Nevertheless, the wish to distinguish himself in public life began to animate the heart of young Stewart. Parliament appears necessary to the youth of Great Britain, and it is there they prepare themselves for political life, taking their place among the Whigs or Tories according to a certain order of political principles. It was necessary the Stewarts should have seats in the Irish parliament, for they had a great stake in the country; but, owing to the family being Protestants, the election was violently contested, and cost the successful candidate thirty thousand pounds. These corruptions are a general rule in England, and they even add to the strength of the country; for there is no danger a bad choice should result from them, every thing being fixed according to settled rules; every thing is so well foreseen and organised by the mechanical arrangements made, that the elections that take place are always of men of safe principles. Pecuniary corruption in the existence of states often acts as a corrective of another, and far more injurious, corruption for a people--I mean ideas tending to revolutionary principles. The Irish parliament, then still existing, was a great cause of disorder in the unity of the British government, until the illustrious Pitt placed every thing under the common law of the triple crown. There is something strange and perfectly inconsistent in the pretensions of Ireland. The people profess to respect the Union without ever wishing to depart from it; and then they claim a parliament for themselves, and desire something resembling a republic independent of England. Let them exult in their Catholic emancipation; they have a right to do so, and cannot value it too highly. But do they wish still to make part of the British empire?--do they wish the harp of Erin still to hold her place on the escutcheon of England? Alone, Ireland cannot subsist. Her commerce is supported by the vast trade of England: she only exists by means of the colonies, and the day she ceases to be English she will be ruined. What, then, is the meaning of all those revolts, those protests on all occasions, which serve no purpose except that of conferring a certain sort of renown upon street orators and demagogues?