and conclude on reasonable terms. I beseech you above all things be distinct and explicit."[1]
The incapacity of Portland proved at this moment a great obstacle in the way or the English Cabinet. He had begun by assuring Shelburne that the Irish demands would not prove so extreme as had been anticipated, and that some of them would admit of modification. Hence the speech of Shelburne on the 11th of April. It is difficult to find out upon what facts the Duke had based these expectations. "Your Grace," Shelburne at length wrote to him, "seemed at first to apprehend by the requisitions they urged for the repeal of the Act 6 George I., that the chief object of their expectations was the independent legislature," which however was in no manner inconsistent with the idea of obtaining some guarantee for a permanent contribution by Ireland to what at the present day we should call Imperial purposes, "and that the point of final judicature would not be so strongly contended for, or any alteration required in the appellate jurisdiction either by writ of error, or by appealing to the House of Lords; and that in regard to Poynings' law it was only wished to be modified, and that there was much difference of opinion about the extent of the modification. On the subject of the Mutiny Bill you did not suppose that any objection would be made on our part to the wishes of Ireland respecting it; but after the account received of what passed in the two Houses, your Grace felt yourself at a loss in regard to the opinion you were to give of the wishes or sentiments of the people, nor could you positively assert without better information that there was even any intention of retaining the advantage of appealing to the Judicature of England, while every one of the propositions in question seemed to be insisted upon with unanimous zeal and ardour. I must therefore hope, that your Grace will have gained such additional insight into the nature and extent of their views, that
- ↑ Shelburne to Fitzpatrick, April 19th, 1782.
