ground of complaint to either of those sovereigns, nor even at the moment when they have respectively withdrawn their ministers, have they assigned to his Majesty any distinet cause for that proceeding.-His Majesty has directed that copies of the corre spondence between his Majesty's ambassador and the minister for foreign affairs of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Russia, daring the negociations at Tisit, and the official note of the Russian minister at this court, containing the offer of his Imperial Majesty's mediation between his Majesty and France, together with the answer returned to that note by his Majesty's command; and also copies of the official notes, presented by the Austrian minister at this court, and of the answers which his Majesty commanded to be returned to them, should be laid before you.. it is with concern that his Majesty, commands us to inform you, that notwithstanding his earnest wishes to terminate the war in which he is engaged with the Ottoman Porte, his Majesty's endeavours, unhappily for the Turkish empire, have been defeated by the machinations of France, not less the enemy of the Porte than of Great Britain. But while the influence of France has been thus unfortunately successful in preventing the termination of existing hostilities, and in exciting new war against this country, his Majesty commands us to inform you that the King of Sweden has resisted every attempt to induce him to abandon his alliance with Great Britain; and that his Majesty entertains no doubt that you will feel with him the sacredness of the duty which the firmness and fidelity of the King of Sweden impose upon his Majesty, and that you will concur in enabling his Majesty to discharge it in a manner worthy of this country. It remains for us, according to his Majesty's command, to state to you that the Treaty of Commerce and Amity between his M jesty and the United States of America which was concluded and signed by commissioners duly authorized for that purpose, on the 31st of December, 1505, has not taken effect, in consequence of the refusal of the President of the United States to ratify that instrument. For an unauthorised act of force committed against an Americaa ship of war his Majesty did not hesitate to offer immediate and spontaneous reparation. But an attempt has been made by the American government to connect with the question which has arisen out of this act, pretensions inconsistent with the maritime rights of Great Britain: such pretensions his Majesty is determined never to

admit. His Majesty, nevertheless, hopes that the American government will be actuated by the same desire to preserve the relations of peace and friendship between the two countries which has ever influenced his Majesty's conduct, and that any dithculties in the discussion now pending may be effectually removed. His Majesty bas commanded me to state to you, that in consequence of the decree by which France declared the whole of his Majesty's dominions to be in a state of blockade, and subjected to seizure and confiscation, the produce and manufactures of his kingdom, bis Majesty resorted, in the first instance, to a measure of mitigated retaliation; and that this measure having proved ineffectual for its object, his Majesty has since found it necessary to adopt others of greater vigour, which, he commands us, to state to you, will require the aid of Parliament to give them complete and effectual operation. His Majesty has directed copies of the orders which he has issued with the advice of his Privy Council upon this subject to be laid before you, and he commands us to recommend them to your carly attention.

Gentlemen of the House of Com mons, His Majesty has directed the estimates for the ensuing year to be laid before you, in the fullesc confidence that your loyalty and public spirit will induce you to make such provision for the public service as the urgency of affairs may require. His Majesty has great satisfaction in informing you, that, notwithstanding the difficulties which the enemy has endeavoured to impose upon the Commerce of his Subjects, and upon their Intercourse with other Nations, the Resources of the Country have continued in the last year to be so abundant, as to have produced, both from the permanent and temporary revenue, a receipt considerably larger than that of the preceding year.-The satisfaction which his Majesty feels assured you will derive, in common with his Majesty, from this proof of the solidity of these Resources, cannot but be greatly increased, if, as his Majesty confidently hopes, it shall be found possible to raise the necessary Supplies for the present year without any material addition to the Public Burthens.

My Lords and Gentlemen,--We are especially commanded to say to you, in the name of his Majesty, that, if ever there was a just and National War, it is that which his Majesty is now compelled to prosecute. This War is in its principle purely Defensive. His Majesty looks but to the attainment of a secure and honourable

Peace; but such a Peace can only be negotiated upon a footing of perfect equality. The eyes of Europe and of the world are fixed upon the British Parliament. If, as his Majesty confidentially trusts, you display in this crisis of the fate of the country the characteristic spirit of the British Nation, and face unappulled the unnatural combination which is gathered around us, his Majesty bids us to assure you of his firm persuasion, that under the blessing of Divine Providence, the struggle will prove successful and glorions to Great Britain. We are lastly commanded to assure you, that in this awful and momentous contest, you may rely on the firmness of his Majesty, who has no cause but that of his people, and that his Majesty reciprocally relies on the wisdom, the constancy, and the affectionate support of his Parliament.

IRELAND, AS IT IS, VINDEX, LETTER II.

SIR,——What has been remarked of the texture of the English language, that it has more anomalies than any other known, may be more truly applied to the oppressed condition of the Irish people. In contemplating the severe and multifarious grievances, which that nation endures, one can easily perceive the universality of oppression; but it is vain to look for that unity or uniformity of cause, that generates the sufferings of other afflicted countries. It is a maxim equally applicable to politics as to physics, that the simpler the cause the less injurious will be the consequence. It is not the single fountain, from which a great river may take its rise, that swells its proud tide, and makes it flow with majesty to the ocean. Various accessary streams feed its progress; and the flood, which it discharges at its mouth, is the accumulation from many; sources. The oppression, which flows from atry single cause, is simple, and may be light, when spread over the vast surface of society. But, when all the springs of power are opened, when every channel, through which oppression can flow, contributes its contents to swell the common tide, how frightful must be the effects of the desolating inundation. Those, somewhat elevated in rank or station, may escape with little comparative injury, but all the lower orders of the community must be overwhelmed by the flood. The iron rod of a government falls with most weight upon the objects, most immediately within its reach, and spending its force, as it descends, is scarcely perceptible, when it touches the lowest links of society. The ppression of an overbearing aristocracy par

takes, in some degree, of that property of a despotic government, which exempts the lower orders from its severity; but, as it. multiplies the sources of infliction, must ag gravate the sufferings of a nation. The ty ranny of the mass, collecting and concentrating every element of intolerance and arbitrary power, pours forth such a huge flood of oppression, as to overthrow every barrict, and involve all classes of society in one indiscriminate state of misery and degradation. These are the three great sources of national suforing; for to some one of these may be traced the oppression of every nation, whose calamities are recorded in history. Yet not to any one of these, nor to a combination of any, or of all of them, are the miseries of the Irish nation to be ascribed. The wretchedness of that people appears written, in legible characters, over the face of the land; but, whilst the effect is thus visible in the light of day, the obscurity of midnight darkness envelops, and conceals the real cause from view. Many truths, various errors, and much misrepresentation have been published upon this subject, but no writer, that I have consulted, has, according to my opi nion, pointed out the radical, the remote source of all the evils, that mar the internal quiet and prosperity of that country. Cr tholic disabilities, and the hardships, arising from tythes, have been, and are, at present, much insisted on, as the great causes of Irish grievance. It would be false, to assert, that the Irish nation has no just ground of complaint, no well founded claim for redress, under these heads; but, it would betray a gross ignorance of the subject, a total disacquaintance with the real state of the people of Ireland, to contend, that the removal of either, or both, could have any permanent effect upon the internal tranquillity of that country. These are but symptoms; the disense lies deeper. The force of habit, or the flattery of self-love, may render those, who are most affected, least sensible of the existence of the disease. The patient, m.staking the symptoms for the complaint, looks with confidence to re-establishment upon their removal; yet, unless the physician eradicate the peccant cause from the constitution, the relief is but temporary, the relapse certain, and often fatal. In tracing the real source of the malady, with which Ireland is afflicted, we must not look, solely, to the Protestants, or to the Catho lics, or to the clergy, or to the privileged orders, or to the unprivileged classes; we must consider the whole, as forming one bo dy, presenting certain indications of its real indisposition, in those affections, which ap-

pear to pervade every part of that whole. Partial observers, or interested individuals may, without violation of truth, ascribe to a part, what belongs to the whole. The premises may be true, though the conclusion fall short of the extent, to which it would be borne out by them. Such views and such deductions answer all the purposes of a sect or a party, that may have an interest, in disguising the true state of the case, or in embarrassing the government and deceiving the public by a false one. There is no subject of public importance, upon which so little correct information, or so much real ignorance is betrayed in this country, as in the impressions given and entertained, on the actual state of Ireland. To form a judg ment by the factious representations of those men, who scandalously abandoned the Catholics, whilst in office, one would suppose, that emancipation was now a measure of the last importance to Ireland. In my former letter, I stated, and I here repeat the assertion, that the total emancipation of the Catholics, would prove an incalculable benefit to the empire, without having anyconsiderable effect on the internal state of Ireland. I am convinced, that any man, acquainted with the general catholic mind, will agree with me, that the measure, if unaccompanied by others for the redress of practical grievances, would not have the smallest effect, either to eradicate Mr. Grattan's quaint pimple, or supercede the necessity of Mr. Sheridan's equally quaint patch. But, even though the balsam of emancipation were to clear the complexion of the beauty from the pimple, it would not remove from the constitution those ill humours, of which the pimple is but a symp tom. The act of emancipation would have no more influence upon the wretched peasant, than an act, for allowing him to inhabit a slated house, would have, in reconciling him to his miserable cabin, because of the privilege conferred upon him, of being lodg. ed, as well as his superiors, if ever his circumstances should enable him to procure the accommodation. His grievances are practical, his wants real; and it is not by the communication of political rights, which he can never hope to enjoy, that he is to be reconciled to great present privations and grievous prospective burthens. Every honest and impartial man must be a friend to emancipation, but no good or well intentioned subject would wish to force that question into discussion, at present, without some reasonable prospect of success. Indiscreet precipitancy would only tend to retard an event, which every day of sober reflection, on the part of those, who now oppose it, must accelerate

to its final accomplishment.-The subject of tythes and their operation are equally misrepresented, and alike misunderstood in this country. On the ground of right, the property of the clergy and of lay inpropriators, in tythes, is unquestionable; and certainly the attack upon that description of property comes with a very bad grace from the land proprietors. It would be superfluous here to enter into any proof of the common law right of the clergy to tythes, in their several benefices. That proportion of the produce of the soil has been imprescriptably vested in the church; and, I doubt much, whether any land proprietor in the empire, can produce so venerable a title to his estate. It is necessary to bear this in mind in order to decide upon the principles, which have actuated the land proprietors of Ireland in their hostility to the rights of the clergy. It has been stated above, that the title of the clergy on tythes is immemorial and imprescriptable; not so the claims of the Irish land proprie tors.

Nine-tenths of the lands of Ireland have been regranted on forfeiture since the reformation. The lands, of course, passed to the grantees, subject to the claims of the church, which were indefeasible even by the crown; for those lands only, which be longed to the suppressed monasteries, were, or could be, granted over by the executive, discharged of tythes, because these lands alone were previously exempt from their operation. The proprietors, therefore, of nine-tenths of the lands of Ireland, whether claiming by descent, or purchase, from the original grantees, or their representatives, must hold their estates according to the terms of the original grant. They can have no right to what was not, and could not, be conveyed by it--the property of the clergy. Every species of tenure, by which land is onw held in Ireland, has been effected in the contemplation of this prior claim of the clergy. The purchaser and the occupier have acquired their different degrees of property or interest, upon lower terms, in the proportion, that the amount of the tythes diminished the value of the acquisition. It would be unjust, therefore, not only to the clergy, but to those, who either sold or let lands, under this impression, to give, by the abolition of tythes, so valuable an accession of property to the present proprictors or terre-tenants, for which no consideration whatever had been paid, or reserved, at the time of making the purchase or the lease. I know it may be said, that it is not the total abolition, but a reasonable commutation, of tythes, that is sought. I admit that com mutation is the ostensible object of those