Such were the sentiments expressed by Mr. Pitt, on the commercial restraints imposed by Great Britain on Ireland, and such were the comprehensive and liberal views, which that great statesman exhibited in the English House of Commons, and which were received there with apparent tranquillity and acquiescence.The vastness of the plan, and the multiplicity of the objects it embraced, seemed to keep the public mind in a kind of suspence; and for near a month no serious opposition appears to have been manifested.

On the 14th March, Mr. Eden moved that the Commissioners of Customs and Excise should be examined at the Bar of the House. The Manufacturers of Lancashire presented a Petition, praying to be heard by Counsel against the Bill; Petitions were presented from Liverpool, Manchester, and Glasgow: the malign spirit of commercial jealousy was at length thoroughly awakened, and petitions upon petitions were sent up to Parliament in incredible numbers, from every quarter of the kingdom.-It is highly honourable to the character of Mr. Pitt, that on no occasion did he ever speak with more warmth and zeal: yet, after a long and tedious investigation of facts, and examination of witnesses, he was compelled, reluctantly, in compliance with

the prejudices of the English Manufacturer, to make some material alterations in his original plan; and on the 15th May he forwarded a new series of Resolutions, twenty in number, so altered, modified, and enlarged, as to exhibit, in their new form, what might well be called a new system. On a comparative view of the two sets of Propositions, the magnitude and importance of the alterations strikingly appeared.*

By the third of the new resolutions, Ireland was virtually interdicted, even after the expiration of the charter of the East-India Company, from exporting articles to England, the growth and produce of any of the countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of Magellan. By the same resolution, this interdiction was extended to Arrack and foreign Brandy, also to Rum and other strong Waters, not imported from the British Colonies in the West Indies. By the 4th, that whatever Navigation Laws the British Parliament shall hereafter find necessary to enact for the preservation of her Marine, the same shall be passed by the Legislature of Ireland. By the 5th, this legislative power of regulation and control was, in like manner, extended to all Goods and Commodities imported

For the new Propositions, see the Appendix.

into Ireland from the British and Foreign Colonies in Africa and America. By the 6th and 7th, the Commercial Intercourse between the two kingdoms was encumbered with many burdensome and rigorous regulations. By the 8th, the regulating power of Britain is extended to all goods exported from Ireland to the British Colonies in the West Indies, America, and the coast of Africa. By the 9th, Ireland is excluded, so long as the charter of the East-India Company shall exist, from trading to any port beyond the Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of Magellan; and during the continuance of the said charter, the goods of the growth, produce, or manufactures of India shall be allowed to be imported into Ireland but through Great Britain. By the 15th, the bounties allowed by Great Britain on the exportation of beer to Ireland, and spirits distilled from corn, are expressly continued. By the 16th, it is provided that all goods, the produce of the North-American States, which are subject to higher duties on importation into Great Britain, than the like goods the produce of the British Colonies, such articles shall be subject to the same duties on importation into Ireland.

These were the grand and leading features of difference between the old propositions and the new; and so great was the dissimilarity, that the

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Irish Parliament seemed scarcely to recognize the traces of their own original creation, when propounded to them on the 12th of August following. A general sentiment of amazement and indignation seemed to pervade the House at the developement of a scheme, calculated to restrict for ever the Irish Commerce; and the fourth Resolution in particular, by which England assumed a power of legislative regulation and commercial control with respect to Ireland, was rejected with a kind of horror.

After a vehement contest, which continued till nine in the morning, the motion of Secretary Orde, for leave to bring in a bill for the estab lishment of the commercial system contained in the new Propositions, passed in the affirmative, with a majority only of 19 voices, in a House consisting of 235 members.-Discouraged by the smallness of the Majority in the first stage of the business, the Secretary, on the 15th, having moved the reading and printing of the bill, declared his resolution of proceeding no further in the business during the present Session, and of leaving it to be renewed or neglected by the public. The popular joy, evinced by illuminations and every species of exultation, was excessive, at the failure of this plan, which was never afterwards revived in the Parliament of either kingdom.

Among the many able and eloquent speeches to which the discussion of this subject gave rise, the following one of Mr. GRATTAN stands forth pre-eminently conspicuous:

"Mr. Speaker-Sir, I can excuse the right honourable Member who moves you for leave to bring in the bill. He is an Englishman, and contends for the power of his own country, while I am contending for the liberty of mine; he might have spared himself the trouble of stating his own bill. I read it before, I read it in the twenty resolutions, I read it in the English bill, which is to all intents and purposes the same; and which he might read without the trouble of resorting to his own. His comment is of little moment; a Lord Lieutenant's Secretary is an unsafe commentator on an Irish constitution; the former merit of the right honourable gentleman, in pressing for the original Propositions, and contending against the present, which he now supports, may have been very great, and I am wil. ling to thank him for his past services; they may be a private consolation to himself. No more.-I differ from him in his account of this transaction. He was pledged to his eleven propositions; his offer was the propositions; ours the taxes; he