of the houses of lords and commons in May last, I directed immediate and vigorous measures to be taken for repressing disaffection in the northern parts of the kingdom, and for restoring security and confidence to the loyal and well-disposed; the effect of which has been manifested in the return of subordination and industry in that quarter. Other attempts have since been made by the leaders of the disaffected in some parts of the midland and southern districts with too much success; and emissaries have been employed, and publications have been circulated by them to revive religious animosities, and to open prospects of plunder, by which means the lower classes have been excited to commit acts of the most horrid outrage and barbarity. I have to lament that the diligence and activity of the magistrates, though assisted by the troops which have been ordered into that part of the kingdom, have not yet been able entirely to put a stop to those disturbances. Constant vigilance and unremitting exertions continue to be necessary when all means are tried to excite the people to rebellion and revolt---when a systematic plan of assassination is adopted and encouraged, and when the most audacious attempts are made to impede and prevent the administration of justice.

Amidst your exertions for the defence of the kingdom, I must not omit to recommend to you not to relax your attention to its commerce, its agriculture, and its manufactures, and especially to that of the linen; nor will your liberality be less conspicuous in continuing that protection to the protestant charter schools and the other charitable institutions under which they have so long flourished.

1798.

His majesty has commanded me to declare to you, that his firm resolution is taken in the present arduous contest. He will not be wanting to his people, but with them will stand or fall in the defence of their religion, and in the preservation of the independence, laws, and liberties of his kingdoms. It will be a source of infinite satisfaction to my mind, if, in the execution of my duty, I can contribute to support the generous deterinination of my sovereign, and maintain the safety and prosperity of his people. I rely upon your advice and co-operation; and, aided by them, I look forward with confidence to a happy issue of the contest in which we are engaged.

Address of the Speaker, of the Irish
House of Commons, to the Lord
Lieutenant, on presenting certain
Bills, March 24, 1798.

May it please your excellency,

Large as the supplies of the last session were beyond all former grants, these which the commons now offer to his majesty are not inferior; they go to the fullest extent of every service proposed by government, and are given with an unanimity and zeal which mark the unalterable determination of this kingdom to stand or fall with Great Britain, and shew that our vigour rises as the vaunting menaces of the enemy increase.

With the same unanimity we have voted the maintenance of an army far greater than was ever kept up by this kingdom during any preceding war; and we have continued to them the augmentation of pay which was granted by the last parliament, and which your excellency did justly state to that par(N) liament

liament to be a seasonable and honourable acknowledgment on their part of the steadiness and loyalty of that army; the present parliament feels the same sentiments to wards them. Repeated experience of the order and alacrity which they have shown on every occasion that has offered, confirms his majesty's faithful commons in those sentiments; and we join most cordially with his majesty in his firm reliance on the valour of his regular and militia forces in this kingdom, which his majesty has been pleased to express in his gracious answer to our address this session.

While the courage, the vigor, and the discipline of those forces must render them formidable to the enemy, and ensure his defeat, should he be desperate enough to attempt invasion, their zeal, and that of the yeomen, to put down rebellion, to crush insurrection, and to assist the executive power in protecting the loyal, the innocent, and well-disposed, affords the most convincing proof of their ardent and unshakeable attachment to the best sovereign, and best constitution, that ever blessed a free and happy people. We are free---and we will not tamely give up our happiness. The loyal spirit of the nation is able to crush rebellion to atoms wherever it shall dare to show itself; and, with the firmness which so strongly marks your excellency's character, with the constant success which has attended every vigorous measure that necessity has called on your excellency to adopt, we have nothing to fear. We have, indeed, to lament, that traitorous conspiracies can still continue, and that

any men can be found in the land so lost to every sense of patriotism, of humanity, of duty to themselves, their country, and their

God, as to degrade the nation and the name of Irishman, by acts of ingratitude, barbarity and assassination, which would debase a savage

acts which call for the heavy hand of justice, and which the ordinary power of the laws has proved inadequate to prevent the melancholy and frequent repetition of.

But while we lament such a mor

tifying calamity, we have the satisfaction of seeing how little its malignant influence, or the efforts of an exasperated and revengeful enemy has affected our commercial prosperity.

Notwithstanding the largeness of the supplies, we have continued the usual bounties and encouragement to the trade, the agriculture, and the manufactures of the kingdom; and we see with sincere gratification the desirable effects of those encouragements, in the great increase of trade during the war, in the general confidence which attends private as well as public credit, in the unusual plenty which our agriculture supplies, and in the prosperous state of all our manufactures, but most particularly of our great staple the linen.

Specch of his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, on proroguing the Irish Parliament, Oct. 8, 1798.

My lords and gentlemen, I have the satisfaction of acquainting you that I have received the king's commands to release you from your long and fatiguing attendance in parliament; and I am ordered to thank you, in his majesty's name, for the unsliaken firmness and magnanimity with which you have met the most trying difficulties, and with which the measures have been planned

which

ous, and a general act of pardon has recently issued from the royal mercy, for the purposes of affording security to the repentant, and encouraging the deluded to return to their duty.

The vigour and power of his majesty's arms, the loyalty, spirit, and activity of the regular, militia, and yeomanry forces, together with the prompt and cordial assistance of the militia and fencibles of Great Britain, have abundantly proved how 'vain every attempt must be, either by treachery within, or by force from abroad, to undermine or to overturn our civil and religious establishments.

From the dangers which have surrounded you, and which you have overcome, you must be sensible that your security can only be preserved by persevering vigilance and increasing energy. You will not suffer your efforts to relax; and you may be assured of my zealous endeavours to second your exertions.---Our hopes and our objects are the saine, that the deluded may see their error, and the disaffected be reclaimed; but if an endeavour shall be made to abuse the royal mercy, and to form fresh conspiracies in the prospect of impunity, offended justice will then be compelled to extend to the obdurate 'criminal the full measure of his punishinent.

Amidst your measures, either of power, of justice, or of clemency, you have not forgotten to afford consolation and encouragement to the loyal. The means which were adopted for their relief, and the plan which has been devised for the further remuneration of their losses, are highly honourable to your feelings, and must, in every loyal breast, excite emotions of love and gratitude to his country.

Since my arrival in this kingdom I have received the most flattering assurances of your regard and approbation, which command my warmest acknowledgments; and while I feel myself thus encouraged and supported, and reflect on the loyalty which is so generally displayed, and on the force which is intrusted to my direction, I cannot allow myself to doubt of the success of our united endeavours for the welfare of this country.

And then the lord chancellor declared, that it was his excellency the lord lieutenant's pleasure, that this parliament be prorogued to Tuesday the 20th day of November next; and the parliament was accordingly prorogued to Tuesday the 20th day of November next. From the Dubin Gazette, March 31. By the Lord Lieutenant and Council of Ireland,

A PROCLAMATION.

CAMDEN.

Whereas a traitorous conspiracy, existing within this kingdom, for the subversion of the authority of his majesty and the parliament, and for the destruction of the established constitution and government, hath considerably extended itself, and hath broken out into acts of open violence and rebellion:

We have, therefore, by and with the advice of his majesty's privy council, issued the most direct and positive orders to the officers commanding his majesty's forces, to employ them with the utmost vigour and decision, for the immediate suppression thereof, and also to recover the arms which have been traitorously forced from his majesty's peaceable and loyal subjects, and to disarm the rebels, and all persons disaffected to his majesty's government, by the most summary and effectual measures.

And