abstain longer
from exercising his undoubted prerogative. But, though it could hardly
be denied that he had literally fulfilled his promise, the general
opinion was that such a promise ought to have been more than literally
fulfilled. If his Parliament, overwhelmed with business which could not
be postponed without danger to his throne and to his person, had been
forced to defer, year after year, the consideration of so large and
complex a question as that of the Irish forfeitures, it ill became
him to take advantage of such a laches with the eagerness of a shrewd
attorney. Many persons, therefore, who were sincerely attached to his
government, and who on principle disapproved of resumptions, thought the
case of these forfeitures an exception to the general rule.

The Commons had at the close of the last session tacked to the Land Tax
Bill a clause impowering seven Commissioners, who were designated by
name, to take account of the Irish forfeitures; and the Lords and the
King, afraid of losing the Land Tax Bill, had reluctantly consented to
this clause. During the recess, the commissioners had visited Ireland.
They had since returned to England. Their report was soon laid before
both Houses. By the Tories, and by their allies the republicans, it was
eagerly hailed. It had, indeed, been framed for the express purpose
of flattering and of inflaming them. Three of the commissioners had
strongly objected to some passages as indecorous, and even calumnious;
but the other four had overruled every objection. Of the four the chief
was Trenchard. He was by calling a pamphleteer, and seems not to have
been aware that the sharpness of style and of temper which may be
tolerated in a pamphlet is inexcusable in a state paper. He was certain
that he should be protected and rewarded by the party to which he owed
his appointment, and was delighted to have it in his power to publish,
with perfect security and with a semblance of official authority, bitter
reflections on King and ministry, Dutch favourites, French refugees, and
Irish Papists. The consequence was that only four names were subscribed
to the report. The three dissentients presented a separate memorial. As
to the main facts, however, there was little or no dispute. It appeared
that more than a million of Irish acres, or about seventeen
hundred thousand English acres, an area equal to that of Middlesex,
Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire
together,