Page:The Irish Parliament; what it was, and what it did.djvu/39

 visible representative of the majesty of the State," "The king," says Edmund Burke, "represents the whole contracting capacity of the nation; he acts as the national procurator." He is the representative of the community as to sovereign States; has the sole prerogative of making peace and war, of concluding treaties, of acquiring dominions and colonies, of commanding the army and navy. The king of England, however, exercised these great prerogatives as the wearer not of the Irish but of the English Crown, and under the advice not of an Irish but of an English Cabinet. Ireland was, in the words of Wolfe Tone, describing her condition in 1791, "without pride, or power, or name; without ambassadors, army, or navy," "In giving Great Britain the nomination of her monarch," says Mr, Flood, "Ireland gives her in effect the power of treating for her with all the world, and of declaring peace and war for her with all mankind. What follows: that Ireland can have no enemies but those who are made so by Britain."

"What name have we," says Sir Laurence Parsons, "among the nations of the earth? Who fears us? Who respects us? What notice have foreign States of us? Where are our negotiators } Where are out ambassadors } What treaties do we enter into? What alliances do we form? With what nations do we make peace or declare war? Are we not a mere cypher in all these.?" "We are an independent