Page:A letter to the Right Hon. Chichester Fortescue, M.P. on the state of Ireland.djvu/43

 concession which had been refused the year before with every mark of contempt, and was now yielded solely to fear.

Upon the Union with Ireland, Mr. Pitt, on Jan. 31, 1801, deliberately explained his views in a letter to the King. After saying that he should look to the King's ease and satisfaction, 'in preference to all considerations but those arising from what, in his honest opinion, is due to the real interest of your Majesty and your dominions,' he proceeds thus to state his opinion: 'Under the impression of that opinion, he has concurred in what appeared to be the prevailing sentiments of the majority of the Cabinet, that the admission of the Catholics and Dissenters to offices, and of the Catholics to Parliament (from which latter the Dissenters are not now excluded), would, under certain conditions to be specified, be highly advisable, with a view to the tranquillity and improvement of Ireland, and to the general interest of the United Kingdom.'

The members who formed the majority of the Cabinet here alluded to comprised the most eminent members of the Administration Lord Grenville and Lord Spencer, Mr. Dundas and Mr. Windham. Mr, Pitt's conditions, some of which were open to objection, comprised a pecuniary provision, under regulation, for the Roman Catholic clergy. The whole plan, modified by counsel and discussion in Parliament, might have laid the foundations for the tranquillity of Ireland, and the increased strength of the empire at the present day.