and since my return I have put off writing from day to day, in order to be more perfectly master of those topics upon which I mean to write to you, and which are of infinite importance not only to the credit of our Administration, but to the well-being of the country.

"And first with respect to the Volunteers and their delegates. I want words to express to you how critical, in the genuine sense of the word, I conceive the present moment to be. Unless they dissolve in a reasonable time, Government, and even the name of it, must be at an end. This, I think, will hardly be disputed. Now, it appears to me that upon the event of the present session of your Parliament this question will entirely depend. If they are treated as they ought to be, if you show firmness, and the firmness is seconded by the aristocracy and Parliament, I look to their dissolution as a certain and not very distant event. If otherwise, I reckon their Government, or rather their anarchy, as firmly established as such a thing is capable of being; but your Government certainly is completely annihilated. “If you ask me what I mean by firmness, I have no scruple in saying that I mean it in the strictest sense, and understand by it a determination not to be swayed in any the slightest degree by the Volunteers, nor even to attend to any petition that may come from them. This sounds. violent, but I am clear it is right; for if they can pretend with any plausibility that they have carried any one point, it will be a motive for their continuing in their present state, and they will argue thus: We carried this this year; let us go on as we have done, and we shall carry some other point in the next.' Immense concessions were made in the Duke of Portland's time, and those concessions were declared by an almost unanimous House of Commons

to be sufficient. The account must be considered as having been closed on the day of that vote, and should never again be opened on any pretence whatever. It is true that the bill we passed here last year does not agree with my system; but you know the history of that bill, and the stage in which it was when we came in, otherwise I am satisfied it never would have been passed-at least I am sure it would not without the strongest opposition from the Duke of Portland and me.

"It is possible that I may be told that these are fine words, but that to act up to them is impossible. It may be So, but every information I have had from Ireland leads me to think that the spirit and firmness of the aristocracy will depend entirely upon the degree shown of those qualities in the Castle. Recollect that this is a crisis. Peace is the natural period to the Volunteers, and if they are encouraged to subsist for any considerable time after this period, all is gone, and our connexion with Ireland is worse than none at all. I have so high an opinion of Grattan's ́integrity and love of his country, that I cannot persuade myself that he can see the present situation in any other light than that in which I do. Volunteers, and soon possibly Volunteers without property, will be the only Government in Ireland, unless they are faced this year in a manful manner; and there is no man in conscience and honour so much bound to face them as Grattan himself. He has employed a dangerous instrument for honourable purposes; now that those purposes are answered, fully answered, by his own declaration in the vote before alluded to, is he not peculiarly bound to take care that so dangerous a weapon should no longer remain in unskilful or perhaps wicked hands, to be employed for objects as bad as his were

VOL. II.

just and honourable? England justly relied much on his opinion that they would be satisfactory, in making the concessions in 1782, and he is therefore bound to England for the Irish part of the bargain, which was nothing more than to be satisfied.

"I heard with great satisfaction from Serjeant Adair that Grattan, though a friend to the parliamentary reform, would take a wise distinction upon the manner in which it comes to the consideration of Parliament, and oppose it steadily upon that ground; but from what the Duke of Portland read me from Pelham's letter, I do not think this appears quite so certain. I know your natural inclination is to firmness, perhaps much more than mine is, and therefore I hope all I have said upon the subject is superfluous; but I am so perfectly convinced that this is the crisis of the fate of Ireland, that I cannot help dwelling upon it. The Volunteers never were, depend upon it, so considerable as they were represented. Their having chosen a madman. for their head, of whose honesty, too, there is no opinion, and their having laid their chief stress upon a point upon which there is so much real difference of opinion in both countries, and which militates as much against the interests of the prevailing influences in Parliament, are circumstances which must have weakened them. If they are resisted, I am satisfied they will be defeated, and I cannot bring myself to think that much is risked in the trial; for if they are suffered to carry their points by timidity and acquiescence, it is as much over with English government, in my judgment, as if they had carried them by force. All other points appear to me to be trifling in comparison of this great one of the Volunteers; but I will trouble you with a few observations upon some others.

"In regard to annual sessions, I own I do not think them very material, and in some respects, perhaps, I see some advantages arising to Government from them. You must have misunderstood Lord North, if you consider yourself as precluded either from consenting to them, or even from proposing them by your friends in Parliament. The propriety of such a measure was meant to be left to your discretion, but it was the mentioning of them in the speech that was objected to, and I own I concurred in this objection; but if I had imagined that you thought this form of proposing them to be as material as I now suspect you did, I should have been of another opinion. I wish, therefore, for the future, when you write for instructions on material points, that you or Pelham would write a private letter to the Duke of Portland or me, letting us know how far you consider each point as important to your plans and arrangements; if we had conceived that you considered the mention of this point in the speech to be of this nature, I have no doubt but your instructions would have been agreeable to your wishes. With respect to some other points which have been discussed among us to-day, perhaps the same observations will hold. I own I think the production of Pinto's paper to the House formally, a very exceptionable measure; but if you upon the spot judge it necessary, my opinion will alter. However, I must say that it would be a very dangerous precedent, and tend very much to embarrass persons in my situation in all future negotiations. You will understand, however, that my objection is entirely to the formal production of it. I have none whatever to Pelham's informing the House correctly of all that has passed, and even reading Pinto's memorial as a part of his speech, if he choose it. My objection is to

the grounding of a proceeding upon a memorial of a foreign Minister, which, in my opinion, ought never to be done, except in the cases of going to war or of censuring a Minister. However, this may be given up to a very pressing conveniency, though certainly it ought not to be done. But no conveniency in my opinion would justify the laying before the Irish Parliament the definitive treaties, preliminaries, &c. If they are once produced, who can say that they shall not be discussed, that addresses shall not be moved upon them, and that the opinions of the two kingdoms, upon the conduct of the Ministers who made them, may not be diametrically opposite? The responsibility of Ministers here can only be to the British Parliament; and to lay treaties before an assembly to whom we are not responsible would only be an idle compliment at best; but might be in the end productive of some of the worst consequences, which are to be feared from the very peculiar relation in which the two kingdoms now stand one to the other.

"What you propose about beer is so reasonable that there can be no objection of a public nature; but the intention which there is in the Treasury of laying a very heavy tax upon that article (which, by the way, ought not to be mentioned), makes one wish, if possible, to avoid doing anything which our brewers will complain of. The prudence of listening to this objection will depend upon the degree of advantage you expect from the measure you propose, and of this you must be the judge.

"I hope, my dear Northington, that you will not consider this long letter as meant to blame your conduct; but I think I owe it as much to my friendship for you as to the public to give you fairly my opinion and advice in your