Address from the Society of United Irishmen of Dublin, to the People of Ireland ([Dublin,] 1794)

We submitted to your consideration such a Plan for your Equal Representation, as would, in our Judgement, if carried into effect, give you your just and constitutional weight in the Legislature. – We exulted in the thought that our exertions had contributed to raise the public mind to that elevated point, from which it might view its widely extended rights; from which it might discover the real insignificance of every proposal towards Reform, that should not seek the full measure of justice; which should not give to all, who were in any degree bound by the Law the power of chusing those who made the Law[.] We thought the simplicity of the Plan the best Test of its honesty, and that its appeal to the common sense of the Nation rendered any explanation of its principles unnecessary. We are, however, now called upon to justify its primary principle, by the objections which have sinse [sic] been raised against it; and should we succeed, our triumph must be that of argument over invective, of Reason over Prejudice, and of Justice over Power.