HISTORY OF EUROPE. [113 



all unions, of all times : but, not 

 to go too far back, or wander too 

 far from our subject, we shall only 

 mention the discontents, the tu- 

 mults, and the violence of the Scots 

 against the union of their poor coun- 

 try with England. The soU of Scot- 

 land might be improved, and the 

 Scots might acquii-e more wealth, 

 and more comforts ; but Scotland, 

 as a kingdom, would be no more. 

 There would be no more any ge- 

 nuine Scotsmen : by the operation 

 of government, they would be gra- 

 dually mingled and melted down 

 with Englislimen ; the Scotch would 

 cease to be a national character ; 

 their genius and manners would be 

 formed by various objects of pur- 

 suits, various hopes and fears, 

 common to them, with all the 

 other inhabitants of the island. 



A similar train of thinking, ex- 

 actly, on the subject of the proposed 

 union with Great Britain, prevailed 

 in Ireland ; and, as in Scotland, a 

 majority of the men of property and 

 political influence were induced, 

 whether from selfish considerations, 

 or from views of real patriotism, 

 (for there certainly were many who 

 acted from both) to exchange, as it 

 were, in some measure, the national 

 identity and existence for a share in 

 the British legislature ; and the great 

 mass of the people clung, with fond 

 embraces, around their expiring pa- 

 rent, though she had been, in too 

 many instances, to them but a harsh 

 step-mother : so also a majority of 

 the men of property and political 

 influence in Ireland were induced, 

 from divers motives, no doubt, to 

 favour and adopt an incorporating 

 union between Great Britain and 

 Ireland ; and so also the great mass 



of the people of Ireland, though 

 more harshly treated by their mo- 

 ther-country, that had fallen into 

 a state of thraldom, and was under 

 the sway of strangers, than even 

 the Scots, stuck fast by Hibemia in 

 her last moments. The Irish harp 

 was attuned to strains of lamenta- 

 tion and complaint ; but martial 

 music would have aroused the peo- 

 ple to arms, if they had not been 

 kept in subjection, by an irresistible 

 armed force, poured in upon them 

 from England. 



When the resolutions of the Bri- 

 tish legislature, intended as a basis 

 for an union with Ireland, being 

 remitted, with some alterations, for 

 the reconsideration of that country, 

 in May, 1799j became a subject of 

 parliamentary discussion, the popu- 

 lace of Dublin, and many other 

 towns, manifested an aversion to the 

 union in every mode in which they 

 could show it, short of an armed 

 opposition : from which they were 

 restrained only by a dread of the 

 English soldiers, and the claymores * 

 of kindred celts ; the Scotch High- 

 landers, many regiments of whom, 

 fencibles and volunteers, as well as 

 regulars, were stationed in the 

 provinces of Leinster and Ulster. 



The Irish parliament having as- 

 sembled on the fifteenth of January, 

 1800, it was moved, by sir Laurence 

 Parsons, in the house of commons, 

 that they should, in their address to 

 the viceroy, declare their disappro- 

 bation of an incorporating union. 

 This motion was negatived by 138 

 voices against 96. On the fifth of 

 February, the whole plan of the 

 union was detailed, in the house of 

 lords, by lord Castlereagh, principal 

 secretary of state, who, after dis- 



VoL. XLII. 



• Great Swords. 



CO 



