Sir,--I, in the most express terms, deny the competency of Parliament to
abolish the Legislature of Ireland. I warn you, do not dare to lay your
hand on the Constitution.--I tell you that if, circumstanced as you are,
you pass an act which surrenders the government of Ireland to the English
Parliament, it will be a nullity and that no man in Ireland will be bound
to obey it. I make the assertion deliberately,--I repeat it and I call on
any man who hears me, to take down my words;--you have not been elected for
this purpose,--you are appointed to act under the Constitution, not to
alter it,--you are appointed to exercise the functions of legislators, and
not to transfer them,--and if you do so, your act is a dissolution of the
government,--you resolve society into its original elements, and no man in
the land is bound to obey you.

Yourselves you may extinguish, but Parliament you cannot extinguish,--it is
enthroned in the hearts of the people,--it is enshrined in the sanctuary of
the Constitution,--it is immortal as the island which it protects. As well
might the frantic suicide hope that the act which destroys his miserable
body should extinguish his eternal soul. Again I therefore warn you, do not
dare to lay your hands on the Constitution; it is above your power. Sir, I
do not say that the Parliament and the people, by mutual consent and
cooperation, may not change the form of the Constitution.

But, thank God, the people have manifested no such wish,--so far as they
have spoken, their voice is decidedly against this daring innovation. You
know that no voice has been uttered in its favor, and you cannot be
infatuated enough to take confidence from the silence which prevails in
some parts of the kingdom; if you know how to appreciate that silence, it
is more formidable than the most clamorous opposition,--you may be rived
and shivered by the lightning before you hear the peal of the thunder! But,