iversal approval. The debate in the Lords on 11th April elicited
admirable speeches, from Dr. Watson, the learned Bishop of Llandaff, and
from Lords Auckland and Minto. Only Lords Holland, King, and Thanet
protested against the measure. In the Commons, Lord Sheffield, while
supporting the Union, reproved Ministers for allowing their aim to
become known in Ireland several weeks before the details of their
proposals were made public. The measure received warm support from
Canning, who a month earlier had resigned the Under-Secretaryship for
Foreign Affairs, and was now for the time merely on the India Board of
Control, with a sinecure superadded. The sensitive young Irishman had
found it impossible to work with the cold and austere Grenville; and his
place was taken for a time by his coadjutor on the "Anti-Jacobin,"
Hookham Frere, to whom the Grenville yoke proved scarcely less irksome.

Canning flung himself with ardour into the struggle for the Union, and
proved a match for his brilliant fellow countryman, Sheridan. He
combated the notion that the Irish Parliament was unalterably opposed to
the measure, and, arguing from the contemptuous manner in which the
French had met our overtures for peace, he inferred their resolve to
sever Ireland from the Empire. In animated style he declared that
Ireland would not lose but gain in dignity by the Union, which would
confer on her what she most needed, stronger and steadier government. On
this occasion Sheridan did not speak, and Fox was absent. After a
protest by Lord William Russell against infringing the final settlement
of 1782, Pitt arose merely in order to challenge this statement and to
read the letters of the Duke of Portland to Lord Shelburne of May-June
1782; they refuted Russell's contention only in so far as to show that
Ministers then designed to legislate further on the subject. The Irish
Parliament certainly regarded the legislative independence then granted
as complete and final. The House of Commons supported Pitt by a
unanimous vote.

During the summer the outlook at Dublin became somewhat brighter, as
appears from the following "secret" letter of Cooke to Lord Camden.
After congratulating him on receiving the Garter, he continues:

Dublin, _14 Aug., 1799_.

... I think Union gains ground. Lord Cornwallis is in earnest on
the subject and feels himself committed. The Catholics have been
chiefly courted by hi