Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/241

 GRATTAN. 237 Principle? No. Profession? No. The love of fame, or sense of infamy No. Confined to no one description of merit, or want of character, under the authority of that list, every man, woman, or child, in Ireland, have preten sions to become a public incumbrance; so that since government went so far, I marvel that they have stopped, unless the pen fell out of their hand from fatigue, for it could not be from principle. No, Sir, this list will go on; it will go on till the merchant shall feel it; until the pen sion list shall take into i t s own hand the keys o f taxation; and, instead o f taxing licence t o sell, shall tax the article and manufacture itself; until we shall lose our great com mercial resource, a comparative exemption from taxes, the gift o f our poverty, and get a n accumulation o f taxes t o b e the companion o f our poverty; until public indigna tion shall cry shame upon us, and the morality o f a serious and offended community shall call out for the interposi tion of law.” On the 9th o f February previous, Mr. Grattan, after having insisted upon the necessity o f making a stand against the growth o f expense, o r else their constitution and commerce were a t a n end, drew the following picture o f the nation's expense:– “See the chart o f your credit, a n evanescent speck just rising above the plane o f the horizon, and then i t drops; while your debt ascends like a pyramid, with a n audacious defalcation, and almost culminates o n your meridian. Midway o f this mountain o f debt, you will discern a line marking your effort t o put a n end t o your practice o f running i n debt.” The subject o f tythes took u p the principal attention o f the nation, both within and without parliament, during the first months o f the year 1787. The speech which Mr. Grattan delivered o n this important subject i n the House o f Commons, o n the 14th o f February, 1787, made such a sensation i n the country, that i t was published with a very spirited preface, and ran through four editions i n less than a month. Upon a division, however, i n the House, forty nine only voted for Mr. Grattan's motion against one