powered to enquire and examine, to attend in person before the said commissioners, or any three of them, on a day and place to be named in the order of said commissioners; and to bring with them, and produce and deposit with the said commissioners, or any three of them, all such records, books, papers, and writings as aforesaid, which such person or persons shall so have in their custody or power.

"And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that if any person or persons who shall be served with such summons or notice as aforesaid, to appear before the said commissioners for the purpose of being examined as aforesaid, or who shall be served with such order as aforesaid, to attend as aforesaid, before the said commissioners, to bring with him or them such records, deeds, parchments, books, papers, or writings as aforesaid, shall refuse to appear, or shall refuse to be examined by the said commissioners, or any three of them, or shall refuse to answer such legal questions as shall be propounded by the said commissioners, or any of them, touching any matter or thing which they are empowered or directed by this act to examine into, or refuse or neglect to attend before such commissioners, from day to day, when required so to do, or to produce such records, deeds, parchments, books, papers, or writings, or any of them, at the time and place named in such summons, or notice, or order aforesaid, and shall omit so to do, without good and sufficient cause for such omission, to be allowed by the said commissioners, or any three of them, to be verified on oath before the said commissioners, or any three of them, by an affidavit, to be sworn before any one of the said commissioners, or before any one of the judges of His Majesty's courts in Dublin, or before any judge of assize or circuit, every such person shall forfeit the sum of 20l. for every such refusal, neglect, or omission, to be recovered by bill, action, plaint, or information, in any of His Majesty's courts of record, by any person who shall sue for the same.

"Provided always, That such summons, notice, or order of the said commissioners, shall be personally served upon, or left at the place of abode of such person or persons as shall be so summoned or called before the said commissioners, to appear to be examined as aforesaid; and that such order of the said commissioners shall be personally served upon, or left at the last place of abode of such person or persons, as shall, by such order as aforesaid, be directed to attend before such commissioners, and to bring with them such records, deeds, parchments, books, papers, or writings as aforesaid, at least ten clear days before the day on which, by the said summons, or notice, or order, the party or parties so served therewith shall be directed to appear or to attend before the said commissioners: And provided, that no person shall be obliged to attend in such manner, at any place above miles distant from his place of abode.

"And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that the said commissioners shall, on the first day of the next session of Parliament, deliver and lay a report in writing, under their hands

and seals, or the hands and seals of any three of them, before the House of Commons of this kingdom, and as often as they shall think proper, during the said session, of all matters appearing to them, upon such examination and enquiries as aforesaid, and which shall be judged by the said commissioners, or any three of them, necessary or proper to be reported; and also to report and suggest such plan or plans as may appear to the said commissioners advisable, for regulating, ascertaining, or commuting tithe, and such dues as are now paid to the clergy; together with a plan for the more expeditious and easy collection of the same, when regulated, ascertained, and commuted.

"And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that this act, and every clause therein contained, shall be in force, and so continue, until the 25th day of

THE session was opened on the 21st, by the Lord-lieutenant (Westmorland), with the following speech to both Houses of

Parliament:

"My Lords and Gentlemen,

"The King having been graciously pleased to place me in the government of this kingdom, I have His Majesty's commands to meet you in Parliament; and it affords me peculiar satisfaction, that I enter upon the discharge of this most important trust at a period when this country, in common with the rest of His Majesty's dominions, is in the secure enjoyment of the blessings of peace, and of the inestimable advantages arising from our free constitution.

"This happy situation will undoubtedly encourage you to persevere in the maintenance of good government, and to adhere to that wise system of policy which has established the credit, the industry, and the prosperity of your country, upon a firm and steady foundation.

Gentlemen of the House of Commons,

"I have ordered the national accounts to be laid before you, and I trust you will make such provisions as shall be necessary for the exigencies of the state, and the honourable support of His Majesty's government.

"My Lords and Gentlemen,

"Your zeal for the interests of this country will naturally direct your attention to whatever can increase the wealth, and extend the industry of Ireland. Her agriculture and linen manufacture

will claim your especial care; and the institutions of the charter and other Protestant schools, will, I am persuaded, receive from you that consideration which the interests of religion and the good education of youth peculiarly demand. I earnestly recommend to your attention the improving and continuing such laws as experience hath shown to be of national benefit; and I have the King's commands to assure you, that such measures as may contribute to that end will meet with His Majesty's most gracious

concurrence.

"Impressed with a deep sense of the distinguished honour which His Majesty has conferred upon me, by my appointment to this arduous situation, I shall endeavour, with the utmost zeal and attention, to promote the happiness and welfare of Ireland; fully sensible that I cannot otherwise hope either to render my services acceptable to my sovereign, or to ensure your favourable opinion and confidence."

On the 22d, the report from the committee on the address to His Majesty was brought up by Mr. Richard Longfield, as follows: "To the King's most Excellent Majesty, the humble address of the knights, citizens, and burgesses, in Parliament assembled. "Most gracious Sovereign,

"We, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of Ireland, in Parliament assembled, being fully sensible of the peculiar benefits this country enjoys under Your Majesty's mild and auspicious government, in the blessings of peace, and the inestimable advantages of our free constitution, beg leave to approach your throne, with the most dutiful professions of grateful loyalty and cordial attachment to your royal person, family, and

government.

"In reflecting upon the established credit, increasing industry, and rising prosperity of our country, we are filled with additional incentives to maintain good order, and permanently to uphold that wise system of policy which has been attended with such extensive and beneficial consequences.

"Your Majesty may rely upon your faithful Commons to make such provisions as may be necessary for the honourable support of Your Majesty's government, and the exigencies of the public

service.

"The just consideration of our interests which has been manifested in the speech from the throne, by directing our especial attention to the agriculture and linen manufacture, to the institutions of charter and other Protestant schools, and to the improving and continuing such laws as experience hath shown to be of public benefit, demands our sincerest acknowledgments; and we beg leave to assure Your Majesty, that your faithful Commons, encouraged, by your gracious declarations, to concur in whatever may promote these beneficial ends, will apply themselves, with unremitting zeal and fidelity, to the speedy discharge of the national business, and to the pursuit of those salutary objects, which Your Majesty has been pleased to recommend to our notice.

"We cannot forbear to express our warmest acknowledgments to Your Majesty for the appointment of a chief governor, from whose many and amiable virtues we have every reason to expect a just and prosperous administration, and whose faithful representations will ensure the continuance of Your Majesty's confidence in an affectionate and loyal people."

The address being again read, on the reading of the second paragraph,

Mr. GRATTAN rose and said: though I do not intend to give any opposition to the address, yet I feel myself called upon to make some observations upon the transactions which have taken place, during the interval of time which has elapsed from the close of the last to the opening of the present session; and though I can freely declare, that I have not the smallest personal dislike to the ministers who have governed during that period, yet it is impossible for me to avoid reprobating their measures; it is impossible for me to avoid declaring, that the conduct of those ministers, was little less than a daring outrage on the liberties and the morals of the people; for at no period so many instances of corruption and coercion have occurred. I have, therefore, chosen the earliest part of the session to mark my disapprobation of them. You remember the threat of expence; it has not been uttered in vain; it is almost the only public profession which the late viceroy has not violated: and yet this country was a bad subject for the experiment. In the course of the last five years, exclusive of bounties, and exclusive of police, you have added at the rate of 200,000l. per annum, annual increase to your national expences; a sum more than the whole interest of the nation's debt, and equal to one-fifth of her annual expence.

You are astonished! you have reason; it is near one-fifth of your net revenue, and more than the whole interest of the national debt. Part of this increase can be justified; the expence of annual sessions, the returns of the army, the charge of the post-office, and some other articles; but, after every fair deduction, and every candid allowance, from such an increase, in so short a period, this proposition is established, that you have been ill governed. Part of this increase is owing to the civil list, and the most exceptionable part of the civil list, the pension list. Scarce had the new taxes, on the credit of the expected commerce, been granted, when the commerce was perverted, and the taxes misappled, granted on an engagement to equalize. Where is your equalization? Like that commerce, vanished. Our eyes about that time beheld with astonishment, in return for new taxes, a new

pension list, which we were not able to pay, nor the minister able to justify; but we have since beheld with much more astonishment, a viceroy complain of that extravagance, and then augment it. We proposed to strike off the obnoxious pensions; we were resisted by that viceroy; we proposed to limit and curtail that pension list, we were resisted by that viceroy; but the secretary, who had contributed to its increase, became the object of his reward. With every respect to the memory of the Duke of Rutland, and without the smallest personal disrespect to Mr. Orde, let me say something in favour of the Marquis of Buckingham, when he resisted; though I can say nothing for him when he acceded to that pension.

I speak of the principal, not of Mr. Orde; a Lord-lieutenant's secretary has no official pretension to an Irish provision; chosen without public confidence, often continued without public advantage, he may retire without public gratitude.

In England they do not usually pension their secretaries. The late Lord Chatham was pensioned, but pensioned for a special service, for conquering France; and if Ireland were the natural enemy of England, some of her secretaries would have like pretensions. This pension was the more improper, because you had raised the salary of the secretary to prevent it. In 1783, you raised the salary of the secretary and the viceroy. Lord Buckingham was a party to that augmentation. Lord Northington, who professed nothing, refused; Lord Buckingham, who was nothing but profession, acceded to it. In his dispatch, which I have seen, he expresses his sense of the merit of the refusal, and his approbation of the increase. His pretence was the magnificence of the office. He has lived to refute the reason by his private economy, to prove that the increase of the viceroy's salary was useless, as, by his public prodigality, he has rendered the increase of the secretary's salary fruitless. This pension was aggravated by another grant to another absentee secretary, the brother of the late viceroy. Sir, the son of the author of the American stamp act, and the doctrine of colonial taxation without representation; the brother of that man who questioned the privileges, and who has since attempted to destroy the integrity of your Parliament; himself the advocate for the propositions, has no right to the best reversion in your country, unconnected with this kingdom by residence, and now only connected by the crimes of his family, and the stigma you have justly imposed upon them!

Sir, this reversion was the more improper, because you had