IRELAND. 331 



Every estimate of the number of those who lost their lives in this 

 deplorable contest must necessarily be vague and uncertain. Some 

 have stated it at thirty thousand, while others have swelled it to a 

 hundred thousand, of whom they say nine-tenths were of the insur- 

 gents ; the loss of the royalists being about ten thousand men. Slaugh- 

 ter and desolation at length procured a kind of peace ; but the great- 

 problem was, to discover by what means the flames of discord might 

 be prevented from bursting out afresh. As the most effectual pre- 

 ventative of a repetition of these calamities, government recommend- 

 ed a legislative union of the two kingdoms. A proposition for such 

 an union was submitted to the parliaments of England and Ireland on 

 the same day, January 22, 1799, and in both houses of the English 

 parliament, the address, which is considered as an approbation of the 

 measure, passed without division. A similar address was carried in 

 the Irish house of lords by a majority of thirty-three, but rejected in 

 the commons by a majority of two, which the next day increased to 

 six against the measure, which was therefore laid aside for that time. 

 Government, however, by no means totally abandoned it ; for, in the 

 beginning of the next session, on the 15th of January, 1800, the pro- 

 position was again submitted to the parliament of Ireland ; when the 

 address in the house of lords passed without a debate ; and, after an 

 animated discussion in the commons, which lasted till the noon of 

 the following day, was approved by a majority of forty-two. The act 

 of union afterwards passed the British parliament, received the < 

 royal assent on the 2d of July, 1800, and took place on the 1st of 

 January, 1801. 



How far this union will prove a remedy for the distressed condi- 

 tion and discontents of the poor, time must discover. At first view 

 it seems difficult to say how a legislative union can remove the cause 

 of the civil commotions which have lately distracted that unfortunate 

 kingdom ; how it can lessen religious prejudices, or" prevent, what 

 it seems rather calculated to increase, the expenditure of Irish pro- 

 perty at a distance from the country whence it is derived. Yet it 

 must not be denied, that unity in government has many advantages, 

 and is indeed essentially necessary ; and that a close connexion and 

 firm consolidation of the three kingdoms, with an impartial and equal 

 distribution of protection and rights, fairly granted and faithfully 

 maintained, must tend to infuse new life into every part of the united 

 nation, while it adds to the prosperity, the wealth, and the power of 

 the whole. 



Notwithstanding the union, however, a spirit of discontent and dis- 

 affection still manifests itself among the lower orders in many parts 

 of Ireland. The agents of the leaders in the last rebellion, who, 

 after the late peace, were permitted to transport themselves to 

 France, soon renewed their attempts to excite an insurrection similar 

 to the former : but, fearing that their designs were discovered, in 

 consequence of the blowing up of a house in which they had con- 

 cealed a quantity of gunpowder and arms, they were induced to rise 

 before their plans were matured. On the 23d of July, 1803, great 

 numbers of persons of the lower classes suddenly flocked to Dublin 

 from different parts of the country ; and a riotous mob assembled with 

 a view to surprise the castle. Meeting in Thomas-street with lord 

 Kilwarden, the chief justice of Ireland, who had conducted the pro- 

 secutions after the last rebellion, as attorney-general, they forced him 

 and his nephew, who was with him, out of his carriage, and barbar- 



