Above : Illustrating Picture Of Castlereagh Giving Speech

In January, 1799, the Irish Parliament met The King’s speech asked for a discussion of the question of a Legislative Union. In the Commons there was a long debate, at the end of which the Government motion was carried only by a majority of two. Such a course was, it need entirely opposed to the spirit of the English Constitution, and would never have been tolerated at Westminster.

Tn the same month the question of the Union was brought before the English Houses, where it found but few opposers. The English members for the most part appear to have believed that the union of the Parliaments would settle once for all the troublesome discontents of Ireland.

At the second debate in the English Commons (January 31st) Pitt delivered a long and carefully thought-out speech, in which he explained generally the nature of the proposed measure, and set forth his reasons for bringing it forward.

The Settlement of 1782, he declared, had never been intended to be final; the dispute regarding the Regency, and still more the Rebellion, had shown it to be a failure. A Legislative Union would be most beneficial to Ireland ; it would increase her trade by opening the English markets to her without restriction, and English capital would flow into the country. Irish discontents would be allayed, and peace and tranquillity restored. In the English Upper House the Government encountered even less opposition than in the Commons.

Meanwhile, in the Irish Parliament, a Bill designed to prevent a recurrence of a Regency dispute at any time in the future was brought forward by the Opposition. It laid down that, in the event of a Regency, the person selected by the English Parliament to govern Ireland should become ipso facto Regent of Ireland. This, Castlereagh, in the name of the Government, opposed. The reason was obvious ; if the Regency difficulty could be got over without a Union, one argument in favour of that measure would be destroyed. In pursuance of the same policy, the Irish Government was instructed to frustrate any effort which might be made by the Opposition to obtain a redress of the grievances of the Catholics.

During the Regency debate, Foster, the Speaker, in a speech of immense length, set forth the arguments against the proposed Union. As a statement of the case against the Union it is unrivalled. It should be studied in conjunction with a speech made by Castlereagh in the same debate on the opposite side, and with that of Pitt which has been already mentioned. On June 1st the Session closed, the Regency Bill being postponed.