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PREFACE.

NONSIDERING the very long acquaintance which

C we have fo happily maintained with the Public, a

Preface to our Twenty-eighth Volume feems a very unneceffary ceremony. Even acknowledgments of kindnefs and profeffions of gratitude become tirefome by a continued repetition; and yet, if cuftom has rendered fuch an introduction neceffary, and it is expected that we should fay fomething upon the subject, how can we poffibly refrain from the genuine expreffion of our fentiments, under the ftrong impreffions which the liberal and unvarying favour of that Public, through fo long a courfe of years, has indelibly stamped upon us? The proper manifeftation, however, of our gratitude, will be in act and not in words; in ufing our utmoft exertions still to preferve the Annual Register in that ftyle of reputation and character, which has hitherto procured it fuch marked diftinction and fo unlimited a patronage.

As the year of which we treat did not fuperabound in political events of great general importance, and was happily free from the dazzling brilliance of military exploits, thefe circumftances afforded us an opportu nity, which we gladly embraced, of completing our retrofpect of fuch matters of confideration, as the excess

and

and urgency of matter in late bufy years, had neceffarily occafioned our poftponing. Of these, the public affairs of our fifter ifland and kingdom, not only claimed the first place from our mutual relation and interest, but demanded it on the account of fuperior importance to all others. We have likewife brought into view no fmall fhare of curious and interefting matter from the tranfactions of foreign nations, which feemed hitherto to have been overlooked. Spain, in particular, has, through the great improvements which for fome time have been taking place in that kingdom, afforded a most pleasing and fertile field for retrofpect. Nor have. other countries, apparently more fterile, been by any means unproductive. In the bufinefs of the prefent year, the exceedingly complicated affairs of Holland, prefented fo alarming an afpect, and indicated confequences by which the interefts and even fecurity of this country might have been fo deeply affected, that their difcuffion neceffarily required our utmost care and most ferious attention.

THE

THE

ANNUAL REGISTER,

For the YEAR 1786.

THE

HISTORY

O F

EUROPE.

CHA P. I.

Ireland. Retrospective view of the internal ftate of affairs in that country. Attempt to reform the conflitution, by shortening the duration of parliaments. Mutiny bill paffed. Meetings of the Irifb volunteers to obtain a parliamentary reform. Ineffectual attempt to induce them to difbard. Bill for effecting a parliamentary reform. -rejected by a great majority; and refolution thereupon. Addrejs to his majesty on that fubje&t. Counter-addrefs. Another bill presented and rejected. Propofition for the relief of the Roman-catholics. Petition of the delegates conveyed to Mr. Pitt. Mr. Pitt's anfwer. Difunion among the volunteers, on the subject of the Romancatholics. Lord Charlemont thanked by the city of Dublin for his conduct. Steps taken by government to prevent the meeting of the delegates. Letter from the Attorney General to the sheriffs of Dublin. High beriff of the county of Dublin profecuted, fined, and imprisoned; others alfo profecuted." Meetings of delegates nevertheless beld. Another bill prefented, and rejected. Diftreffes of the manufacturers of Dublin. Committee appointed for their relief. Mr. Gardener's plan-rejected by a very great majority. Violent ferment amongst the people Outrages of the mob, who are difperfed by the military. Bill for reftricting the liberty of the press. Petitions againft. Modified, and paffed. Non-importation agreements entered into. Precautions to prevent enormities. Lord Lieutenant incurs popular odium, and is openly infulted. Commercial arrangement between Great Britain and Ireland. A fet of refolutions prefented to the boufe of commons in Ireland; agreed to; VOL. XXVIII. transmitted

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tranfmitted to England. Bufinefs opened in the boufe of commons here by Mr. Pitt; bis fpeech. Propofitions minutely inveftigated. Ten new propofitions added. Propofitions paffed. Very strongly oppofed in the house of lords; paffed. Bill thereupon. Propofitions tranfmitted to Ireland; their reception there. Bill moved for, corref pondent to that in England; debates thereupon. Speeches of Mr. Grattan and Mr. Flood. Bill brought in; ordered to be printed. Further profecution of the measure declined. Mr. Örde's fpeech on the occafion.-Intended emigration of the Genevese to Ireland. Reception of their commissioners there. Difagreement between the parties. Scheme proves abortive.

WR

E have already feen, that by feveral acts of parliament which paffed in the year 1780, the commerce of Ireland was freed from thofe ruinous reftrictions with which it had been long thackled, through the fhortfighted policy and narrow prejudices of the British nation.

In the year 1782, the declaratory act of George the Second was repealed; and by another ftatute, which paffed in the following year, the authority of the British parliament, in all matters both of legiflation and jurifdiction, were renounced, and the political independence of the kingdom of Ireland was compleatly eftablished.

The only object therefore that remained for the confideration of the refpective governments of each country, was the fettlement of a fyftem of commercial intercourfe betwixt the two kingdoms, upon a firm and permanent batis.

Before we enter upon this part of our hiftory, it may be neceflary to take a thort retrofpective view of the internal ftate of affairs in that country.

The fpirit of reforming the conffitution, by fhortening the duration of parliaments, and establishing a more equal reprefentation of the people, which broke out in Great Britain about the year 1779, paff d over at the fame period into the

kingdom of Ireland.-It has always been queftioned, whether any confiderable part of the people of England, however unpopular the houfe of commons may at times have rendered itself to the nation, was at all diflatisfied with the established mode of reprefentation, or expected any effectual relief from the more frequent return of elections.

In Ireland, thefe projects of reformation certainly met with a much more general reception-a circumftance not difficult to be accounted for, when we confider the ferment which then exifted in that kingdom, and how favourable fuch moments are to every fpecies of political innovation.

In the year 1779, the parliament of Ireland, in their addreffes to the throne, had, in firm and manly language, demanded the restoration of their commercial freedom. In order to give effect to this requifition, refolutions were entered into by the inhabitants of the trading towns to prevent the importation of British manufactures; and thefe refolutions were often enforced with a degree of violence and outrage, which the civil authority of the country was unable to reftiain. This vigorous and determined fpirit of the people had a forcible effect upon the deliberations of parliament; all new fupplies for the current fervices of the executive government were de

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