spending disposition on the part of Ireland, and is persuaded that the Parliament of this country will cooperate in the most effectual method, either with the King's confidential servants, or with Commissioners appointed by the Parliament of Great Britain, or through the medium of the Chief Governor of this kingdom, to settle the precise limits of that independence which is required, the consideration that should be given for the protection expected, and the share it would be proper for them to contribute towards the general support of the Empire."[1]
With this information before them the Cabinet had no choice, and on the 17th of May Shelburne carried without serious opposition the two following resolutions in the House of Lords:
1. That it is the opinion of this House, that the Act of the 6th of George I., entitled "An Act for the better securing the dependency of Ireland upon the Crown of Great Britain," ought to be repealed.
2. That it is the opinion of this House, that it is indispensable to the interest and happiness of both Kingdoms, that the connection between them should be established by mutual consent, upon a solid and permanent footing, and that an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, that his Majesty will be graciously pleased to take such measures as his Majesty in his royal wisdom shall think most conducive to that important end.[2]
- ↑ Portland to Shelburne, May 6th, 1782.
- ↑ In Arthur Young's Tour in Ireland, ch. xxiii. (ii. 250-251, ed. 1892) will be found the outline of a plan for a permanent agreement as to a contribution for military and naval expenses by Ireland, for which the author says he was indebted to Lord Shelburne, and from a speech made by Dr. Lawrence in the English House of Commons, on January 22nd, 1799, it is clear that there was a complete identity of views between Burke and Shelburne on this subject. Dr. Lawrence speaking against the proposal for the Union of the Parliaments, having referred to Mr. Burke as "an illustrious friend of his now no more, whose pre-eminent abilities had been for many years the admiration of that House and of the Kingdoms of Europe, whose wonderful endowments yielded to nothing but the benevolence of his heart and his pure, his ardent, his enlightened love of his country," went on to say: "He (Mr. Burke) never had in contemplation any such measure as the present. On the contrary, it was his opinion that the two countries had now grown up under circumstances which did not admit of such an incorporation. But what he desired was that the connexion of the sister kingdoms should be reduced to a positive compact, that the manner should be explicitly defined in which Ireland, with the entire and absolute power of local legislation as far as she now enjoys it, should be bound on Imperial questions of peace and war to stand or fall with the fortunes of Great Britain." (See a letter from Professor Swift McNeill in the Times of February 24th, 1912.)
