"The constitution may be _for a time_ so lost; the character of
the country cannot be so lost. The ministers of the Crown will, or
may, perhaps, at length find that it is not so easy to put down
for ever an ancient and respectable nation, by abilities, however
great, and by power and by corruption, however irresistible;
liberty may repair her golden beams, and with redoubled heat
animate the country; the cry of loyalty will not long continue
against the principles of liberty; loyalty is a noble, a
judicious, and a capacious principle; but in these countries
loyalty, distinct from liberty, is corruption, not loyalty.
"The cry of the connexion will not, in the end, avail against the
principles of liberty. Connexion is a wise and a profound policy;
but connexion without an Irish Parliament is connexion without its
own principle, without analogy of condition; without the pride of
honour that should attend it; is innovation, is peril, is
subjugation--not connexion.
"The cry of the connexion will not, in the end, avail against the
principle of liberty.
"Identification is a solid and imperial maxim, necessary for the
preservation of freedom, necessary for that of empire; but,
without union of hearts--with a separate government, and without a
separate parliament, identification is extinction, is dishonour,
is conquest--not identification.
Pages:
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62