the violation of its territorial, juristic, and
legislative rights. The authority of which its invaders boasted rests
solely on an alleged Papal Bull. The symbols of attempted conquest are
roofless castles, ruined abbeys, and confiscated cathedrals.

The title of King of Ireland was first conferred on the English monarch
by a statute of the Parliament held in Ireland in 1542, when only four
of our counties lay under English sway. That title originated in no
English enactment. Neither did the Irish Parliament so originate. Every
military aid granted by that Parliament to English kings was purely
voluntary. Even when the Penal Code denied representation to the
majority of the Irish population, military service was never enforced
against them.

For generations England claimed control over both legislative and
judicial functions in Ireland, but in 1783 these pretensions were
altogether renounced, and the sovereignty of the Irish Legislature was
solemnly recognised. A memorable British statute declared it--

"Established and ascertained for ever, and shall at no time
hereafter be questioned or questionable."

For this, the spirit evoked by the successful revolt of the United
States of America is to be thanked, and Ireland won no mean return for
the sympathy invited by your Congress. Yet scarcely had George III
signified his Royal Assent to that "scrap of paper," when his Ministers
began to debauch the Irish Parliament. No Catholic had, for over a
century, been allowed to sit within its walls; and only a handful of the
population enjoyed the franchise. In 1800, by shameless bribery, a
majority of corrupt Colonists was procured to embrace the London
subjugation and vote away the existence of their Legislature for
pensions, pelf, and titles.

The authors of the Act of Union, however, sought to soften its shackles
by limiting the future jurisdiction of the British Parliament. Imposed
on "a reluctant and protesting nation," it was tempered by articles
guaranteeing Ireland against the coarser and more obvious forms of
injustice. To guard against undue taxation, "exemptions and abatements"
were stipulated for; but the "predominant partner" has long since
dishonoured that part of the contract, and the weaker side has no power
to enforce it. No military burdens were provided for, although Britain
framed the terms of the treaty to her own liking. That an obligation to
yield enforced service was thereby undertaken has ne