MR. GRATTAN TO MR. DAY.

MY DEAR DAY,

Granby Row, Feb. 27, 1772.

You have expected parliamentary and national intelligence. You have conceived, from the present situation of Ireland, that both would have been interesting. You have deceived yourself; great objects have been agitated; no comprehensive or violent debates have ensued. The addition of five Commissioners, whether you consider it as a useless, a venal, an expensive, or an insulting measure, was highly exceptionable; that it demanded national resentment, and parliamentary assertion, was allowed by every party in opposition. The degree to which it should be resented, the measure by which it should vindicate its dignity, were subjects of division among all. The Duke of Leinster insisted on expulsion; Lord Shannon wished for mildness; Mr. Ponsonby was impatient for a Committee to the King; each condemned the redress proposed by the other, till they all were almost reconciled to the grievance. Men who meant well to the kingdom, and stood unconnected, saw that no strong measure could be carried, and that no meek measure was sufficient. Flood accordingly conceived a motion which, without an alarming violence, would be to the new Commission highly embarrassing. Though the King may have a power, by Act of Parliament, to appoint twelve Commissioners, yet, to enable a division of the boards to act with a separate efficacy, a new Act of Parliament is, I am told, indispensable to resolve that the House of Commons would not pass such an Act, was his motion. The papers have told you

that this motion was carried. After the success of this motion, it was moved to suspend the five Commissioners

of Excise from their attendance on the House of Commons; but this motion was defeated immediately. The sociable disposition of our country, as well as its moderation, would never support a measure of personal violence. Another motion was made, to condemn the advice which persuaded the King to appoint these Commissioners. It was, upon an equality of voices, referred to the Speaker, who determined, without hesitation, in favour of opposition. Nothing more has been done, I believe, because nothing more can be carried. Defensive resolutions may be passed in Ireland, but an active perseverance is beyond the spirit of our parliament or people.

Flood and Hussey were not eminent in these debates. Flood did not excel, because he did not exert himself in eloquence; but persuaded, that a single suffrage was of the last consequence, and that it was easy to disgust a fluctuating individual, he was cautious in every assertion, shrewd and guarded in every observation; he watched the varying countenance of the House, and hastened to correct every prejudicial impression, in the language of wisdom, not oratory. Lord Shannon, it is imagined, is gone over to Government; if so, Lord Townshend may possibly see another Session, not otherwise. Remember me to all our friends.

Yours, most affectionately,

HENRY GRATTAN.

MR. GRATTAN TO MR. BROOME.

Dec. 29, 1772.

I did intend to write before, but hate to write to you in a hurry, and in the same temper with which I write to others. I am now at Celbridge, go to Calvertstown tomorrow, but will probably return to Celbridge, and not go

on to Kilkenny. I have, for these few days, read the law; and I see the nonsense of being a practitioner, unless I spend my vacations for the purpose of study in one place. Last summer was completely so much time taken out of my life, of which I can never give the smallest

account.

Ireland continues in perfect repose, except a dueli nothing gives it entertainment.

Lord Harcourt is proper and decent, and old and polite; and having done nothing, has done no mischief: he is very much the reverse of poor Sancho.*

Sir William Osborne is not yet, as I have heard, dismissed. It is generally believed he will be turned out, as he refuses to take the oaths, under the new appointment of the Commissioners, who are now constructed in a different manner, in consequence of the division of the boards.

I wish you could be in Dublin any part of this winter; we might have pleasant parties together, to Powerscourt, &c. &c. I enjoy the country in expedition with you, more than in a course of residence.

I am much obliged to you and Mooret for a wish to see me, but really (I am speaking truth), the time of year, the shortness of the vacation, the scattered visits which I must make, and the necessity of reading a little to a man who has a great prospect of study, though not of advancement, would make the journey to Dunamore inconvenient.

Yours most affectionately,

HENRY GRATTAN.

* Lord Townshend, so named in " Barataria.”

Afterwards Judge Moore, a great friend of Mr. Grattan, who as sisted in his return for Wicklow, to oppose the Union in 1800, and on

whose arm he came leaning into the House of Commons, when attacked by Mr. Corry.

262

CHAPTER XII.

Close of Lord Townshend's administration.-Accession of Lord Harcourt. - Absentee tax proposed but abandoned. - Insignificant concessions to Ireland. First concession to the Catholics.-Conformity encouraged. Origin of Irish resistance. The American question.-Ireland called on to assist in the war.-She resists.Popular efforts against the measure. The spirit of the people roused. The Hutchinsons. Hely Hutchinson. - Double duel. Mr. Grattan to Mr. Broome. The same to the same. Character of Hely Hutchinson.-His powers as a speaker-His satire.-Attack on Flood.-Attorney-General Tisdall.-Anecdotes.Death of Tisdall.

LORD Townshend's Government at length retired, and gave place to Lord Harcourt's, whose administration commenced in November 1772 with many professions of economy, and great promise of reduction; but it proved not less extravagant or more constitutional than the preceding. It originated one, and altered four money-bills in the Privy Council. Its profusion and expense were as improper and unjustifiable; and though the House of Commons had, in 1757, unanimously voted that "the granting so much of the public

revenues in pensions, was an improvident disposition of the revenues, an injury to the crown, and detrimental to the people," and though complaints on this subject had been general under the preceding administration, yet from 1772, the date of its accession, to 1777, when it retired, the list of pensions was augmented from 52,2531. to 89,0951.

In October 1733, Parliament assembled, and provided for the payment of an arrear of 265,000/., and granted in addition near 100,000l. a-year, to which increase of duties they were induced by the solemn pledge given to the Commons, that the expenses of Government would be retrenched, and an end put to the practice of running in debt. The Board of Excise, which in the preceding administration had been augmented, was reduced, and an absentee-tax proposed on the part of Government, a tax of two shillings in the pound on the net rents of those who did not reside six months in each year in Ireland.* The English absentee proprietors took the alarm, and a letter was addressed to Lord North from the Duke of Devonshire, Lords Rockingham, Besborough, Mil

* "No news, but that the ministry give up the Irish tax ;-some say, because it will not pass in Ireland; others, because the city of London would have petitioned against it; and some, because there were factions in the council-which is not the most incredible of all. I am glad, for the sake of some of my friends, who would have suffered by it, that it is over."-Horace Walpole's Correspondence, November 1773: Letter to the Earl of Strafford.