Speaking on the first Union proposal in 1799 he said: "But the noble Lord has told us the real motives of this scheme of Union, and I thank him for stating them so fairly.

Ireland, he says, must contribute to every war, and the Minister won't trust to interest, affection, or connection for guiding her conduct.

_He must have her purse within his own grasp_.

While three hundred men hold it in Ireland he cannot put his hand into it, they are out of his reach, but let a hundred of you carry it over and lay it at his feet, and then he will have full and uncontrolled power." So it came about.

Even before the Union Grattan's Parliament had, of its own free will and out of an extravagant loyalty, run itself into debt for the first time to help England against France.