There is no man who will deny that in a great question of this nature, involving in it objects which, in the first instance, are more likely to be decided upon by passion than by judgment; in a question in which an honest but, I must be allowed to say, a mistaken sense of National Pride is so likely to operate, that much misconstruction and misconception must inevitably happen. It therefore becomes the more necessary that the intentions of the Government which proposes the Measure, and the principles of the Measure itself, should be distinctly understood. But, Sir, in stating that intention and those principles, I look to something more than a mere vindication of Government for having proposed the Measure. I do entertain a confidence, even under the apparent discouragement of the opinion expressed by the Irish House of Commons, that this Measure is founded upon such clear, such demonstrable grounds of utility, is so calculated to add to the strength and power of the Empire, (in which the safety of Ireland is included, and from which it never can be separated) and is attended with so many advantages to Ireland in particular, that all that can be necessary for its ultimate adoption is, that it should be stated distinctly, temperately, and fully, and that it should be left to the unprejudiced, the dispassionate, the sober judgment of the Parliament of Ireland. I wish that those whose interests are involved in this measure should have time for its consideration—I wish that time should be given to the Landed, to the Mercantile, and Manufacturing Interest, that they should look at it in all its bearings, and that they should coolly examine and sift the popular arguments by which it has been opposed, and that then they should give their deliberate and final judgment. I am the more encouraged in this hope of the ultimate success of this measure, when I see, notwithstanding all the prejudices which it has excited, that barely more than one-half of the members that attended the House of Commons were adverse to it; and that in the other House of Parliament in Ireland, containing, as it does, so large a portion of the property of that kingdom, it was approved of by a large majority.—When I have reason to believe that the sentiments of a large part of the People of that Country are favourable to it; and that much of the Manufacturing, and of the Commercial Interest of Ireland are already sensible how much it is calculated to promote their advantage, I think, when it is more deliberately examined, and when it is seen in what temper it is here proposed and discussed, that it will still terminate in that which can alone be a fortunate result.