lieve his subjects of Scotland from the hardships they groaned under from the late unhappy union, and to restore the kingdom to its ancient free and happy state."

The rebellion, however, was speedily extinguished; and gradually, with the restoration of peace, the triumph of the Union policy became apparent. The vast benefits conferred on the country by the expansion of trade and industry soon came to be felt and appreciated. The spirit of faction which, fostered by a domestic Parliament, had kept the country in a state of perpetual turmoil and disturbance, bordering on civil war, soon died out, and in its place a spirit of enterprise and industry began to animate the uation. As Laing observes,

"When the contests of domestic faction had ceased, the turbulent fanaticism which distinguished the Scots during the former century was lost in the pursuits of industry, of literature, and of the arts of peace. Some attempts had been made before the last rebellion to introduce a better cultivation into the Lothians, which has since extended through the west to the north, to the richest provinces beyond the Tay. The gentry, among other efforts to promote manufactures, had begun to breed their sons to mechanical arts, in order to retain them at home. By the abrogation and sale of hereditary jurisdictions, the poverty of the nobles was relieved, and the people were emancipated from their oppressive coercion.

"The situation of Scotland attracted the peculiar attention of Pelham's administration; and ten years after the last rebellion the benefits of the Union began to be universally felt. The forfeited estates, instead of being sold, as formerly, were appropriated to objects of national improvement; and industry was promoted by every encouragement which bounties can confer.

"The Jacobites, soothed by indulgence, and reclaimed by the gradual extinction of their hopes, began to transfer their allegiance from the illfated Stuarts to the reigning family;

"When the nation was no longer agitated by domestic faction, literature was again cultivated with unexampled success. During the civil wars, the classical learning, for which the Scots were early distinguished, was absorbed and lost in the controversial vortex of religion and liberty-two names ever dear to mankind, with which the world has been alternately guided or deceived.

"The administration of justice was improved by the union. When hereditary jurisdictions were abolished, each county was relieved from the most vexatious oppression, and thirty sheriffships at the disposal of Government soon reconciled the disaffected bar. The supreme judges, in whom the Government had no interest, ceased to participate in domestic faction.

"The progress of industry and trade was immense; new manufactures, particularly of silk, were introduced with success; the Scots employed in the seven years' war returned from abroad with the means or spirit to improve their estates; and the rapid cultivation of the country has redoubled the produce and the value of the soil.

"Before the commencement of the American war, the merchants of Glasgow had engrossed the chief trade of tobacco for exportation. The interruption of trade during that disastrous war directed their capital, and the national industry, to the improvement of domestic arts; and from the perfectiɔn of modern machinery, the cotton manufacture, a recent acquisition in all its branches so prodigiously increased, already rivals and supplants the productions of the ancient looms of Indostan.

Doubtless, much is to be ascribed

to the spirit and progressive state of the nation; but, without the union, its unavailing efforts would still have been discountenanced by the commercial jealousy, and depressed by the influence of the English Government. The recent benefits of the union are truly inestimable. * National animosities are at length obliterated, and though still regarded (1804) as scarcely naturalized, the Scots assimilate so fast to the language, the manners, and the taste of the English, that the two nations cease to be distinguished in the subsequent history of the British Empire."

When will this be truly said of Ireland? Never, most assuredly, as long as British ministers continue to pursue the disastrous policy that has been hitherto followed respecting Ireland. When the union of Scotland and England was first suggested, there were two plans proposed -one to effect the union on a federal basis; the other by thorough incorporation. Happily the latter was adopted, and fully carried out, so that while Scotland retained her peculiar laws and customs and forms of judicature, which, not objectionable in themselves, were bound up with the social life and habits of the people, and did not at all, in any way, impede effective union-while those minor peculiarities were respected and preserved, everything that had a tendency to keep alive the idea of a Scotch king, of a Scotch Parliament, of a Scotch executive, or calculated in any way to foster antagonistic feelings or interests between Scotch and English, was rigorously suppressed, abolished, and swept away. Thus, there was a thorough union-a complete incorporation of the two kingdoms, for all executive, legislative, and governmental purposes. Hence, the two countries became, as it were, one, with a complete identity of interests. The old "border boundaries were swept away. For all practical purposes of

life Glasgow or Aberdeen were as much English cities as Liverpool or Bristol; and thus there were no obstructions offered to the obliteration of old animosities, and consequently a new growth of friendly relations and harmonious feeling rapidly sprang up, and necessarily promoted the peace, industry, and prosperity of Scotland.

But what would have been the case had the union not been thoroughly completed?-if, instead of a wise policy being steadily pursued to blend the two countries harmoniously together, a course of action. had been taken, and persistently followed, to prevent any effectual union taking place, and at the same time keep alive, in bitter remembrance, a keen sense of past injustice and oppression, rendered more intense by religious antipathies, sectarian animosities, and political inequalities? If such had been the case with Scotland, is it reasonable to suppose the union would have been so rapidly successful-so bountiful of healing blessings as it speedily proved? If a Viceroyalty had been established in Holyrood Palace to caricature royalty with the mockery of a Court, and foster factions that had been a curse to the country-if that Viceroyalty was regarded as representing a usurping power rather than an institution that attested Imperial unity and an identity of interests, and if its influences were to a large extent more corrupting and demoralising than otherwise, how could the union have worked prosperously how could it have proved otherwise than disappointing?

Yet notwithstanding the valuable experience supplied by a century's working of the Scottish Union, British ministers, when they came to effect a union between Great Britain and Ireland, committed a series of mischievous blunders, so gross and palpable, as if with a de

sire to thwart their own purpose and spoil their own work! Thorough incorporation, as in the case of Scotland, was not attempted-a partial union only took place. The mockery

of royalty was retained. Dublin Castle, with its corrupting influences, its partial administration of justice, its demoralizing associations, and notorious jobbery was, unfortunately, preserved, and the whole policy of successive British Cabinets from that time to the present has been to conduct the Government of Ireland on the basis of an incomplete Union-not on the basis that Ireland is in truth and reality an integral part of the Empire, as truly so as Scotland and Wales, but rather contrary, as if Ireland were nothing more than a mere colonial depend

ency.

What wonder, then, that the Government of Ireland has been such a conspicuous failure-a bitter reproach to British statesmanship. The cause of this we have not far to look for. It lies on the surface. It is to be found in the fact, that Ireland has never been thoroughly incorporated with England, as Scotland and Wales have been incorporated. Nominally an integral part of the British empire, Ireland has never been governed as such, but rather as a province-worse than a province, indeed, because more after the manner of a mere Crown colony.

The remedy is indicated by the disease-complete the Union, and honestly carry it out. The work of 1800 has yet to be perfected. The Union has to be made a realitynot a miserable provincial sham, with its pinchbeck royalty, and its party Viceroys, who do not even impartially represent the Crown, but are the mere creations of English party changes, and thus become centres for Irish factions to rally round, a prolific source

of evil influence in a country like Ireland.

When will a minister arise—a true statesman-with sufficient wisdom and courage to place the Government of Ireland on a proper footing by abolishing the Viceroyalty and perfecting the Union? This is what Ireland wants. This is the true remedy for evils that have become chronic, and have hitherto baffled the skill of the ablest ministers. Let Dublin Castle become as Holyrood Palace—rather, indeed, leave it to bats and owls than continue it a fruitful source of unmixed evil influences as it hitherto has been. Let Ireland be governed as Scotland and Wales are governed. This is what we want to promote peaceful industry and develope our vast resources.

a

Capital and enterprise shun disturbed country, where chronic agitations exist-where life is somewhat precarious and property inse

cure.

In Ireland we have a boundless field for the remunerative employment of capital, if capitalists could only be inspired with confidence. This, good government can go a long way in doing. But an indispensable condition to the good government of Ireland is the perfecting of the Union-the thorough incorporation of Ireland with Great Britain. In this way an identity of interests, and gradually of feeling, can only be established, and the Act of Union made a grand reality. In this way national antipathies and animosities, the result of factions and sectarian rivalries, will soon die out-effectual discouragement will be cast on the professional agitators of Dublin and elsewhere—a sound public opinion will be formed, and the popular mind, delivered from its delusions, will no longer submit to be cheated and illured by such bubble schemes as Home Rule.