ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



residence bill, and on the motion of 

 the chancellor of the exchequer, the 

 house voted a sura of SOOOi. as a 

 temporary relief to those curates, 

 ■who should be deprived of their 

 cures by the operation of this bill. 



On the 2nd of December, J^.Ir. 

 secretary Yorke rose, to move for 

 the continuation of" the Irish Art^effs 

 corjms suspension act,", and the re- 

 enac'ment of" the martial law bill." 

 He declared, that it was with great 

 regret he felt himself obliged to per- 

 form this painful duty ; but tliat it 

 "was the misfortune of the times in 

 which it was our lot to live, that 

 we were not permitted to enjoy our 

 lives, our liberties, and our posscs- 

 sionsjwithout being daily called upon 

 to make sacrifices of some of our pri- 

 vileges, for the preservation of the 

 remainder. Those bills were past 

 in the last session, upon the actual 

 breaking out of an insurrection in 

 Ireland, and from all the evidence 

 that government had received re- 

 specting that insurrection, it was 

 their firm conviction, notwithstand- 

 ing the declaration of one of the 

 rebels (Emmet), that it was princi- 

 pally stirred up by French agents. 

 He believed the number of traitors 

 in Ireland was much diminished, 

 but whether it were great or small, 

 the house would not compromise 

 with them, or suffer them to clothe 

 themselves Avith the Avhole armour 

 of the law, while they were attack- 

 ing the government, the senate, and 

 all loyal subjects, with the concealed 

 weapons of assassination. 



The honourable co'onel Hutchin- 

 son admitted the necessity of pass- 

 ing those bills, and bestowed great 

 praise on the temperate and concili- 

 ating manner in which lord Hard- 

 wicke administered the government 

 of Ireland. He could not however 



allow, that it was a complete reason 

 that the Irish people should be satis- 

 fied, because their situation is not 

 yet as bad as that of either the 

 French people, or of those poor, 

 oppressed, plundered countries, that 

 are called the allies of France. He 

 could have wished much, however, 

 that the spirit of lord Hardwicke's 

 government were supported by the 

 legislative power, and that the affairs 

 of Ireland should meet that atten- 

 tion in the united parliament, that 

 they must have done in the parlia- 

 ment of that country, were it not for 

 the union. 



General Loftus and Mr. Haw- 

 thorne supported the necessity of 

 the measure. 



Lord Temple reminded those who 

 considered, that a time of war and 

 danger was not fit for the discussion 

 of the affairs of Ireland, that it was 

 in a time of war and of danger nearly 

 equal to the present, that so im- 

 portant a measure as the act of 

 union was passed. Hcobservcd.that 

 the preamble of the bills passed last 

 session, stated, " the spirit of re- 

 bellion and insurrection to be actu- 

 ally raging in Ireland." If the ho- 

 nourable secretary asserted that it 

 wcfe necessary to renew a bill hav- 

 ing that preamble, he could not ob- 

 ject to it. 



Lord Archibald Hamilton wished, 

 that ministers would declare whe- 

 ther they intended to bring forward 

 any specific plan for ameliorating 

 the situation of that country : if 

 they did not, he should think it 

 competent to any member to agitate 

 the question. He wished those who 

 objected to the question being 

 brought forward at the present time, 

 would be good enough to inform the 

 house, what was the time they would 

 think proper for its discussion. 



Mr. 



