Speech of the Right Honourable William Pitt, in the House of Commons, Thursday, January 31, 1799: On offering to the House the resolutions which he proposed as the basis of an union between Great Britain and Ireland: Fifth Edition.Pitt, William
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Speech of the Right Honourable William Pitt, in the House of Commons, Thursday, January 31, 1799: On offering to the House the resolutions which he proposed as the basis of an union between Great Britain and Ireland: Fifth Edition.
Pitt, William
Ireland -- Politics and government -- 1760-1820
That for the like purpose it would be fit to propose, that all Laws
in force at the time of the Union, and that all the Courts of Civil
or Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction within the respective Kingdoms, shall
remain as now by Law established within the same, subject only to such
alterations or regulations from time to time as circumstances may appear
to the Parliament of the UNITED KINGDOM to require.
That the foregoing RESOLUTIONS be laid before His Majesty with an humble
ADDRESS, assuring His Majesty that we have proceeded with the utmost
attention to the consideration of the important objects recommended to us
in His Majesty’s Gracious MESSAGE.
That we entertain a firm persuasion that a COMPLETE AND INTIRE UNION
between Great Britain and Ireland, founded on equal and liberal
Principles, on the similarity of Laws, Constitution and Government, and
on a sense of mutual Interests and Affections, by promoting the Security,
Wealth, and Commerce of the respective Kingdoms, and by allaying the
distractions which have unhappily prevailed in Ireland, must afford fresh
means of opposing at all times an effectual resistance to the destructive
Projects of our Foreign and Domestic Enemies, and must tend to confirm
and augment the Stability, Power, and Resources of the Empire.
Impressed with these considerations, we feel it our duty humbly to lay
before His Majesty such Propositions as appear to us best calculated
to form the Basis of such a settlement, leaving it to His Majesty’s
wisdom, at such time and in such manner as His Majesty, in his Parental
Solicitude for the happiness of his People, shall judge fit, to
communicate these Propositions to His Parliament of Ireland, with whom
we shall be at all times ready to concur in all such Measures as may be
found most conducive to the accomplishment of this great and salutary
Work. And we trust that, after full and mature consideration, such a
Settlement may be framed and established, by the deliberate Consent
of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms, as may be conformable to the
Sentiments, Wishes, and real Interests of His Majesty’s faithful Subjects
of Great Britain and Ireland, and may unite them inseparably in the full
enjoyment of the blessings of our free and invaluable Constitution, in
the support of the Honour and Dignity of His Majesty’s Crown, and in the
preservation and advancement of the Welfare and Prosperity of the whole
British Empire.
APPENDIX.
_The following Message was presented in the House of Commons by Mr. Fox,
Secretary of State, on the 9th of April, 1782._
GEORGE R.
His Majesty being concerned to find that discontents and
jealousies are prevailing among his loyal Subjects in Ireland,
upon matters of great weight and importance, earnestly
recommends to this House, to take the same into their most
serious consideration, in order to such a Final Adjustment as
may give mutual satisfaction to both Kingdoms.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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