116] ANNUAL RF:GISTER, 1800. 



speakers, from, no doubt, various 

 motives ; some of them private, 

 some of them public. Mr. Grattan, 

 a pensioned tribune of the Irish na- 

 tion, and a true orator as well as 

 acute reasoner, was, as might be 

 expected, one of the warmest and 

 the most impressive opposers of the 

 union, in the house of commons. — 

 The vehemence of his zeal and 

 oratory exposed him to an attack 

 from Mr. Corry, the chancellor of 

 the Irish exchequer, whose recom- 

 mendations of the union he an- 

 swered in terms so bitter and offen- 

 sive, that a challenge ensued. Mr. 

 Corry was wounded in a duel ; but 

 Mr. Grattan escaped unhurt. 



In the Irish house of peers, the 

 man who signalized his zeal against 

 the union, above that of all the 

 peers, in opposition to the union, 

 was the marquis of Downshire. — 

 He opposed it with indefatigable 

 industry and perseverance, with 

 moderate eloquence, but with the 

 weight of a fair and unblemished 

 character, and the reputation of 

 being sincerely and faithfully at- 

 tached to his native country. — 

 Neither his exertions nor those of 

 other lords were of any avail. The 

 measure of the union was agreed 

 to, in the Irish house of lords, by a 

 great majority. Yet a protest 

 against a legislative union with 

 Great Britain was entered on the 

 journals of- the Irish house of lords, 

 by twenty peers; for an account 

 of whom, and of the grounds of 

 their protest, as well as for a more 

 particular account of the articles of 

 the union, we must refer our readers 

 to the State Papers in this volume. 



The most interesting debates on 

 the union took place, as was to 

 be expected, in the Irish house of 

 commons. On the thirteenth of 



March, sir John Parnell, wishing 

 to have the sense of the nation more 

 decisively ascertained than it could 

 be in the present parliament, moved 

 that the king should be requested 

 to disso] ve it, and convoke another, 

 and a kind of convention parlia- 

 ment. Mr. Saurin, a barrister, 

 distinguished himself greatly, by his 

 eloquence and spirit in support of 

 the motion, and strongly urged an 

 appeal to the people. The solici- 

 tor-general accused Mr. Saurin of 

 " unfurling the bloody flag of re- 

 bellion;" Mr. Egan insinuated that 

 the solicitor and other members of 

 administration, "had unfurled the 

 flag of prostitution and corruption." 

 The motion was negatived, after a 

 long and animated debate, by a 

 great majority. After some altera- 

 tions of the articles, the plan of the 

 union, as was foreseen by the Bri- 

 tish government, was approved by 

 the same parliament, which the 

 year before had rejected it. And 

 an address was voted by the two 

 houses, on the twenty-seventh of 

 March, informing his majesty of the 

 result of their deliberations. In 

 that address, " they considered the 

 resolutions of the two houses of the 

 British parliament as wisely calcu- 

 lated to form the basis of an incor- 

 poration of GreatBritain and Ireland 

 into one kingdom, under his majes- 

 ty's auspicious government, by a 

 complete and entire union of their 

 legislature. They had adopted them 

 as their guide in the measures they 

 had pursued, and they now felt it 

 their duty to lay before his majesty 

 the resolutions to which they had 

 agreed, and which, if they should 

 be approved by the two houses of 

 the parliament of Great Britain, 

 they were ready to confirm and ra- 

 tify, in order that the same might 



