[14] Mr. Thomas Burgh, of Old Town, was a member of the House of Commons in Ireland.—­It appears from a letter written by this gentleman to Mr. Burke, December 24, 1779, and to which the following is an answer, that the part Mr. Burke had taken in the discussion which the affairs of Ireland had undergone in the preceding sessions of Parliament in England had been grossly misrepresented and much censured in Ireland.

[15] This intention was communicated to Mr. Burke in a letter from Mr. Pery, the Speaker of the House of Commons in Ireland.

[16] Mr. Grattan.

[17] Mr. Hussey Burgh

[18] Mr. Stanley, member for Lancashire.

LETTER

TO JOHN MERLOTT, ESQ.[19]

Dear Sir,—­I am very unhappy to find that my conduct in the business of Ireland, on a former occasion, had made many to be cold and indifferent who would otherwise have been warm in my favor.  I really thought that events would have produced a quite contrary effect, and would have proved to all the inhabitants of Bristol that it was no desire of opposing myself to their wishes, but a certain knowledge of the necessity of their affairs, and a tender regard to their honor and interest, which induced me to take the part which I then took.  They placed me in a situation which might enable me to discern what was fit to be done, on a consideration of the relative circumstances of this country and all its neighbors.  This was what you could not so well do yourselves; but you had a right to expect that I should avail myself of the advantage which I derived from your favor.  Under the impression-of this duty and this trust, I had endeavored to render, by preventive graces and concessions, every act of power at the same time an act of lenity,—­the result of English bounty, and not of English timidity and distress.  I really flattered myself that the events which have proved beyond dispute the prudence of such a maxim would have obtained pardon for me, if not approbation.  But if I have not been so fortunate, I do most sincerely regret my great loss,—­this comfort, however, that, if I have disobliged my constituents, it was not in pursuit of any sinister interest or any party passion of my own, but in endeavoring to save them from disgrace, along with the whole community to which they and I belong.  I shall be concerned for this, and very much so; but I should be more concerned, if, in gratifying a present humor of theirs, I had rendered myself unworthy of their former or their future choice.  I confess that I could not bear to face my constituents at the next general election, if I had been a rival to Lord North in the glory of having refused some small, insignificant concessions, in favor of Ireland, to the arguments and supplications of English members of Parliament,—­and in the very next session, on the demand of forty thousand Irish bayonets, of having made a speech of two hours