AN EPISTLE to Lieut. ARTHUR MAHON. Of the Roscommon Militia, on the recovery of his paternal property at Cavetown, near Boyle, after a long and expensive Law-suit. By the Rev. JOHN GRAHAM, М. А. FROM mountains wild and ocean's dreary shore, Midst raging winds and wave's eternal roar, Where wintry storms and winds deform the year, [pear; Where few and weak the blasted trees apI hail thee, MAHON, form'd for happier days, For polish'd life, for affluence and ease. Health to my friend, may many a happy day Roll o'er his head and joyful pass away; May Tune advancing - each revolving hour, [pour; New joys, new blessings, round about him Think, Oh my friend, what joy possess'd my heart, [part, To hear how firmly you have play'd your Till every doubt and every danger past, You've gain'd possession of your lands at last. How fair the prospect Heaven before you throws, [woes; How great this recompence for all your When war's wild tumult in the land shall cease, And din of arms subside in gentle peace; • When crowds disbanded down their arms shall lay, [pay; And live to starve on half their present Then shall my friend retire with her he loves, [groves; To Cavetown's vale-romantic lake and There, as our own dear Goldsmith wish'd in vain, Returning view his natal spot again. There, "all his wanderings, o'er his sorrows past, [last." Return in peace, and die at home at Not so with me since far from those I prize, My lot in life-my scope of action lies; Inclos'd by mountains on the Atlantic shore, The charms of nature I behold no more; Thro' all the year the loud wild Western breeze [trees; Repels the verdure and keeps down the Summer in short-lived glory flatters here, While ten months' winter rules the gloomy year; Here am I stationed-here's my bitter lot, "My friends forgetting-hy my friends forgot;" My flock thin scatter'd o'er the mountain's side, [divide. Deep roads, rough glens and lofty cliffs Oft in the dead of night I leave my bed, Call'd to attend the dying or the dead; And with a rural guide must search my way, O'er faithless bogs or inlets of the sea, Where, if my horse should start or tura aside, -[ing tide; We're both plung'd headlong in the foamSuch is my present state-this picture's true, [view, -Best when my prospects rush upon my Then comes the pang-while youth and health remaio, [rain; I scorn the winds and waves, and chilling When call'd by day-time, or by nightI reck not tempests howling o'er my head; But when old age shall steal upon my time led, brow, [now? How shall I bear the toils I smile at When thunders roll and lightning flashes bright, [night? How shall I wade thro' seas and bogs at Will then the Curate's salary afford, The common comforts of the household board? Will then his eighty pounds a year maintain, A family to soothe old age and pain; -My soul grows faint, and languid at the view, [you; -Sad for myself-no pleasing theme for -But in all states-whatever fate be mine, Still am I, Mahon, ever truly thine: JOHN GRAHAM. Kilrush, November 19, 1800. THE ROSE. To my fair one I give a young rose, For her bosom an ornament meet; There plac'd it soon opens and blows, And sineils more abundantly sweet. From her bosom the rose she removes, Nor seems my poor favour to prize; Its fragrance no longer improves, It droops, grows insipid, and dies. * Curate of five united parishes, extending twenty-five miles along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in the county of Clare, where he remained ten years. HISTORICAL CHRONICLE. PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF COMMONS, June 5. On the motion of Mr. Baring, a Committee was appointed to inquire into the means of maintaining and improving the Foreign Trade of the Country. Lord John Russell moved the order of the day for going into a Committee on the Grampound Disfranchisement Bill. Mr R. Smith and Mr. Serjeant Onslow supported the measure. Mr. D. Gilbert moved an instruction to the Committee to limit the Bill to extending the right of suffrage to the hundreds of Poudry and Piedre. Here Mr. Vansittart, having stated that there was some pressing business which required the attention of His Majesty's Ministers, the further debate on the noble Lord's motion was postponed to Monday next. The Insolvent Debtors Bill went through a Committee; in which, after some opposition from Mr. Denman, a clause was agreed to for the appointment of three Commissioners, instead of one. HOUSE OF LORDS, June 6. The King came to the House in the usual state about two o'clock'; and, the Commons being in attendance, gave the Royal Assent to the Civil List Bill, the Insolvent Debtors Continuation Bill, the Stage Coach Regulation Bill, Glebe Lands Bill, and other public and private Bills. A Message from the King, relative to the arrival of the Queen, was presented by Lord Liverpool. (See Part I. p. 556.) In the Commons, the same day, Lord Castlereagh appeared at the Bar, and presented a Message from His Majesty to the House of Commons, which having been received Lord Castlereagh said, he had now to move an humble Address to his Majesty, thanking him for his gracious communication, and to assure his Majesty that the House would lose no time in proceeding to take the papers into consideration. He should now give notice that he should to-morrow move to refer the papers now Jaid before the House to a Secret Committee. The noble Lord then moved the Address. Mr. Bennet put some questions to Lord Castlereagh, who, however, declined saying any thing till to-morrow. Mr. Beaumont, Mr. Creevey, Sir Robert Wilson, Mr. Brougham, and Mr. Denman, also addressed the House in defence of her Majesty. The Address to his Majesty, thanking him for his gracious Message, was agreed to. HOUSE OF LORDS, June 7. The Earl of Liverpool, on the King's Message being read, moved an Address thereon. He then moved for a Secret Committee, consisting of fifteen Lords, for the purpose of examining the papers laid before the House, and to report upon them as they might think fit. The Marquis of Lansdown objected to this mode of procedure respecting the conduct of her Majesty, upon the supposition that their Lordships might eventually be called upon to decide judicially in the matter. Lord Liverpool, in reply to this objec tion, observed, that judicial proceedings were quite out of the question; because, suppose the Queen guilty of adultery abroad, and, for argument sake, suppose the evidence clear beyond any reasonable doubt; in such a case he had the highest legal authority for saying, that such a case would not be high treason by the laws of this Country; nor would it be in any way cognizable by the Civil Law. The noble Lord then proceeded to observe, that the Statute of Edward III. laid down that an act of adultery committed by any person, with respect to the Queen, the Wife of the Heir Apparent, or the King's eldest Daughter, was high treason. That act did not make the crime high treason in the female, but the practice of the Courts had made up for the defect in the Act, and established that the consenting female was guilty of high treason. This could only be as an accessary; as to treason every accessary was a principal; but this Act did not apply to the case of the Queen, or Princess of Wales, committing adultery with a foreigner abroad. The foreigner, as owing no allegiance, was guilty of no crime, and she could not be accessary to a crime which had no existence. This was the opinion of the highest law authorities; and this opinion answered the objection of the noble Marquis, as it precluded the possibility of an impeachinent by the House of Commons. Lord Castlereagh, in rising to call the attention of the House to his Majesty's most gracious Message, said, he was convinced that the House would feel as he did, the extremely painful and delicate task imposed upon him in bringing on, perhaps, the most distressing and deeply interesting public question that had ever been agitated in that House. He assured the House, that if he had not been persuaded, in common with his colleagues, that he had come to this important task with all that preparation which was dictated by prudence, and a constitutional attachment to the illustrious personage most intimately concerned in the affair; and unless he was satisfied that every effort on the part of the Administration to avert this most painful duty had been exhausted-if he had not been persuaded of all this, he should have risen with a more heavy heart than he now rose with, to submit his observations to the House. If the question had not taken the course which it had, and had not the House been called upon in a more particular manner by the communication just made by the Hon. and Learned Gentleman, he (Lord Castlereagh) might have been induced to suppose that there was still some ground for the assumption, that it was a matter yet to be determined on, whether the House should enter upon the cousideration of the subject at all. His Lordship then took an able review of the case, and in conclusion observed, that he would not disguise from the House, that he anxiously felt the difficulties which they had to contend against; but he trusted that whatever those difficulties might be, there was wisdom enough in Parliament to surmount them; that there would be an absence of all warmth and intemperate zeal, and that a calm disposition would be felt and shown to do justice to all parties without favour or affection. But if any disposition was felt in any quarter to make this subject a source of agitation to the country, and here he could not in justice abstain from stating that as far as the two Honourable and Learned Gentlemen opposite were concerned, there was a total absence of all such disposition; but if it turned out that her Majesty had lent herself to any mis. chievous and coarse adviser-(Loud cheers) -the result would ultimately teach her, that, as far as her honour and her innocence were concerned, and he trusted she would be able to establish both-(Cheers from the Opposition)-but, as far as her character was concerned, she would find that it could derive nothing but stain and reproach from such dangerous, such weak, or wicked advisers. The noble Lord concluded with moving, "That the Papers which were yesterday presented, and laid on the Table of the House, be referred to a Secret Committee, to consider the matter thereof, and to report thereon to the House." secret Mr. Brougham, in a speech of great length and ability, which our limits will not allow us to give, opposed the motion; and in conclusion observed, that the Queen positively protested against any inquiry. She cared not what tribunal it was before which she might be brought; but she desired to be made acquainted with the nature of the proceedings intended to be instituted against her; and to be confronted with the witnesses which should be brought forward. He implored the House to take all the circumstances. into consideration; and his last prayer was, that negociations, if entered into, should not be all at once broken off; but that, if possible, they might be brought to such a termination as should save the Country from the calamities that might otherwise fall upon it. After Mr. Canning had addressed the House, Mr. Wilberforce proposed an adjournment until Friday, in order to afford an opportunity for an adjustment of this painful question. After a few observations from Mr. W. Wynn, the motion was agreed to. HOUSE OF LORDS, June 8. Lord Kenyon moved that the Ballot for the Secret Committee should be postponed, in hopes that a friendly arrangement might yet be accomplished, with which view proceedingshad been delayed in another place. Lord Liverpool was not aware of any circumstances which could justify delay as to the ballotting, but he could have no objection to fix the first meeting of the Committee for Tuesday next. The Marquis of Lansdown, and Lords Holland, Carnarvon, Darnley, and Rosslyn, spoke in favour of delaying the Ballot. Lords Lauderdale, Erskine, and Donoughmore, approved of the course suggested by Lord Liverpool. The motion for immediately procecding with the Ballot was carried by a majority, proxies included, of 108 to 29. The following were reported as forming the Committee: Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Chancellor, Lord President of the Council, Duke of Beaufort, Duke of Northumberland, Marquis of Lansdown, Marquis of Buckingham, Earl of Liverpool, Earl of Donoughmore, Earl Beauchamp, Viscount Sidmouth, Bishop of London, Lord Redesdale, Lord Erskine, Earl of Lauderdale. HOUSE OF COMMONS, June 9. Lord Castlereagh moved that the consideration of the order of the day for referring to a Select Committee the papers accompanying His Majesty's Message be further postponed to Monday. Mr. Mr. Brougham fully agreed with the noble Lord, that it would be improper now to enter into explanations. Mr. C. W. Wynn said, no one could suppose that the renewal of the negotiation, come from whichever party it might, was the result of any other feeling than a deference to the wishes of the House of Commons, re-echoed back to it as those wishes had been by every individual from one end of the country to the other. The motion was then agreed to. The House, in a Committee of Supply, after a long discussion on the navy estimates voted 1,956,566l. for that service. The House having gone into a Committee of Ways and Means, Mr. Vansittart stated the terms on which the Loan for 5,000,000l. had that day been taken, which, he said, were a half per cent. better for the Public than the Loan of last year. He concluded with proposing Resolutions, sanctioning the contract, which were agreed to after a long conversation, in which Mr. Vansittart, Mr. Hume, Mr. Ricardo, Mr. Grenfell, Alderman Heygate, and Mr. Barham, took part. HOUSE OF COMMONS, June 12. The Insolvent Debtors' Bill went through a Committee, in which it received several additional clauses. June 14. On the motion of Mr. Serjeant Onslow, after a pretty general conversation, a Select Committee was appointed to consider of the propriety of making it a Standing Order of the House, that in future no Bill for the regulation of any trade or manufacture should be read a first time, unless upon the report of a Select Committee, to whom it should be previously submitted. Mr. W. Parnell obtained leave to bring in a Bill to amend so much of the Poor Laws as authorized the arrest of Irish Paupers, and their transportation to the Irish coast. Mr. Wrottesley obtained leave to bring in a Bill to prevent the inconvenience arising from the too great facility of publishing the specifications of new inventions enrolled by patentees. Col. Bagwell called the attention of the House to the great distress prevalent in the South of Ireland, from the failure of 11 local banks. Sir J. Mackintosh then moved, in a most elegant speech, a new writ for the City of Dublin, in the room of the late Mr. Grattan. Mr. Grattan, he said, was the only man of this age who had received a parliamentary reward for services rendered in Parliament, although he was then only a private gentleman, without civil or military honours. The Commons of Ireland had voted an estate for him and his family, "as a testimony of the national gratitude, for great national services." He had been the founder of the liberties of his country. From being only a dependent province upon England he made her a friend and equal; he called to the enjoyment of their freedom a brave and generous people; and he was the only man recorded in history who had liberated his country from the domination of a foreign power, not by arms and blood, but by his wisdom and eloquence. It was his peculiar felicity that he enjoyed as much consideration in that country, whose power over his own he had done his utmost to decrease, as he enjoyed in that for which he had achieved that important liberation. He had survived every feeling of political hostility, occasioned by that important service; and if it were possible, that in that divided assembly any honour could now be paid to this exalted individual equal to that which he had enjoyed in life, it would be clearly that which should be an unanimous recognition of his meritorious character. Though he felt it his duty to oppose the legislative union of the two countries, yet no man, when it was achieved, was more ardent in his wishes for its permanence. To his previous exertions it was owing that they met upon equal terms, and as independent nations; and that, instead of receiving laws from England, the Irish members in this country now took their full share and equal participation of the duties of legislation, and of the conduct of the affairs of both kingdoms. [Here the learned Gentleman gave a character of Mr. Grattan, which has been already noticed in part I. p. 565.] He trusted that he should not be thought too fanciful if he expressed his hope that the honours paid to Mr. Grattan's memory in this country might have some tendency to promote the great objects of his life, by showing to Ireland how much we valued services rendered to her, even at the expence of our own prejudices and pride. The man who has so served her must ever be the object of the reverential gratitude and pious recollections of every Irishman. When the illustrious dead of different kingdoms were at length interred within the same cemetery, there would seem to be a closer union between them than laws and nations could effect; and whenever the remains of the great man should be carried to that spot where slept the ashes of kindred greatness, those verses might be applied to him which had been elicited upon another occasion of public sorrow, from a celebrated poet, who resembled Mr. Grattan in this, that to a beautiful imagination he united a spotless purity of life: "Ne'er to these chambers, where the mighty rest, [guest; Since their foundation, came a nobler Nor Nor ever to the bowers of bliss convey'd The Hon. and Learned Gentleman sat down amidst the unanimous cheers of the House. Lord Castlereagh, Mr. C. Grant, Mr. Wilberforce, and Mr. V. Fitzgerald, also warmly eulogised the character of Mr. Grattan. Sir H. Parnell addressed the House on the ultimate advantage which would arise from the doing away the countervailing duties on the British imports into Ireland, the continuance of which beyond a period of 20 years was not contemplated by the framers of the Act of Union. He moved for the appointment of a Select Committee to inquire into the subject. The motion was supported by Mr. Littleton, Lord Althorp, and others, and opposed by Mr. V. Fitzgerald, Mr. Vansittart, Sir N. Colthurst, Lord Castlereagh, and others; and, on a division, it was negatived by 66 to 30. On the third reading of the Mutiny Bill, Lord Nugent urged a variety of arguments against so large a military establishment as 92,586 men in time of peace, and moved an an amendment for reducing it to 77,224. Mr. Bright seconded the motion. Lord Palmerston went at large into the state of affairs at home and abroad, in order to justify the keeping on foot so large a force. Col. Davies condemned the late addition, and said he should move to reduce the army to 80,479 men. Sir H. Vivian and Mr. V. Fitzgerald, and Mr. R. Martin, opposed Lord Nugent's motion; and Mr. Hobhouse and Mr. Smith supported it. The amendment was then negatived, by 101 to 47, and the Bill was read the third time, and passed. Several sums for paying the interest of Exchequer Bills were voted in a Committee of Supply. HOUSE OF LORDS, June 15. Lord Holland presented a Bill for the repeal of the Royal Marriage Act; which he wished to remove from the Statute-book, because he considered it a direct invasion of natural right-a law hostile to morality, and calculated to promote not only foreign wars, but also civil wars. Besides these evils, it had, in his opinion, the tendency to render the marriages of the descendants of George II. unhappy marriages. If the Bill which he now presented should pass, it would afterwards be for the consideration of the House whether the means of relief should not be facilitated to those who had suffered from the effects of the existing law. Lord Liverpool reserved his objections to the measure until a subsequent stage.. The Bill was then read the first time. In the Commons the same day, the Insolvent Debtors Relief Bill was read the third time, and passed. A Petition was received from the Corporation of Lichfield, complaining that, by the interference of Peers, they were in a great measure deprived of the benefit of their elective franchise, no less than 500 new votes having been created between 1799 and 1813, by giving rent charges and annuities, in violation of the spirit of various Acts of Parliament. Lord Binning brought in a Bill to authorize the East India Company to embody and provide for a Volunteer Corps in this Country. Lord Castlereagh moved to postpone the consideration of the Message relative to the Queen to Monday; wishing it to be understood by ail parties that the result of these repeated, but inevitable delays, would then positively be communicated to the House. The motion was agreed to. A long and pretty general conversation then took place on the present distressed state of the South of Ireland, from the failure of so many banks; and, in a Committee of Supply, the sum of 500,000/. was voted, to be placed at the disposal of Commissioners, to be advanced in such portions as to them should seem meet, on proper securities. Mr. Vansittart at the same time intimated, that the Lord Lieutenant had been authorized, in anticipation of the decision of the House, to apply for the relief of the present distress 100,0001. being part of the grant of 1817 remaining unappropriated. Mr. Arbuthnot then brought forward the estimates for miscellaneous services for the present year. Mr. Bennel and others strenuously objected to the large vote for the barrack department, but, on a division, it was carried by 72 to 30. The rest of the estimates were also agreed to. Mr. D. Gilbert brought in a Bill for taking an account of the Population of Great Britain. HOUSE OF COMMONS, June 17. The Chancellor of the Exchequer brought up the Report of the Committee on the subject of the Irish failures. The resolution recommending a grant of 500,0001. for relieving the commercial distress of that Country, was agreed to. HOUSE OF LORDS, June 19. The Earl of Liverpool laid on the Table the Correspondence which had taken place relative to the affairs of the Queen, and expressed |