SPEECH OF MR. CURRAN,

ON THE

BILL FOR REGULATING THE COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

HOUSE OF COMMons, Friday, August 12th, 1785.

MR. ORDE moved for leave to bring in the bill.

Mr. CURRAN said, he was too much exhausted to say much at that hour (six o'clock) on the subject. His zeal had survived his strength. He wished his present state of mind and body might not be ominous of the condition to which Ireland would be reduced, if this bill should become a law. He could not therefore yield even to his weakness. It was a subject which might animate the dead. He then took a view of the progress of the arrangement, and arraigned the insidious conduct of the administration. In Ireland it was proposed by the minister; in England it was reprobated by the same minister. He had known children to learn to play cards, by playing the right hand against the left: he had never before heard of negociation being learned in that way. He said a bill was not a mode of negociating; our law spoke only to ourselves-bound only ourselves;—it was absurd therefore to let a bill proceed. But the commercial part was out of the question; for this bill portended a surrender of the constitution and liberty of Ireland. If, said he, we should attempt so base an act, it would be void, as to the people. We may abdicate our representation, but the right remains with the people, and can be surrendered only by them. We may ratify our own infamy; we cannot ratify their slavery. He feared the British minister was mistaken in the temper of Ireland, and judged of it by former times. Formerly the business here was

carried on by purchased majorities; there was a time when the most infamous measure was sure of being supported by as infamous a majority. But things were changed; the people were enlightened and strong; they would not bear a surrender of their rights, which he said would be the consequence if they submitted to this bill. It contained a covenant to enact such laws as England should think proper, they would annihilate the parliament of Ireland. The people here must go to the bar of the English house of commons for relief; and for a circuit ous trade to England, we were accepting, he said, a circuitous constitution.

He said it was different totally from the cases to which it had been compared, the settlement of 1779, or the Methuen treaty; there all was specific and defined; here all was fustian and uncertain. A power to bind externally would involve a power also of binding internally. This law gave the power to Great Britain of judging what would be a breach of the compact, of construing it, in fact of taxing us as she pleased, and gave her new strength to enforce our obedience. In such an event, he said, we must either sink into utter slavery, or the people must either wade to a re-assumption of their rights through civil blood, or be obliged to take refuge in an union, which, he said, would be the annihilation of Ireland, and what he suspected the minister was driving at. Even the Irish minister, he said, no longer pretended to use his former language on this subject; formerly we were lost in a foolish admiration at the long impedimented mark of oratoric pomp with which the secretary displayed the magnanimity of Great Britain. That kind of eloquence, he supposed, was formed upon some model; but he suspected that the light of political wisdom was more easily repeated than the heat of eloquence; yet we were in raptures even with the oratory of the honourable gentleman. However he now had descended to an humble style. He talked no more of reciprocity, no more of emporium. He then went into general observations to show that this treaty would give no solid advantages to Ireland, but was a revocation of the grant of 1779. He said he loved the liberty of Ireland; he would therefore vote against the bill, as subversive of that liberty; he would also vote against it as leading to a schism between the two nations, that must terminate in a civil war, or an union at best. He was sorry, he said, that he troubled them so long; but he feared it might be the last time he should ever have an

opportunity of addressing a free parliament; and if, said he, the period is approaching when the boasted constitution of Ireland be no more, I own I feel a melancholy ambition in deserving that my name may be enrolled with those who endeavored to save it in its last moment. Posterity would be grateful for the last ef fort, though it should have failed of success.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, MONDAY, AUGUST 15th, 1785.

THE RIGHT HON. THOMAS ORDE having intimated that he would not press the further consideration of the commercial regulation bill during the sessions, which was in fact giving up the bill, and Mr. Flood having moved the following resolution:

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Resolved, That we hold ourselves bound not to enter into any engagement to give up the sole and exclusive right of the parliament of Ireland to legislate for Ireland in all cases whatsoever, as well externally as commercially and internally."

Mr. Curran expressed the effusion of his joy upon the victory this country had obtained. He said he would support the resolution proposed by the honourable member, because he thought it necessary to declare to the people, that their rights had not been solely supported by 110 independent gentlemen, but that if eight or ten of them had been absent, that those who had countenanced the measure would have abandoned every idea of prosecuting it further. It had ever been the custom of our ancestors, when the constitution had been attacked, to enter into some spirited step for its support. Why was Magna Charta passed? It was passed, not to give freedom to the people, but because the people were already free. Why was the repeal of the 6th of Geo. I.? Not to give independence to the men of Ireland, but because Ireland was in itself an independent nation. This resolution did not go to give rights, but to declare that we will preserve our rights. We were told to be cautious how we commit ourselves with the parliament of Great Britain: whether this treat carried with it more of prudence or timidity, he should leave gentlemen to determine. He rejoiced that the cloud which had lowered over them had passed away, and he declared he had no intention to wound the feelings of the minister, by triumphing in his defeat: on the contrary, he might be said to

rise with some degree of self-denial, when he gave to others an opportunity of exulting in the victory. The opposition in England had thrown many impediments in the way, but he would remember with gratitude, that the opposition there, had supported the liberties of Ireland. When he saw them reprobating the attacks made upon the trial by jury; when he saw them supporting the legislative rights of Ireland, he could not refrain from giving them his applause. They well knew that an invasion of the liberty of Ireland would tend to an attack upon their own. The principle of liberty, thank Heaven, still continued in those countries:-that principle which had stained the fields of Marathon, stood in the pass to Thermopylæ, and gave to America independence. Happy it was for Ireland, that she had recovered her rights by victory, not stained by blood-not a victory bathed in the tears of a mother, a sister, or a wife-not a victory hanging over the grave of a Warren or a Montgomery, and uncertain whether to triumph in what she had gained, or to mourn over what she had lost!

He said, as to the majority who had voted for bringing in the bill, the only way they could justify themselves to their constituents was by voting for the resolution. As to the minority who had saved the country, they needed no vindication; but those who voted for the introduction of the bill must have waited for the committee, to show the nation that they would never assent to the fourth proposition. That opportunity, he said, could never arrive.-The bill was at an end. The cloud that had been collecting so long, and threatening to break in tempest and ruin on our heads, had passed harmless away. The siege that was drawn round the constitution was raised, and the enemy was gone. Juvat ire, et Dorica castra, and they might now go abroad without fear, and trace the dangers they had escaped; here was drawn the line of circumvallation, that cut them off for ever from the Eastern world: and there the corresponding one, that inclosed them from the West. Nor let us, said he, forget in our exultation to whom we are indebted for the deliverance. Here stood the trusty mariner [Mr. Conolly] on his old station the mast head, and gave the signal. Here [Mr. Flood] all the wisdom of the state was collected, exploring your weakness and your strength, detecting every ambuscade, and pointing to the hidden battery, that was brought to bear on the shrine of

freedom. And there [Mr. Grattan] was exerting an eloquence more than human, inspiring, forming, directing, animating, to the great purposes of your salvation, &c. But I feel, said he, that I am leaving the question, and the bounds of moderation; but there is an ebullition in great excesses of joy that almost borders on insanity. I own I feel something like it in the profuseness with which I share in the general triumph. It was not, however, a triumph which he wished to enjoy at the expense of the honourable gentleman; who had brought in the bill, he was willing to believe, with the best intention. Whatever he might have thought before, he now felt no trace of resentment to the honourable gentleman. On the contrary, he wished that that day's intercourse, which would probably be their last, might be marked on his part with kindness and respect.

He was for letting the right honourable gentleman easily down; he was not for depressing him with the triumph, but he was for calling him to share in the exultation. Upon what principle could the gentlemen who supported the previous question defend their conduct, unless it was in contradiction to the general rule of adhering to measures, not to the man? Here it was plain they were adhering to the man, not to the measure; the measure had sunk, but the man was still afloat. Perhaps they thought it decent to pay a funeral compliment to his departure; yet he warned them how they pressed too eagerly forward, for as there could not be many bearers, some of them might be disappointed of the scarf or the cypress. He besought them now to let all end in good humour, and, like sailors, who had pursued different objects, when they got into port, shake hands with harmony.