*  If  I  should  ever  have  the  misfortune  to  witness  the
melancholy  moment  when    such   principles  must  be
abandoned,  when  all  hope  of  seeing  Ireland  perma-
nently and  securely  connected  with  this  country  shall
be  at  an  end,  I  shall  at  least  have  the  confolation  of
knowing,  that  it  will  not  be  the  want  of  temper  or  for-
bearance, of  conciliation,  of  kindness,  or  W  full  ex-
planation on  our  part,  which  will  have  produced  ant
event  so  fatal  to  Ireland,  and  so  dangerous  to  Great-
Britain. If  the^  overbearing  power  of  prejudice  and
passion  shall  ever  produce  that  fatal  consequence,  it
will  too  late  be  perceived  and  acknowleged,   that  all
the  great  commercial  advantages  which  Ireland  at  pre-
sent enjoys,  and  which  are  continuallv  increasing,  are
to  be  ascribed  to  the  liberal  conduct,  the  fostering  care,
of  the  British  empire,  extended  to  the  sister  kingdom
as  to  a  part  of  ourselves,  and  not  (as  has  been  falla-
ciously and  vainly  pretended)  to  any  thing  which  has
been  done  or  can  be  done  by  the  independent  power  of
her  legislature/

Having  thus  assigned  his  reasons  for  recommending
the  scheme  of  incorporation,  the  premier  thought  it
necessary  .to  notice  some  objections  which  had  been
urged,  particularly  those  which  related  to  parliamen-
tary competency,  and  to  the  loss  of  the  independence
of  the  Hibernian  realm. He  first  declared  his  readi-i
riess  to  enter  at  any  time  into  a  full  discussion  of  the
question  of  competency,  and  then  said,  *  For  the  pre*
sent  I  will  assume,  that  no  man  can  deny  the  compe*
tency  of  the  parliament  of  Ireland  (representing,  as  it

does,


fcfeTWfeEN  GRfcAf-aiUTAlN  AND  IRELAND. 1\$

iocs,  in  the  language  of  our  constitution,  "  lawfully,
fully,  and  freely  >  all  the  estates  of  thi  people  of  the
realnf)  to  make  laws  to  bind  the  people,  unless  he  is
disposed  to  distinguish  that  parliament  from  die  parlia-
ment of  Great~Britainx,  and,  while  he  maintains  die
independence  of  the  Irish  legislature,  yet  denies  to  it
the  lawful  and  essential  powers  of  parliament. 