H I STO R Y O F E U RO PE. [117 



be established for ever by mutual 

 consent of both parliaments." This 

 address, with the resolutions of the 

 lords and commons of Ireland, con- 

 taining the terms proposed by them 

 for an entire union between the 

 two kingdoms, was communicated 

 by his majesty to the British parlia- 

 ment, on the second of April, and 

 became the chief subject of their de- 

 liberations from the twenty-first of 

 that month to the twelfth of May. 

 I'he great measure of the union, 

 its principle, conditions, and ten- 

 dency, having been amply discus- 

 sed in the parliamentary proceed- 

 ings of 1 799, fully stated in our last 

 volume, it would be unnecessary, 

 and might appear tedious to give 

 an account of all the questions, ar- 

 guments, observations, andadjourn- 

 ments that arose in the various dis- 

 cussions it underwent, in the differ- 

 ent stages through which it was 

 again carried, after it was remitted, 

 slightly altered, and approved by 

 the Irish parliament. The measure 

 of the union, in the house of peers, 

 was opposed by lord Holland, who 

 among other arguments against it, 

 urged its probably unhappy effects 

 on the British constitution. The 

 introduction of one hundred Irish 

 members into the house of com- 

 mons, and thirty-two into that of 

 their lordships, must add, he 

 thought, considerably to the influ- 

 ence of the crown. This innova- 

 tion in the frame of the house of 

 commons naturally involved the 

 question of parliamentary reform. 

 The great ground on which this 

 was objected to, heretofore, was 

 innovation. That place being now 

 done away, he knew not with what 

 consistency they could refuse re- 

 form. Thougli the parliament of Ire- 

 land was to be abolished, yet all the 



engines of corruption in that coun- 

 try, the last of places, were still to 

 remain, and their influence brought 

 to bear ; not on three hundred le- 

 gislators as formerly, but on one 

 hundred, which obviously must add 

 to the influence of the crown.— 

 Lord Grenville expressed his sur- 

 prize at being called on, this day, 

 to support the general principle of 

 a question which had been repeat- 

 edly, recently, and almost unani- 

 mously recognized by both houses 

 of parliament. He defended the 

 measure, a? beneficial to the two 

 kingdoms, and as being carried on, 

 not as lord Holland had contended, 

 by corrupt, or intimidating, but by 

 fairand constitutional means. With 

 regard to the argument of the noble 

 lord, that the introduction of one 

 hundred members into the house of 

 commons, and thirty-two into that 

 of peers, would endanger the Bri- 

 tish constitution, by increasing the 

 influence of the crown; he observed 

 that the mode chalked out for the 

 election of members was such, 

 under the genuine principles of the 

 British constitution, as would render 

 them as free from any imputation 

 as that suggested, as could possibly 

 be done ; as was also the mode of 

 electing the peers, by rendering 

 their seats as secure and indepen- 

 dent as that of any individual peer 

 in that house, namely, for their 

 lives. Ireland, he contended, would 

 be best governed through the me- 

 dium of a joint legislature, to which 

 Ireland should send her full and fair 

 proportion of representatives. The 

 measure of the union was formed on 

 principles similar to those furnished 

 chiefly by the precedent of the 

 Scotch union. The effect of the 

 whole system was such as to insure 

 a permanent and considerable in- 



