PROCEEDINGS OF THE IRISH PARLIAMENT.

Ireland was filled with discontent by the behaviour and conduct of the trustees for the forfeited estates. The earl of Rochester had contributed to foment the troubles of the kingdom by encouraging the factions which had been imported from England. The duke of Ormond was received with open arms as heir to the virtues of his ancestors, who had been the bulwarks of the protestant interest in Ireland. He opened the parliament on the twenty-first day of September, with a speech to both houses, in which he told them that his inclination, his interest, and the examples of progenitors, were indispensable obligations upon him to improve every opportunity to the advantage and prosperity of his native country. The commons having chosen Allen Broderick to be their speaker, proceeded to draw up very affectionate addresses to the queen and the lord lieutenant. In that to the queen they complained that their enemies had misrepresented them, as desirous of being independent of the crown of England; they, therefore, to vindicate themselves from such false aspersions, declared and acknowledged that the kingdom of Ireland was annexed and united to the imperial crown of England. In order to express their hatred of the trustees, they resolved, that all the protestant freeholders of that kingdom had been falsely and maliciously misrepresented, traduced, and abused, in a book entitled, “The Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Irish Forfeitures;” and it appearing that Francis Annesley, member of the house, John Trenchard, Henry Langford, and James Hamilton, were authors of that book, they further resolved, that these persons had scandalously and maliciously misrepresented and traduced the protestant freeholders of that kingdom, and endeavoured to create a misunderstanding and jealousy between the people of England and the protestants of Ireland. Annesley was expelled the house, Hamilton was dead, and Trenchard had returned to England. They had finished the inquiry before the meeting of this parliament; and sold at an undervalue the best of the forfeited estates to the sword-blade company of England. This, in a petition to the Irish parliament, prayed that heads of a bill be brought in for enabling them to take conveyance of lands in Ireland; but the parliament was very little disposed to confirm the bargains of the trustees, and the petition lay neglected on the table. The house expelled John Asgil, who, as agent to the sword-blade company, had offered to lend money to the public in Ireland, on condition that the parliament would pass an act to confirm the company’s purchase of the forfeited estates. His constituents disowned his proposal; and when he was summoned to appear before the house, and answer for his prevarication, he pleaded his privilege as member of the English parliament. The commons, in a representation of the state and grievances of the nation, gave her majesty to understand that the constitution of Ireland had been of late greatly shaken; and their lives, liberties, and estates, called in question, and tried in a manner unknown to their ancestors; that the expense to which they had been unnecessarily exposed by the late trustees for the forfeited estates, in defending their just rights and titles, had exceeded in value the current cash of the kingdom; that their trade was decayed, their money exhausted; and that they were hindered from maintaining their own manufactures; that many protestant families had been constrained to quit the kingdom in order to earn a livelihood in foreign countries; that the want of frequent parliaments in Ireland had encouraged evil-minded men to oppress the subject; that many civil officers had acquired great fortunes in that impoverished country, by the exercise of corruption and oppression; that others, in considerable employments, resided in another kingdom, neglecting personal attendance on their duty, while their offices were ill executed, to the detriment of the public, and the failure of justice. They declared, that it was from her majesty’s gracious interposition alone they proposed to themselves relief from those their manifold grievances and misfortunes. The commons afterwards voted the necessary supplies, and granted one hundred and fifty thousand pounds to make good the deficiencies of the necessary branches of the establishment.