In the debate which followed the delivery of the royal message, Mr. Pitt observed—“Ireland is subject to great and deplorable evils, which have a deep root, for they lie in the situation of the country itself—in the present character manners and habits of its people—in their want of intelligence—in the unavoidable separation between certain classes—in the state of property—in its religious distinctions—in the rancour which bigotry engenders and superstition rears and cherishes.” If such circumstances combine to make a country wretched, the remedy ought, he said, to be sought for in the institution of “an imperial legislature, standing aloof from local party connexion, and sufficiently removed from the influence of contending factions, to be the advocate or champion of neither. A legislature which will neither give way to the haughty pretensions of a few, nor open the door to popular inroads, to clamour, or to invasion of all sacred forms and regularities, under the false and imposing colours of philosophical improvement in the art of government.” This, he said, “is the thing that is wanted in Ireland. Where is it to be found?—in that country or in this?—certainly in England; and to neglect to establish such a legislature when it is possible to do so, would be (he declared) an improvidence which nothing could justify.” Much of the evil which Ireland then laboured under arose, Mr. Pitt considered, from the condition of the parliament of that country. “When there are two independent parliaments in one empire,” he observed, “you have no security for a continuance of their harmony and cordial co-operation. We all have in our mouths a sentence that every good Englishman and good Irishman feels—we must stand or fall together, we should live and die together—but without such a measure as that which is about to be proposed, there can be no security for the continuance of that sentiment.” And he concluded a long and powerful address, by saying, “I am bound to convey to this house every information which it may be in my power to give; but however acceptable to the one or to the other side of the house, however acceptable or otherwise to those whom I respect on the other side the water, my sentiments upon this subject may be, my duty compels me to speak them freely. I see the case so plainly, and I feel it so strongly, that there is no circumstance of apparent or probable difficulty, no apprehension of popularity, no fear of toil or labour, that shall prevent me from using every exertion which remains in my power to accomplish the work that is now before us, and on which I am persuaded depend the internal tranquillity of Ireland, the interest of the British empire at large, and I hope I may add, the happiness of a great part of the habitable world.” The address in answer to the Royal message was carried without a division. [Sidenote: 1800. Mr. Pitt’s speech on submitting resolutions for the Union.]