materials.

When the rejection of the first propositions and the acceptance of the
last had jointly, as it was natural, raised a very strong discontent in
Ireland, Lord Rockingham, who frequently said that there never seemed a
more opportune time for the relief of Ireland than that moment when Lord
North had rejected all rational propositions for its relief, without
consulting, I believe, any one living, did what he is not often very
willing to do; but he thought this an occasion of magnitude enough to
justify an extraordinary step. He went into the closet, and made a
strong representation on the matter to the king, which was not ill
received, and I believe produced good effects. He then made the motion
in the House of Lords which you may recollect; but he was content to
withdraw all of censure which it contained, on the solemn promise of
ministry, that they would in the recess of Parliament prepare a plan for
the benefit of Ireland, and have it in readiness to produce at the next
meeting. You may recollect that Lord Gower became in a particular manner
bound for the fulfilling this engagement. Even this did not satisfy, and
most of the minority were very unwilling that Parliament should be
prorogued until something effectual on the subject should be
done,--particularly as we saw that the distresses, discontents, and
armaments of Ireland were increasing every day, and that we are not so
much lost to common sense as not to know the wisdom and efficacy of
early concession in circumstances such as ours.

The session was now at an end. The ministers, instead of attending to a
duty that was so urgent on them, employed themselves, as usual, in
endeavors to destroy the reputation of those who were bold enough to
remind them of it. They caused it to be industriously circulated through
the nation, that the distresses of Ireland were of a nature hard to be
traced to the true source, that they had been monstrously magnified, and
that, in particular, the official reports from Ireland had given the lie
(that was their phrase) to Lord Rockingham's representations: and
attributing the origin of the Irish proceedings wholly to us, they
asserted that everything done in Parliament upon the subject was with a
view of stirring up rebellion; "that neither the Irish legislature nor
their constituents had signified any dissatisfaction at the relief
obtained in the session preceding the last; that, to convince both of
the impropriety of their