ABSTRACT
Indeed, till Ireland was acknowledged as a separate and independent kingdom; the carrying into effect such a measure would have been merely an act of power, not of compact, which would have bred confusion, not unanimity. But, when Ireland has a legislature and government of her own, the two kingdoms may separately treat of terms of an Union, and a coalescence of both. Within a few months, the report has been revived with fresh force; persons of consequence, in both islands, who, from their / connections and situations, may be supported to be of competent information, are said to have pronounced, that a plan of an Union is in agitation. In the state of the public mind, two contrary decisions are constantly made: the one, that an Union will be the aggrandizement of Ireland; the other, that it will be the destruction of the dignity, commerce, manufactures, and population of this nation.
