of his age; holding, at that very advanced period of life, in a feafon of great national exertion, and of a

very perilous and hard-fought foreign war, which extended its action to every quarter of the world, the great and arduous office of prime minifter of France. This great man was not more admired for his abilities as a minifter, and talents as a statefinan, than he was revered and beloved for his humanity, benevolence, and other excellent qualities of the heart.

When, under the aufpices of cardinal Fleury, and in his own happier days, his great and numerous offices feemed to render him at leaft the third, if not the fecond in adminiftration, he was one of the few minifters who introduced science and philofophy into the conduct of public affairs; but was at the fame time fo regulated in their indulgence, as entirely to reject their ufelets or frivolous parts, however fplendid or pleafing; as if he difdained to apply the public money to any other purposes than those folid ones of public utility. Though confiderably cramped in many of his public defigns and exertions under the pacific and economical fyftem of the cardinal, yet he not only in a great meafure recovered the French marine from that proftrate ftate to which it had long feemed irretrievably condemned, but he laid the foundations for all that greatnefs to which it has fince arrived, or which it is ftill capable of attaining. To him France is particularly indebted for that fupe-. riority, which the is faid (and it is to be feared too evidently) to pof

fefs in fhip-building; efpecially in the conftruction of fhips of war: for he it was who first rescued naval architecture from mere mechanical hands, from the habitual and unexamined prejudices of vulgar erfor; and placing it in the rank which it deferved to hold, it foon rofe, under his influence and protection to be confidered as a diftin&t and profound fcience; and was accordingly ftudied and reduced to practice upon thofe principles by men of the first parts and learning. Such eminent and permanent national fervices, which in time diffufe themselves into common benefits to mankind, are frequently little thought of at the moment, and the ingenious author or inventor is foon forgotten; while he who applies his genius or invention, with a vain-glorious fplendour, to the deftruction of his fellow-creatures, although not even the partial benefits of his fuccefs may furvive the year in which it takes place, fhall have his name handed down with applaufe and admiration to futurity. Is there then a perverfenefs inherent in mankind which difpofes them, as it were, to worship the evil principle, to defpife their real benefactors, and to adore thofe who, by becoming the confpicuous inftruments of tranfitory refentments, do in fact make war upon the permanent interefts of the race itself? May it not then be the office of hiftory, going hand in hand with philofophy, to draw away the eyes of mankind from the glaring objects which dazzle and confound thein, and to teach them to reft on more fuber and beneficial lights; to calculate and correct the error of popular opinion, and, by rating actions according to their intrinfic

value, as it were, to graduate anew the feale of admiration?

Although cardinal Fleury poffetfed at the time the oftenfible praife, it was to Maurepas only that fcience is indebted for that grand defign and arduous undertaking of afcertaining the real figure of the earth, by fending the French academicians and aftronomers to measure degrees of the meridian under the equator, and in the northern polar circle. The unexpected difficulties which they experienced, and the extraordinary hardthips and difficulties they encountered, are too well known to be repeated.

When the cabals of the court had, in the year 1748, banished Maurepas far from its vortex (an evil of all others the most intolerable to a Frenchman) he exhibited an instance, almoft fingular in that country, of bearing his fall from a fituation of greatnefs, in which he had been nurtured from his earliest youth, with the dignity of a man, and the temper of a philofopher. He adorned his long exile, as he had done his poffeflion of power, by continued acts of beneficence, and the practice of every private virtue.

When at length, in the 74th year of his age, the long-forgotten statefman was molt honourably recalled to court, in order to become the mentor and guide of his young fovereign in the yet untrodden paths of government, neither this fudden and unexpected exaltation, nor his long abfence from the world, produced any change in the temper and character of Maurepas. changes which neceffarily took place at court, and in the adminiftration, none of the difmiffed minifters were (according to the eftablished eti

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