1797°] 
The Secretary at War then moved the 
refolution relative to the grants for the 
army. Among other articles, there was_ 
granted to his majefty, 
For guards and garrifons, from 
the 27th of December, 1797, 
to December 24th, 1798 
For maintenance of troops in 
foreign plantations, from ditto ; 
to tne + ne 1,025,536 6 
For the recruiting fervice, for 
1798 ' : 
For militia and fencible infan- 
try, from December 25th, 
1797, to 24th December, 
1798 ‘ 
For the fencible cavalry, from 
December 25, 1797, to De- ! 
cember 24th,1798 = - 404,579 990 
On the 22d of November, that amiable 
and patriotic nobleman, EarL Morra, 
in the Houfe of Lords, abforbed its atten- 
tion by an affecting piéture which he drew 
of the prefent fituation of Ireland, “ The 
, fyftem now purfued in that country, was, 
(he faid) the caufe of all the calamities 
whicao were to be apprehended. It was a 
fyftem of mifapplied feverity—feverity not 
merely in individual application, but in 
its general defign. In viewing the fate 
of Ireland, the firft thing that ftruck him, 
was the light in which it was now cuftom- 
ary for the military to view an Irifhman. 
In their eftimation, every Irifhman was 
an enemy to the government of England. 
Every fpecies of infult, of menace, and 
oppreilion was exercifed, upon this fuppofi- 
' tion. He recolleéted, when he read the 
hiftory of this country, the curfew ; he had 
been accuftomed to confider it as a degrad- 
ing badge of fervitude. This cuftom, 
however, was now eftablifhed in Ireland, 
mm all its rigour. At nine o'clock, every 
man was called upon to extinguifh his 
candle and his fire, and the military en- 
forced the regulations. An inftance had 
occurred within his own knowledge, in 
which a party of foldiers had come to the 
houfe of a man by the road-fide, they in- 
fifted that he fhould extinguifh his candle, 
the man intreated, that he might be per- 
mitted to retain his light, becaufe he was 
watching by the bedfide of his child, which 
-. was fubjeét to convulfion fits, and might 
_ every moment require affiftancee The 
party however, rigoroufly infifted that the 
light fhould be extinguifhed. A {fpecies 
of nquifition (he faid) was alfo eftablifhed 
in Ireland; when a man wastaken up, 
and fufpeéted of being guilty himfelf, or 
of concealing the guilt of others, he was 
put to the torture; the rack indeed was 
7. s.-d. 
16993450 7 3 
108,000 0 oO 
1,417,179 10 § 
Publie Affairs—Great Britain, 
397 
not applied, becaufe perhaps. it was not at 
hand ; but ¢oriure of another fpecies was 
employed. He had known in repeated 
inftances, men taken up on fufpicion, fub- 
jected to the dreadful punifhment of 
picketting, and after fainting, in that 
fituation, were taken down, and after re- 
covering from the fit, were picketted 
again; and that cruelty had been inflited 
upon the fame perfon three times fuccef- 
fively. In another inftance, in order to 
extort confeffion, men had been hanged up 
till they were half dead. So far (he ob- 
ferved) had thefe fevere and cruel mea- 
fures failed of the intended purpofe, that 
the number of United Irifhmen had con- 
fiderably increafed in various parts of the 
country.” He concluded with obferving 
that a change of fyftem was the only ° 
chance left. 
Lord GRENVILLE replied to Earl 
Moira, and defended the conduét of go- 
vernment, and contended that a confpiracy 
exifted among the United Irifhmen, to 
overturn the prefent form of governs 
ment. | 
To this Earl Morra anfwered, that 
thotgh he was not a friend toa parliamen- 
tary reform himfelf, he really believed that 
‘the views of the greater part of the United 
Irifhmen, went no farther than a parlia- 
mentary reform, and a redrefs of fome 
{pecific grievances; and obferved, that 
the only mode he could recommend for 
the falvation of the country was concilia- 
tory meafures. 
The topic which, befides the above, 
has moft generally engaged the public at- 
stention, isa new Syftem of Finance, which 
is at prefent in agitation, viz. That of 
trebling, and in fome inftances quadrupling 
the affefled taxes. ‘To this requifition, 
many objections will probably ftrike our 
readers: Firft, it will not bear upon the 
great and opulent, who will not be taxed 
either according to their property or ex- 
penditure ; but it will bear upon the mid- 
dle induftrious claffes of citizens, who 
will by this means, be robbed of all their 
little favings; and in many inftances be 
reduced to beggary.. Secondly, it will prefs’ 
very unequally; for in populous towns, 
tradef{men pay a great rent for fituations, 
whereas in remote parts of the countrys 
even the opulent will pay a very fmalk 
proportion. And thirdly, it will not 
be productive ; for the affefled taxes are 
already as high as the majority of the peo= 
ple can bear, and numbers muft infallibly 
be ruined by any farther exaction. We 
underftand that it is already in agitation, 
in moft of the great towns, to call public 
ce ae meetings 
wt 


