tHE 
 
 PRESENT POLITICS 
 
 OF 
 
 IRELAND: 
 
 I. The Right Honourable Mr. Hutchinson’s Letter to 
 
 his Constituents at Cork. 
 
 II. Parliamentary Discussions of the Irish Ar¬ 
 
 rangements ; by 
 
 MefTrs. Connolly, Fitzgibbon, 
 
 Grattan, Mason, 
 
 and Forster, 
 
 Flood, Hutchinson, 
 
 Againft them. For them. 
 
 III. Mr. Laffan’s Observations on the Relative 
 Situation of Great Britain and Ireland; 
 
 With Notes thereon by an Enclish Editor. 
 
 LONDON; 
 
 PRINTED FOR JOHN STOCKDAIE, 
 
 
 OPPOSITE 
 
advertisement. 
 
 TH E following Letter of the Right Ho¬ 
 nourable J. H. Hutchinson, to his Con- 
 ftituents of Cork, being niuch alked for, the 
 Publisher prefumed to think he could not 
 do a more ufeful fervice to the Public than 
 to print it in this form. The fubjedt of this 
 letter is furely of very great importance to the. 
 fiffer kingdoms: and the argument is treated 
 with an ability, which has been acknowledg¬ 
 ed even by thofe, who do not admit them- 
 felves to be convinced. 
 
 Had any formal anfwer been published to 
 this celebrated performance, the Publiiher, 
 from the fame defire of conveying candid 
 information, would have equally printed it 
 with the original letter. But he has never 
 heard of fuch an anfwer. And, in order to 
 fupply this defedt, he has now fubjoined the 
 principal 
 
iv ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 principal fpeeches in the Irifli Houfe of Com¬ 
 mons on Mr. Orde’s motion for leave to 
 bring in a Bill to carry the Irifli arrangements 
 into laws. And thefc fpeeches he has now 
 printed page for page againfl. each other, rather 
 than in the order wherein they were fpoken, 
 that the reader may more conveniently judge 
 of the fr,Sts and of the reafinings, without 
 much regard to characters and names , 
 
 London. 
 
 20th Dec, 17S5, 
 
 A LETTER 
 
A 
 
 LETTER 
 
 FROM 
 
 J. H. HUTCHINSON, Esq. 
 M A Y OR of CO R K, &c. 
 
 Dear Sin, 
 
 f Mentioned to you, during your magiflracy, my in- 
 i lontioti to addicts vou on tlic lubicd of the Com¬ 
 mercial Bill. My letter, of the fame elute ami tenor 
 with that which vou will now receive, was prepared, 
 but not lent to vou. Refleding that I had declined 
 to delate the commercial pair of the Bill, till out- 
 merchants and manuladurers lhoukl have had an 
 opportunity of laying their evidence and obferva- 
 tions belore the Houle of Commons, I doubted 
 whether the fame rcafon did not: then conclude 
 againll my declaring anv opinion or entering into 
 any argument. On a fu'-jed of great importance 
 and complication I wifli for everv puffible informa¬ 
 tion. The Addrefs from the late Sheriffs and Grand 
 13 Jury 
 
[ 2 ] 
 
 Jury of Cork, has fince determined me to deliver 
 my opinion; and, having been cenfured for not 
 afligning my reafons, I think I fhould no longer 
 withhold them from my fellow-citizens, and that 
 my letter, as originally written to you, will fully ex¬ 
 plain my fentiments. I am an advocate for truth 
 alone ; and lhall be as readily difpofed to acknow¬ 
 ledge, on convidticn, any error in my fentiments, as 
 I am firmly determined not to furrender up my rea- 
 fon to unmerited reproach. 
 
 I have the honour to be, dear Sir, 
 
 Your moft faithful and obedient fervant, 
 
 JOHN HELY HUTCHINSON. 
 
 Knocklofi-j, 03 . 14, 1785. 
 
 To James Morrison, Efq. 
 
 A LETTER, &c. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I Have fent you printed copies of the Bill for effec¬ 
 tuating the Intercourfe and Commerce between 
 Great-Britain and Ireland, for the information of my 
 conftituents; and think it my duty to addrefs them, 
 through their Chief Magiftrate, on a fubjedt of fuch 
 general importance, and in which the merchants and 
 traders of the city of Cork are peculiarly interefted. 
 My object in this letter is not fo much to influence 
 their opinions, as to roufe their attention to the different 
 parts of this Bill ; for the purpofe of informing their 
 judg- 
 
[ 3 ] 
 
 judgments and my own. When I fee in fome of the 
 public prints the grofieft mifreprefentations of this 
 meafure, and ftatements of feveral particulars as con¬ 
 tained in the Bill, which are not to be found there, but 
 are contrary to the whole tenor of it; I confider thofe 
 attempts as tending diredly to alienate the affedions of 
 Ireland from Great-Britain, and to difturb that mutual 
 concord, fo effential to the happinefs, ftrength, and 
 fecurity of thefe two lifter kingdoms. If thefe exe¬ 
 crable attempts to promote difcord and difunion tended 
 only to mifreprefent and calumniate individuals, I 
 Ihould have fuffered them to pafs with filent con¬ 
 tempt ; knowing that thefe lhafts have but momentary 
 effeds, and that every man’s charader will finally find 
 its own level, and be appreciated by his fellow-citizens 
 according to the tenor of his condud. 
 
 Though the public has been allured by authority, 
 that the Bill, brought in this feffion for a commercial 
 arrangement between the two kingdoms, Ihould never 
 be revived if not called for by the public voice, yet at¬ 
 tempts are ftill making to difturb the public mind, as 
 if this meafure were to be carried through againft-the 
 fenfe of the nation. An arrangement of commercial 
 intercourfe between Great-Britain and Ireland is gene¬ 
 rally defired, or our Houle of Commons was miftaken 
 in its unanimous Addrefs at the clofe of the laft feffion. 
 The interval between this feffion and the next Ihould 
 be employed in the inveftigation of this fubjed; the 
 Bill Ihould be difpaffionately and carefully read; the 
 objedions to it fairly ftated, and the advantages likely 
 B z ta 
 
C 4 ] 
 
 to arife from it, candidly confidered. I prefume it will 
 not be thought inconliftent with the character of an 
 honeft man for any of you to do this, though this is 
 the crime objefied to fuch of your reprefentatives, as 
 thought that the Houfe of Commons fhould have 
 taken the very fame courfe. For the man who afferts, 
 that thofe, who voted for the introduft-ion of this Bill, 
 had by fuch condudt declared in favour of any particu¬ 
 lar claufes in it, is ignorant of the courfe of Parlia¬ 
 mentary proceedings, or willies to mifreprefent. 
 
 The objections to this Bill were partly of a confti- 
 tutional and partly of a commercial nature. On the firft 
 the introduction was principally oppofed ; and the great 
 ground of argument for eftablilhing the objections on 
 conftitutional principles was taken from thofe parts of 
 the Bill, which relate to the trade with the Britilh co¬ 
 lonies and fettlements; to the four enumerated articles 
 from the United States of America ; the grant of the 
 furplus of the hereditary revenue ; and the trade to the 
 Eaft-Indies. 
 
 By this Bill we lliould have taken the Britilh colony 
 trade on the fame terms with Great-Britain herfelf; 
 rum excepted, which we had many years lince obtained' 
 liberty to import from the Britilh colonies, and had 
 Imported, on lower duties Hill to be continued. She 
 gives her colonial produce a preference to limilar arti¬ 
 cles from other countries; for, having the monopoly 
 of that produce, ihe always thought it juft to encou¬ 
 rage it by fuch a preference, and expefts that we, as 
 equal partners in that monopoly, Ihould do the fame. 
 
 To 
 
L 5 1 
 
 To this principle we have conformed fince we obtained 
 the trade. If we fltould at any time aiflike any of the 
 terms, we may by this Bill refufe to abide by them, 
 and determine the agreement. Thofe colonies are 
 Britifh property -, fire has a right to grant them on 
 what condition fhe pleafes; file now grants them to 
 us in the fame manner ilte holds them herfelf, with 
 the exception before mentioned, which is in our fa¬ 
 vour. 
 
 On thefe terms, but without any exception, our 
 Houfe of Commons, in the year 1779, gratefully ac¬ 
 cepted the grant of this trade, in the following refolu- 
 tion of the 20th of December in that year :—“ Re- 
 folved, item. con. That a liberty for this kingdom to 
 trade with the Britiflr colonies in America and the 
 Weft-Indies, and the Britifh fettlements on the coaft 
 of Africa, in like manner as trade is carried on between 
 Great-Britain and the faid colonies and fettlements, will 
 be produftive of very great commercial benefits, will 
 be a molt affeftionate mark of the regard and atten¬ 
 tion of Great-Britain to our diftrefles, and will give 
 new vigour ro the zeal of his Majefty’s brave and loyal 
 people of Ireland, to Hand forward in fupport of his 
 Majefty’s perfon and government, and the intereft, the 
 honour, and the dignity of the Britifh Empire.” But 
 the Britifh Aft of that fcflion, palled fubfequent to 
 the refolution laft mentioned, having required equal 
 duties and drawbacks, and the fame duties, regula¬ 
 tions, and reftriftions, only in fuch part of the trade 
 between Ireland and the Britifh colonies in America, 
 the 
 
[ 6 j 
 
 the Weft-Indies, and Britifh fettlements on the coaft 
 of Africa, as was not enjoyed by us previous to 
 that feffion, our Adis of Parliament followed this 
 diftindtion. In the firft of t'nefe * there is the follow- 
 ing claufe:—“ Whereas fuch part of the trade be¬ 
 tween this kingdom and the Britifh colonies in America, 
 the Weft-Indies, and Britifh fettlements on the coaft 
 of Africa, as was not enjoyed by this kingdom pre¬ 
 vious to the prefent feffion, can be enjoyed and have 
 continued fo long and in fucb cafe only , as the goods to 
 be imported, from the faid colonies, plantations, or 
 fettlements, fhall be liable to equal duties and draw¬ 
 back?, and be fubjeS to the fame fecurities, regulations , 
 and reftriSions, as the like goods are liable and fubjedt 
 to upon being imported from the faid colonies, planta¬ 
 tions, or fettlements, into Great-Britain, or exported 
 from thence to fuch colonies, plantations, or’fettle¬ 
 ments refpeclively.”-And this claufe, copied from 
 
 a Britifh Adt of that feffion, is to be found in every 
 Irifh Adi from the year 1780 to this time, including 
 the prefent feffion -j-. 
 
 Thele terms were enjoined by the legiflature of 
 Great-Britain as the condition of the grant, which the 
 legiflature of Ireland has uniformly recited and per- 
 ■ formed in every material article. The enjoining or 
 complying with this condition was never thought a 
 
 * 19th & 20th Geo. III. chap. 11. 
 
 -f See 21ft Sc 2’d Geo. IIT. chap. 5, 23d & 24th Geo. III. 
 chap. 5, and 25th Geo. III. chap. 4. 
 
 violation 
 
C 7 3 
 
 violation of our conftitution; it was a condition an¬ 
 nexed to the commencement and continuance of the 
 commercial grant of the colonies; it is a condition, 
 which this Bill ftill annexes to the fame grant, and 
 alfo to the new grant of the Britifh markets. The 
 nature of the new grant has made it neceffary, that the 
 condition Ihould be expreffed with more clearnefs and 
 ■ precilion; but its principle is in no refpeCt varied. 
 The fame liberty of performing or not performing the 
 condition would ftill ■ remain ; becaufe the national 
 faith is not pledged by the agreement of 1779, or the 
 bill of 1785, to adopt any Britifh law. The condi¬ 
 tion was not obligatory to Ireland ; it is not now pro- 
 pofed to be obligatory: it did not violate the conftitu¬ 
 tion from 1779 to 1785 : it does not violate the con¬ 
 ftitution now. 
 
 On one of the laws of this period, introduced by 
 fome of the great fupporters of our legislative indepen¬ 
 dency, and pafled in the year 1782* after the reftitution 
 of our conftitutional rights, the prefent Bill in the parts 
 that relate to legislation is founded, but is not carried 
 fo far. A law, formed at fuch an important aera by 
 men of fuch high characters, well deferves our- moft 
 ferious attention, when we are confidering the pro¬ 
 priety of uniformity of laws or concurrence of legifla- 
 tion. It recites as a faCt, u that it is the earneft and 
 affectionate defire of his Majefty’s fubjeCts of this 
 kingdom,” and lays it down as a principle, “ that it 
 
 * 21 ft & 22d Geo. 111. chap. 48. 
 
[ s ] 
 
 is their true intereft, that a fimilarity of laws fhould at 
 all times fubfift between the people of Great Britain 
 and Ireland and with this view it enadts, “ that all 
 fuch claufes and provifions, contained in any ftatutes 
 theretofore made in England or Great Britain concern- 
 .ing commerce, as import to impofe equal reftraints on 
 the fubjedts of England and Ireland, and to entitle 
 them to equal benefits, fnould be accepted, ufed, and 
 executed in this kingdom—provided always, that all 
 fuch ftatutes, fo as aforefaid concerning commerce, lhall 
 bind the fubjedts of Ireland, fo long as they continue to 
 hind the fuljeBs of Great Britain.” By the latter 
 part of this law we give to the Britilh legifiature the 
 power of repealing laws of Ireland, the duration of 
 which is referred to that legifiature ; and from this 
 claufe a probable intention may be inferred of adopt¬ 
 ing fuch laws as fhould be made in Great Britain in 
 the place of the laws fo repealed, provided the reftraints 
 and benefits were equal in refpedt to both countries. 
 The opinion of the legifiature at that time is exprefs, 
 that uniformity of commercial laws would promote 
 the interefts of both kingdoms ; and, if that advantage 
 could not have been obtained without injuring the 
 independency of Ireland,‘that opinion would not have 
 been advanced at the moment of its eftablifhment. 
 
 Compare that act and the prefent bill. The adt efta- 
 biiihes the Britifh commercial laws, which contain 
 equal benefits and reftraints as laws in Ireland, with a 
 retrofpeci of 29c years; and extends the idea of fimi- • 
 larity 
 
■ C 9 ). 
 
 lafity of laws between the two kingdoms not only to 
 feamen, but to commerce generally. This Bill makes 
 it a fundamental condition of the propofed agreement* 
 that the fhips and feamen of both countries fhould, 
 by the laws of both, be fecured in the fame privileges, 
 advantages, and immunities; but, as to commerce, re-* 
 {trains the fimilarity of laws to' that commerce only 
 which confifts of Britilh property, and arifes to Ireland 
 from Britilh conceffion, or is immediately and necef- 
 farily a part of that fyftem ; and even there binds the 
 Britilh legiflature to the rule of equal reftraints and 
 equal benefits, of which the Irilh legiflature being alfo 
 to judge, a concurrence of legiflation would have 
 grown out of this fyftem, in the exercife of which the 
 fentiments of both nations muft have been confulted, 
 and the confequence would have been an enlargement 
 of the objedts and power of Irilh legiflation, and cer¬ 
 tainly no diminution of dependency. By the operation 
 of this bill, the fubjedt of every law propofed for out 
 adoption would be diftindtly confidered either during 
 its progrefs, or foon after it palled in Great Britain ; 
 but by the adt of 1782 the acts of near three centuries 
 were adopted in one heap. If the bill is uncon- 
 ftitutional, the adt is infinitely more fo. But neither 
 is fubjedt to that imputation, becaufe fimilarity of laws 
 is a juft and conftitutional principle, if neither of the 
 countries can be bound without the aflent of its legif¬ 
 lature. 
 
 The juftice of the rule, that Cu’jas eft dare ejus eft 
 difponere , was never queftioned ! But Great Britain 
 C offers 
 
( 10 ) 
 
 offers to relax this rule in favour of Ireland, and to 
 engage to give herfelf no benefit in her own colonies 
 that Ihe does not give to her filter kingdomto im- 
 pofe on her no reftraint in that commerce which fhe 
 gives, that fhe does not impofe on herfelf; and to 
 make Ireland in fome meafure a joint legiflator with 
 herfelf over a part of her own empire. It is and ever 
 has bci n a part of the Britifh colony fyftem, to favour 
 the produce and manufactures of her colonies againft 
 the ir. .erference of fimilar articles from foreign colonies 
 and ftates. She expects, that, as long as you choofe 
 to enjoy the benefit of this fyftem, you fhould do the 
 fame, and that thefe fimilar articles fliould be made 
 fiibject to the fame duties on importation in this king¬ 
 dom as in Great Britain. To this we have hitherto 
 conformed without objection or inconvenience. The 
 fame principle applies equally to the like articles im¬ 
 ported from the United States of America ; and there¬ 
 fore to four of thefe articles, namely rum, peltry, 
 whale-bone fins, and oil, of which the Britifh colonies 
 can furnifh a complete fupply, the fame condition is 
 annexed. That this was confidercd as part of , the 
 colonial fyftem, and not founded on any intention to 
 regulate the trade of Ireland by Britifh law, is manifeft 
 from this—that motions made on this occafion in both 
 Houfes of the Britifh Parliament, to regulate our trade 
 with the States of America in fome articles unconnected 
 with the colony fyftem, were rejected on this avowed 
 principle, that Great Britain had no power to regulate 
 any part of our foreign commerce. If by this agree¬ 
 ment 
 
( 'it ) 
 
 rnent Ireland were to retain the liberty of importing 
 from other countries produce or manufactures fimilar 
 ■to thofe of the Britifh colonies, lhe would hot take 
 the colony trade on the fame terms with Great Britain. 
 
 It is true, the Britifh aCt of 1780 allows Ireland a 
 feleCtion ; but we framed our import duties from the 
 year 1779, purfuant to the refolution of our Houfe of 
 Commons in that year, and followed the Britifh laws; 
 and, as by the propofed agreement we were to have 
 the liberty of importing Britifh colonial produce from 
 this kingdom into Great Britain, fhe thought it necef- 
 fary to annex it as a condition to this agreement, that 
 we fhould fubjeCt fimilar articles from foreign coun¬ 
 tries to the fame duties, regulations, and reftriCtions, as 
 in Great Britain ! becaufe otherwife we might import 
 thofe articles, as the produce of the Britifh colonies, 
 into her ports with little probability of detection, and 
 fubvert her whole colony fyflem. This argument ap¬ 
 plies equally to the four enumerated articles from the 
 American Bates. 
 
 But whether-we adopted Britifh colony laws in a 
 fmaller or greater number of articles, makes no differ¬ 
 ence in the conftitutional principle. If it violated our 
 independency in one cafe, it would be equally a viola¬ 
 tion of it in the other. But it is a violation" of it in 
 neither. The objection, that if we refufe to adopt’ 
 the Britifh law we fliall' lofe the benefit of this agree¬ 
 ment, applied with more weight to the condition of 
 2780, becaufe. Great Britain gave «s then more than 
 fhe has now .to grant. 
 
 When- 
 
( 12 ) 
 
 When I reflect, how long Scotland had endea¬ 
 voured to obtain from England the protection of her 
 navigation laws and the benefits of her colony trade; 
 that what is now offered to be permanently granted 
 to Ireland, without any infringement of her rights of 
 legiflation, could not be purchafed by Scotland without 
 the furrender of her legiflative fovereignty ; when I 
 reflect with what effufions of public gratitude we 
 received that very boon, which fome of us feem now 
 to difdain and lpurn ; and how carefully and affection, 
 ately it had been cheriflied by our legiflature in 
 the asfts of every fucceeding felfion ; I view with 
 amazement the wonderful revolutions of human fen- 
 timents, and confider the conftitutional jealoufy arifing 
 from the propofed fyftem of colonial legiflation, as 
 one of thofe popular delufions, which have too 
 often inflamed the pafllons and milled the reafons of 
 men. 
 
 A further conftitutional objection has been made 
 to that part of the Bill, which grants in perpetuity 
 thefurplus of our hereditary revenue above 656,0001, 
 and to the fupporr of that grant by a fuppoled per¬ 
 petual Revenue Bill. As to the grant, it is neceflary 
 to obferve, that the guarding the feas had been a 
 heavy expence to this kingdom, as early as the reign 
 of King Charles the Firft *. At the Reftoration fpe- 
 cific duties were granted, and granted in perpetuity, 
 for the better guarding and defending of the feas 
 againft all perfons intending, or that may intend the 
 - Stafford’s Letters, v.ol, I, p. 68, 152. 
 
 difturbance 
 
( *3 ) 
 
 difturbance of the intercourfe of the trade of this your 
 Majefty’s realm, and for the better defraying the ne- 
 ceffary expences thereof, which otherwife cannot be 
 effeted without great charge ; and for increafe and 
 augmentation of your Majefty’s revenuej-.” The 
 probable amount of the propofed grant for many 
 years to come would be far inferior in value to one 
 year’s amount of the duties granted by that aft, and 
 granted in the firft place for this fpecific purpofe. 
 This part of the Bill would provide for the fame fer- 
 vice with more ceconomy, and with much better 
 effect. When I fay with much better effect, I fp'eak 
 from experience. In the late war frigates were fta- 
 tioned oft’ the coaft of Scotland to protect the trade 
 of that country. I prefented a memorial from Cork to 
 the then adminiftration of Ireland, praying, that the 
 fame attention fhould be fliewn to the fouthern and 
 weftern coafts of this kingdom. I was not able to 
 prevail. But when this navy becomes the navy of 
 the empire, to the fupport of which Ireland contri¬ 
 butes, it would be Jrifh as well as Britilh ; and there 
 could be no longer a foundation for any diftinflion. 
 Our contribution would center among ourfelves, and 
 would encourage our induftry, by the inveftment of 
 our quota in our own manufactures. 
 
 As to the fecond objection to this part of the Bill, 
 the fact has been mifapprehended. It is no part of 
 the Bill that this grant Ihould be fupported by a 
 perpetual Revenue Bill. It would have been Tup- 
 f 14th and 15th Ch. II. chap, g, 
 
 ported 
 
C 14 ) 
 
 ported with good faith; but, like the reft of our 
 revenue, by annual bills in aid of the adts of excife 
 and cuftoms, which are now perpetual. 
 
 It has beeen objected in a neighbouring kingdom, 
 that the grant of this furplus is a diminution of the 
 royal power and property. It certainly is fo, and has 
 jufdy and liberally been conceded, to ftrengthen the 
 v/hole empire by a great commercial adjuftment be¬ 
 tween thefe two countries. But to ftate this part of 
 the Bill as an incroachment on the rights or power of 
 Parliament, or as weakening or limiting the freedom 
 of the confticutioh, is a llrange perverfion, of the molt 
 obvious tendency and effedt, of a regulation calcu¬ 
 lated to promote the manufactures, protect the com¬ 
 merce, ftrengthen the conftitution, and provide for 
 the defence of the nation. 
 
 As to objections made, on conftitutional princi¬ 
 ples, to thole parts of the Bill that relate to the 
 Britilh Eaft-lndia Company, I fhall confider them 
 more fully when I come to the commercial parts of 
 the fubjedl, to which they properly belong. I will 
 only fay in this place, that I confider t'nofe parts of 
 the propofed agreement as an exchange, by mutual 
 cdnfent, of a commerce which exifts in theory only, 
 and which may never be productive, for a certain 
 immediate and advantageous commerce to a great em¬ 
 pire in that part of the globe, and to Great Britain ; 
 neither of which we can acquire without fuch an ex¬ 
 change; and, this poffible commerce being re-affuma- 
 ble at our pleafure by parting with the confideration 
 given 
 
C 15 ) 
 
 given for if, and as we barter commerce for com¬ 
 merce, and not commerce for conftitution, that no 
 objection of a conftitutional nature can juftly apply 
 to thofe paragraphs of the Bill. 
 
 I cannot difcover in any of thofe inftances the 
 fmalieft particle of legiflative power gained by Great 
 Britain or loft by Ireland. The former has always- 
 made laws to regulate the trade with her colonies and 
 fettlements in Africa and America; bv this agree¬ 
 ment fhe is to continue to do fo. The Irifli legifla- 
 ture now follows thofe laws, and has declared by 
 feveral of her ftatutes, that it is reafonable to do fo. 
 After this agreement, fhe will continue to follow 
 them as long as (lie thinks it reafonable. But, when 
 this event fhall have taken place, Great Britain in 
 making thofe laws muft conftder, what, regulations 
 appear equal to the Irifh legiflature, or flie hazards 
 the continuance of this agreement. What legiflative 
 power is Ireland to loofe ? When a Bill fhall be 
 brought into either of our Houfes of Parliament, re¬ 
 lative to the Britifh colonies, or to the four articles 
 from the American ftates, fhall we not have the fame 
 power over that as over every other Bill. Can we 
 not amend any part, or rejeft the whole ? Can we 
 not fay, the reftraints and benefits are not equal, or, 
 though they are equal, they are not wife, and they 
 fhall non be the law of Ireland ? But then you rifk 
 the agreement:— fo would the Britifh legiflature, if 
 fhe made any law relative to her colonies and fettle¬ 
 ments, which the Irifh legiflature fhould think unjuft. 
 
 But 
 
( i6 ) 
 
 But the determination of the agreement would not 
 neceffarily follow our varying or rejecting their Bill ; 
 for by the propofed agreement the diffatisfaftion of the 
 Britilh legiflature muft be firft declared. If our con- 
 duft Ihould be founded on juft grounds, it is not im¬ 
 probable that no fuch diffatisfaftion would be de¬ 
 clared, but that wife and moderate men might fuggeft 
 fome expedient, or advife fome middle courfe that 
 would be agreeable to both countries, and that the 
 Britilh legiflature would vary or change its law. But, 
 it is faid, you could not originate the Bill. In re- 
 fpcCt to the Britilh colonies and fettlements, no' man 
 can befo unreafonable as to defire it; as to foreign 
 colonies and the four enumerated articles, our right 
 to originate would be unqtieftionable. I fpeak of the 
 right, not of the exercife of it, the prudence of which 
 mull depend on the occafion. 
 
 If Great Britain neither gains nor Ireland lofes 
 any pover cf legiflation, where is the injury to our 
 independence ? Where is the bridle that is to be 
 thrown, it feems, over the neck of the high-fpirited 
 Heed P It is held out, not by thofe who offer, but 
 by thofe who would fcare him from his provender. 
 
 I therefore thought and Hill think, that there was 
 r.o good reafon on conftitutional grounds againft 
 the introduction of the Bill, for which introduc¬ 
 tion I voted. Confidering the fubjeft in its 
 true light, as merely commercial, I thought that 
 there were ftrong reafons to induce even thofe, who 
 cbjeded to fome of the commercial regulations of 
 the Bill, to vote for liberty to bring it in.' A com¬ 
 mercial 
 
C 17 ) 
 
 mercial fettlement between the two kingdoms is 
 acknowledged by every reafonable man to be much 
 wanted ; and how this can be obtained, without 
 temperate difcufiion, and the communication to 
 each other of the points in which they agree, and of 
 thole in which they differ, I cannot comprehend. In 
 the accomplilhment of the Britilh union many delays 
 and differences in opinion had arifen. Though the 
 commilfioners, appointed for that purpofe under the 
 authority of the Parliaments of both kingdoms, had 
 on both Tides figned and fealed the articles of union, 
 yet the Scotch Parliament made many important 
 alterations, which were adopted by the Englifh Par¬ 
 liament. In the proceedings to eftablifh a com¬ 
 mercial union between Great Britain and Ireland, 
 difficulties and differences in opinion muft neceffarily 
 have arifen among men of the beft intentions. Our 
 Proportions have been altered by the Britilh Houfe 
 of Commons; their Refolutions have been altered 
 by the Lords of Great Britain; and thefe alterations 
 were adopted by the Houfe'of Commons of that 
 kingdom. In the progrefs on the Irifh Bill the 
 fulled: dicuffion was intended: every objedtion would 
 have been heard, and every well-founded objedtion 
 doubtlefs muft have been allowed, and every proper 
 alteration made. Nothing final during this leffioa 
 was ever in contemplation. A great length and 
 variety of examination muft have preceded the fet- 
 tlement of the fchedule of duties and regulations. 
 This fchedule muft have been laid before our two 
 D . Houfes 
 
Houfes of Parliament in the next fefiion for their 
 approbation; and, after all this had been done, 
 nothing could have been concluded, until the Irifh 
 Parliament had declared its fatisfaCtion in the aCts of 
 the 3 ri:iin 1 . giflature. 
 
 The Bill offered to Ireland many commercial advan¬ 
 tages of the mod important nature. It fecured for 
 ever the linen trade of this kingdom. The agree¬ 
 ment, effectually to favour our manufactures, would 
 have been of great value to us. The encourage¬ 
 ment, which it gave to our failcloth manufacture, 
 would have cccafioned an annual profit to a very 
 great amount. The perpetual fuppiy of rock fait 
 would have been ufeful to our victualling trade and 
 filheries; of bark to our manufacture of leather; and 
 of coals to all our manufactures. The perpetual 
 exemption of this lalt article from duty on the ex¬ 
 port to Ireland, would have been a great and peculiar 
 advantage to our manufacturers. The inhabitants 
 of Great Britain pay for their own coals, from port 
 to port, 5s. the chaldron. An intention has been 
 mentioned not long fince to tax this commodity at the 
 pit. If this Bill had paffed, the tax would have been 
 drawn back, and this kingdom fecured again!! any 
 impcficion, which the neceflities of Great Britain 
 may induce her to lay on the export of this necef- 
 fary article. If Great Britain had not given of late 
 years the ftrongeft proofs, that fhe is not difpofed 
 to look to times of ltfs liberality, for precedents to 
 govern her conduCt in refpeCt to her filter kingdom. 
 
C J 9 ) 
 
 it would not be prudent to mention, that Englifh 
 coals came formerly to Ireland under a duty of 
 4s. the ton, impofed on the export by an Englifh 
 aft*. 
 
 I alfo thought the circuitous colony trade from 
 Ireland to Great Britain would have been highly 
 ufeful to this kingdom, and particularly to the city 
 of Cork. I thought the opening of the Britilh 
 markets to our manufaftures would be, in one re- 
 fpeft, of the utmoft importance to this kingdom ; I 
 mean by the re-exportation of Irith manufaftures 
 from Great Britain with a dtawback of all duties; 
 and, if this opinion is well founded, we fhould 
 conlider the advantages of having our manufaftures 
 exported to all parts of the world, by the capitals 
 and credit of Great Britain. By this affillance our 
 linens to a great amount are re-exported from 
 England ; and this affiftance has ever been one great 
 fource of the profperity of that manufafture. Un¬ 
 der the propofed agreement, all our other manu¬ 
 faftures wouid have been re-exported from thence 
 equally free from duty. 
 
 That the Britilh markets would have produced 
 confequences fo extenfive in favour of Ireland, as 
 her principal manufnfturers affirmed, it is not my 
 opinion. That Ireland would have been materially 
 benefitted by it in fome of her manufaftures, I 
 entertain no doubt. And, whenever Great Britain 
 can lighten the taxes on her manufaftures and on the 
 
 * Carte’s Life of the Duke of Ormond, vol. i. p. 84. 
 
 D 2, materials 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 materials of them, which muft naturally be one of ' 
 her firft objects when her circumftances permit, this 
 part of the prppofed agreement would effectually 
 open the bell, the nearelt, and the molt certain 
 markets in the world to Ireland; and would pro¬ 
 mote the molt beneficial of all trades, becaufe the 
 whole profits would belong to the fubjeCts of the 
 fame empire, and becaufe a capital employed in a 
 home trade, which this may be juftly confidered, 
 may be fent out and brought back many times, 
 before the capital employed in a foreign trade has 
 made one return ; which muft be peculiarly advan¬ 
 tageous to a country deficient in capital, and would 
 at the fame time be attended with all the advantages 
 of foreign trade, by increafing the quantity of fpecie 
 ana the number of fliips and feamen. The re¬ 
 export of our manufactures from Great Britain 
 enfures their admifiion wherever Britifh are received, 
 and baffles the ungenerous‘policy of Portugal. 
 
 In all thofe particulars the advantages are on our 
 fide ; and, if we hefitace whether to accept or not 
 the colonial and domeftic markets of Britain on 
 terms equally beneficial with herfelf, I will venture 
 to tell you, that no nation in Europe, which had no 
 colonies of her own, would follow your example. 
 If this part of the fubjcCt admitted no doubt, the 
 queftions then for the confideration of our Houfes 
 of Parliament would have been, whether they 
 thought it rer.fonable and juft to agree to the parts of 
 the B;li, that related to the Eaft-India trade, and to 
 the 
 
( 2 * ) 
 
 the preventing of any prohibition of the export of 
 our yarn to Great Britain. The fird of thefe confidera- 
 tions have depended on the evidence of our mer¬ 
 chants, as to the parts of the Eaft which were open 
 to us : for no European fettlement there would ad¬ 
 mit us: whether we had fufficient capitals to carry 
 on that trade: and whether any probable future 
 advantages (for prefrnt there are none, as we have 
 never lent a (hip there, though at full liberty fo to 
 do during the lad- fix years) were of fufficient 
 weight to prevent a commercial fettlement between 
 the two kingdoms, in which Great Britain offers 
 you accefs to all her markets foreign and domeftic, 
 on the fame terms with herfelf 5 with a covenant on 
 her part effe&ualiy to favour every article of your 
 growth, produce, or manufacture, materials from 
 foreign countries excepted, which are to be imported 
 in both kingdoms duty free; and in which (heoffers 
 an export of your manufactures, with all duties 
 drawn back, through the medium of her Company, 
 to her Eaft-Indian territories, by which channel 
 alone die can convey her own manufactures thither— 
 the benefit of whatever revenue (hail arife on India 
 goods lent to Ireland, or a drawback on the ex¬ 
 portation from Great Britain, which would give 
 them to us free of all duties—-and an equal trade 
 with Great Britain in her poffeffions in India, in the 
 event of a diffolution of the Company; in which 
 Company, during its continuance, you have an equal 
 right with Britons, of becoming adventurers; and 
 from 
 
( 2Z ) 
 
 from which you can purchafe the produce of the 
 Eaft in an open market and at a public auction, on 
 the fame terms with your fellow fubjedls of Great 
 Britain, and on cheaper terms than at any other 
 marker. 
 
 Thefe feveral circumftances appeared to me to 
 have been worthy the confideration of the Houfe 
 of Commons; which, after having been fully in¬ 
 formed on this fubject, would have been more 
 competent to determine, whether we fhould or 
 fhould nor, in favour of the Britilh Eaft-India Com¬ 
 pany, and in confideration of the other commercial 
 benefits propofed to us, impol'e this limitation on 
 our commerce, determinable at the difcretion of 
 our two Houfes of Parliament; which, while we 
 allowed it to continue, would have placed Ireland 
 in precifely the fame circumftances with every part 
 of Great Britain, London excepted. 
 
 Had this part of the agreement been found in¬ 
 jurious to the probable hopes of our riling com¬ 
 merce, it ought to have been and unqueftionably 
 would have beep rejected. If it had appeared, that, 
 without prejudice to ourfelves, we could have 
 frrengthened the ftaff on which our filler kingdom' 
 leans in the day of her adverfity, what generous 
 Irilhman would have with-held his concurrence ? 
 But if this part of the Bill, inftead of imaginary 
 profpects, in the place of commercial vifions, offered 
 us fame immediate, real, and fubftantial benefits, 
 the choice would not have been difficult to make. 
 
 The 
 
( a 3 ) 
 
 The agreement not to prohibit the exportation of 
 our yarn would be an engagement not to relinquilh 
 a beneficial and profitable part of our commerce; 
 beneficial and profitable to the whole kingdom, but 
 to Munfter in particular•, it would be an agree¬ 
 ment not to do what we fhall never do, though no 
 fuch agreement exifted. When it is confidered that 
 Ireland gains by this export above 340,0001. yearly*, 
 that it is a manufacture, though an imperfeCt one,' 
 which employs great numbers of our people, for whom 
 it would be difficult to find any other employment; 
 it feems to be a propofition almoft felf-evident, that 
 the exportation fhould never be prevented by any 
 other means, than by giving every pofiible encou¬ 
 ragement to our own people to manufacture it at 
 home, the . only rational and effectual means of pre¬ 
 venting the export. 
 
 But it is objected, that Great Britain prohibits 
 the exportation of her yarn, and that there is no 
 equality in our agreeing not to prohibit. I anfvver, 
 that the policy of that nation in this refpeCt has 
 been condemned by perfons of great commercial 
 information ; that thefe prohibitions were laid on to 
 gratify the manufaClur'ers of that country, who have 
 been fometimes much miftaken in their opinions on 
 this fubjeCt. In 1698, they petitioned, that the im¬ 
 portation of all worfted and woollen yarn from Ireland 
 Ihould be prohibited, and reprefented, that the poor 
 of England were perifhing by this importation; and 
 
 * At a medium of feven year?, ending 25th of March, 17S4, 
 it amounted to 348,927!. 5s. od. 
 
C 24 ) 
 
 in 1739*, they'petitioned againft taking off the 
 duties on thofe articles from Ireland to England; 
 but now they infift that it Ihould be made a part of 
 this agreement chat the exportation from Ireland to 
 Great Britain Ihould never be prohibited—a caution 
 to manufacturers not to be too confident in their 
 prefent opinions, and to the public, not to give 
 way to fuch opinions without hearing proofs or rea- 
 fons. As to equality, it is to be eftimated by the 
 fum of advantages on each fide, and not by a com- 
 parifon of each article feparately. Thus Britain 
 gives bounties on Irifh linen exported from her 
 ports, bat we give none on Britilh exports from 
 ours. In yarn the inequality is merely nominal. In 
 coals the equality is but nominal, and the whole 
 advantage is in the Irifh feale. 
 
 In thefe and other articles the exercife of the 
 legiflative power would be reftrained in this king¬ 
 dom during the continuance of the agreement; and 
 in many articles fimilar reftraints would be impofed 
 on the Britilh legiflature ; buc without fuch reftraints 
 no commercial agreement could ever be framed be¬ 
 tween two independent legillatures. Keftraints of 
 the fame nature made a part of our Propofitions, 
 which were almoft unanimously agreed to, and were 
 never confidered as fubverfive of conftitutional 
 rights. Limitations, which arife out of the power 
 of the Legiflature, and depend for their duration on 
 the fame power, are not arguments againft, but the 
 
 * Eaglilh Comm. Journ. p. 115—Commercial Reftraints. 
 
 cleareft 
 
( *5 ) 
 
 cleared: proofs in fupport of legi(lative indepen¬ 
 dence. Agreements to diredt the channels in which 
 trade fliall flow, Or to commute the barren fpecula- 
 tion of a poflible diftant trade, which is open to us, 
 but which we are not now able to enjoy, and per¬ 
 haps may never be worth our having, for a bene¬ 
 ficial trade which is not open to us, and which we 
 may acquire by the fufpenfion of an ufelefs right 
 reafiumable at our pleafure, would not be a re- 
 linquifhment, but an enlargement of commercial 
 freedom, and a juft and conftitutional exertion of 
 legifladve power for falutary purpofes. Let us ap¬ 
 ply this reai'oning to the Eaft-Indian commerce. You 
 have no liberty of trade with the Britilh empire in 
 India. Great Britain ofFers you an export of 
 your manufactures to thofe countries from Great 
 Britain and Ireland, on the fame terms with 
 her own, through the medium of her Eaft-India 
 Company, to which ihe limits herfelf. She offers 
 you at the fame time her own markets in the 
 fame manner that fhe enjoys'them herfelf-, but 
 to this Ihe annexes a condition, that while you 
 think proper to enjoy thofe benefits, you fliould agree 
 not to trade to the few hofpitable Ihores that will 
 receive you between the Cape of Good Hope and 
 the Streights of Magellan -, and that, when you 
 choofe to relinquilh that profitable liberty of trade 
 which llie offers, and which you have not, you 
 may then reaffume that unproductive liberty of 
 trade, which you have now in theory only. 
 
 E Some 
 
C 26 ) 
 
 Some of the commercial regulations of this Bill 
 have been mifunderftood ; I mean thofe which rer 
 late to bounties, and the breweries. 
 
 As to the Srft, the Bill direCts, that all bounties, ex^ 
 cept fuch as are in the nature of drawbacks or comr 
 penfations for duties paid, on any articles to Great- 
 Britain, fhall ceafe, with an exception of corn, malt, 
 flour, and bifcuit-, that no bounty to or from a 
 Britifh colony or fettlement, or to the Eaft-Indies, 
 jhall be payable in Ireland, unlefs in cafes where 
 a fimilar bounty is payable in GreatrBritain; with an 
 exception when fuch bounty is in the nature of a 
 drawback or compenfation for duties paid. The 
 bounties to her own fettlements Great Britain has a 
 right to regulate. The ceaftng of all bounties on 
 articles from Ireland to Great-Britain is followed by 
 her bill as to bounties from Great-Britain to Ireland, 
 to prevent a war of bounties, which would be hurt-: 
 ful to both countries. The bounties, payable in 
 this kingdom to encourage the fale of our manufac¬ 
 tures in our own markets, or on exportation to fo¬ 
 reign ftates, not Britifh colonies or fettlements, are in 
 no fort reftrained. 
 
 The parts of the Bill relative to bounties, which 
 are highly advantageous to Ireland, have been per¬ 
 verted into objections againft the Bill. A proof of 
 the great utility of thofe regulations is to be found 
 in the fate of the fail-cloth manufacture. It flou r 
 rifhed before the Britifh bounty. It was ruined by 
 that bounty. It will fiourifli again by the withdraw¬ 
 ing 
 
t i 
 
 Sng that bounty; and, by the preference given to it 
 by this Bill over foreign in the Britifh navy, by the 
 other encouragements which it is to receive in the 
 out-fit of Britifh and colony (hips in being confidered 
 as Britilb, and by the export to India* will flourilh in 
 a far greater degree than at any other period, and 
 will become one of our mod important branches of 
 manufacture. 
 
 In refpeCt to the breweries, we (hould have been 
 gainers by the propofed agreement, as the duty on 
 Britifh beer, how 4s.id* would have been then 5s. 4d. 
 the barrel. 
 
 I thought thofe commercial matters were proper 
 fubjeCts for inveftigation; that the Bill, which related 
 to them, lhould be brought in and printed, and dif- 
 perfed through the kingdom; that our merchants and 
 manufacturers (hould be examined to every part of 
 it; and that not a ftep (hould have been taken in it,' 
 without feeing our way clearly, and without the con¬ 
 curring fenfe of the trading part of the nation. I 
 did not think myfelf at liberty even to debate the 
 commercial parts of the Bill, before the commercial 
 evidence of Ireland was heard ; but I am forced by 
 the mod unfounded and malicious mifreprefentationi 
 to mention my prefent fentiments, with the readied 
 difpofition to change any of them on better infor¬ 
 mation, but with the firmed difdain of groundlefs 
 clamour. 
 
 On thofe principles I voted for the introduction of 
 the Bill. Had it appeared, on the introductory 
 E a date- 
 
L *8 } 
 
 ftatement of it, to have contained any thing deroga¬ 
 tory to the independence of our legiflature, or that 
 could have juitiy raifed a doubt of that kind, I would 
 have voted either againfl: the introduction, or for the 
 immediate rejection of it. 
 
 Many of my fellow-citizens petitioned againfl; the 
 Refolutions of the Britifh Parliament. I dated their 
 petition more fully than petitions are ufually dated. 
 I was not called upon to give my opinion on thole 
 Refolutions. As to the legidative rights of Ireland, 
 the Addrefs of the Britifh Lords and Commons to 
 the Throne has declared their fenfe ; and the Bill of 
 the Britifh Houfc of Commons has fpoken moft ex¬ 
 plicitly and decidedly on that fubject. The Irifh 
 Bili differs materially from thofe Refolutions, and 
 contains many new provifions in favour of our con- 
 ftitution and commerce. I fpeak of that Bill for 
 the introduction of which. I voted; and on the 
 ground of that Bill I will maintain this pofition 
 againfl: any man : That it neither furrenders nor im¬ 
 pairs, nor promifes or engages, or tends in any re- 
 fpect to impair, the independence of the legiflature 
 of Ireland; but that, on the contrary, it exprefsly re- 
 ferves to this and all fucceeding Parliaments the full 
 exercife of legiflative rights, in all a£b of legifla- 
 tion whatever ; and gives to our Houfes of Parlia¬ 
 ment a greater power than any Houfes of Parliament 
 ever had before, by placing in their hands, with¬ 
 out the Royal affent, the repeal of a legiflative 
 agreement. 
 
 Confider 
 
c 29 3 
 
 Confider the prefent ftate of the Britifh empire. 
 Survey your own country, with an honeft pride, as 
 a moft important part of that empire; confcious of 
 your own weight in the general fcale, be not too 
 prone to fufpedt, that any Englifh Miniftry would be 
 mad enough to invade your liberties, or to impair 
 either your commercial or conftitutional rights. 
 What is now the neceffary objeft of Britifh councils? 
 To {Lengthen and conneft the remaining parts of 
 the empire. What are the principal means of effac¬ 
 ing this ? Multiplying the refources, increafing the 
 wealth, promoting the population and induftry, and 
 eftablifhing the tranquillity and contentment of Ire¬ 
 land. No two countries on the globe are more 
 neceffary to the happinefs of each other than thefe 
 two iflands. The man who confiders them as ad- 
 verfaries, and not as partners in commerce, is not a 
 judicious friend to either. The man, who attempts 
 to ferve one at the expence of the other, would in¬ 
 jure both. What is the obvious wilh and intereft of 
 the enemies of the Britifh empire? To feparate 
 thefe two kingdoms: firft to weaken and difunite 
 the Britifh empire, and then to fubvert it. What 
 would become of the liberties of Ireland then? 
 Counteract your enemies, co-operate with your 
 friends, and confolidate the ftrength of the two 
 kingdoms on fuch terms, as fhall appear to be of 
 equal advantage to each. 
 
 Let me afk any of my fellow-citizens fome few 
 plain queftions. Have we finctiyyg to this time 
 followed 
 
c & i 
 
 followed Britilh laws, by laying the fame duties on 
 all colonial produce, foreign as well as Britifh ? 
 Have you felt any commercial' or cbnftitutional pre- 
 judice by this? Do you think it reafonable, that 
 Great-Britain fhould allow you to' bring into her 
 ports the produce of foreign colonies, whilft (he 
 prohibits herfelf from doing fo? Have not her 
 colonies been the great fource of her fuperior com¬ 
 merce and maritime ftrength? Would you promote 
 the trade and navigation of Great-Britain, and in 
 effect of Ireland, or of foreign nations ? Would 
 you ftrengthen the fleet which protects, or that 
 which may be deftined to invade you? Is there 
 any country, the trade to which is more valuable to 
 Ireland, than her trade with the reft of the world? 
 Is not Great-Britain that country ? Can more effec¬ 
 tual means be devifed .for promoting your trade, 
 than by extending the moft valuable part qf it? 
 Was not this the objedt of our Propolitions, and is 
 not this the objedt of our Bill ? 
 
 . What would you have? To remain as we are. 
 How, would you have Britons keep their markets 
 (hut againft you, whilft you keep your markets open 
 to them? Shall they fupply you with colony pro¬ 
 duce, and refufe to receive it from you? Is this 
 equality of commerce or conftitution ? Give us 
 fimilar prohibitions or prohibitory duties. Are you 
 inclined to bring your linens within this rule, and 
 can you juftly expedt that Great-Britain Ihould en¬ 
 courage your ftaple manufadture, with prejudice to 
 her 
 
[ 3* 3 
 
 her own in other countries, if you difcourage hers ? 
 Are you aware,' that every protection to a manufac¬ 
 ture by a duty, which excludes a better or a cheaper 
 manufacture of the fame kind, is, to the amount of 
 the difference in price, a tax on every other manu-; 
 faCture, and every other man in the community who 
 buys the protected manufacture? Do you prefer 3 
 fyftem of mutual prohibitions, that tends to protect 
 idlenefs or ignorance in both kingdoms, to a fyftem 
 that fets up the induftry and fkill of each nation as an 
 example and rival to the other? You certainly feel 
 no daftardly repugnance to this noble emulation. 
 Do you prefer exclufion to cpmprehenfionf recipro¬ 
 cal reftraints, prohibitions, perpetual jealoufies, and 
 ill-will, to the mutual intercourfe of kindnefs and 
 encouragement, which bids the mixing commerce 
 of the two kingdoms roll in one common flood ? 
 
 There is no kindnefs, you fay, in the attempt to 
 exclude us from a trade to the Eaft *. Is there 
 none in offering you a trade to her extenfive do¬ 
 minions there ? Does fhe give greater liberty to the 
 inhabitants of Great Britain? Which is moft valua¬ 
 ble, the trade fhe offers, or that of which fhe pro- 
 poles to you ftill to fufpend the exercife ? If the 
 exchange is in your favour, is there any thing difv 
 
 * The moft valuable part of that trade, which confifts in 
 teas, we have already relinquilhed in favour of the Britilh Eaft. 
 India Company, without murmur, though without any equivar 
 lent. We are now offered an equivalent, for what we have,. 
 jti effe£t, already conceded without any. , 
 
 honourable 
 
[ 3 2 ] 
 
 honourable in accepting of it ? or any thing inde¬ 
 corous in propofing it? Would you have her violate 
 her national faith, and diffolve her India Company? 
 No, you fay, that expedtarion would be unreafonable 
 and unjuff. Tell me then what can lhe offer more 
 than (lie now propofes to you, either whilft that com¬ 
 pany exifts, or in the event of its diflolution ? I afk 
 you but one queftion more. Does Great-Britain 
 poffefs in any one part of the globe any one article 
 of free commerce whatever, in her power to particir 
 pate, which lhe does not open as freely and benefi¬ 
 cially to Ireland as to herfelf? And then confider, 
 my fellow-citizens, what nation upon’ earth has the 
 wideft and beft-regulated range of commerce. 
 
 In confidering the Bill, examine the fundamental 
 principles in the firft place. What are they ? iff, 
 To encourage and extend as much as poflible the 
 trade between the two kingdoms, on permanent and 
 equitable principles, adly, That the inhabitants of 
 each fliould trade to and from the Britilh colonies, 
 fettlements, and dominions, in every part of the globe, 
 now or hereafter to be planted, made, or acquired, 
 on equal terms, both diredtly and circuitoufly. If 
 you difapprove of the principles, rejedt the Bill; if 
 you approve of the principles, go into the detail of 
 the Bill j approve, or amend, or reject, according to 
 your judgment, applied cooly to every diftindt and 
 feparate part of this comprehenfive fyftem. In this 
 you will adl with that wifdom and temper which be¬ 
 come a great commercial city. Confider whether 
 any 
 
t 33 3 
 
 any claufc or exprefiion in it can have the moil re¬ 
 mote tendency to injure your conftjtution, ..If you 
 find any.fuch, rejr< 3 : it, whatever commercial benefits 
 the Bill may offer. But pray, let the claufc be firft 
 read, and a little confidered, and a little underflood. 
 Judge of it from the plain words of the text itfelf, 
 and not from the brilliant paraphrafe of eloquent 
 commentators ; and let not- every man, who thinks 
 proper to beat on the fpirit-flirring druni of the con- 
 ftitution, make you ftart and tremble, and frighten 
 you out of you^wits. 
 
 I certainly confider myfelf accountable to my con- 
 jftituents for my parliamentary conduit; but on great 
 national queftions it is my duty to think as w.ell as .to 
 ait for them. I defire only that they will read the 
 Bill, make themfelves, as I have endeavoured to dp 
 in refpedl to myfelf, mailers of the many important 
 and complicated lubjedts which it comprehends; and 
 thin, fay, whether a Member for .the fir,ft trading city 
 of Ireland, who, w.as not unverfed in fubjeits of con- 
 flitution and commerce., would.have acted as became 
 him, if he had voted that a fubjeit of this nature 
 fhould not have-been confidered. 1 have voted only 
 that it fhould be confidered; and was never mpr.e 
 thoroughly convinced, that I never gave a vote of 
 more beneficial tendency to the city of Cork; anci 
 have no .doubt that my conflituents will hereafter 
 view my conduit in this light. I affedlionately 
 regard my fellow-citizens, and there is nothing I 
 value more than their efteem, except the lafting in- 
 E terefts 
 
L 34 ] 
 
 terefts and happinefs of them and their pofterity. I 
 defire only that they may judge for themfelves, and 
 of the Bill itfelf by its own merits; and not view it 
 through the medium of mifreprefentation, which fo 
 many men in both kingdoms have, or think they 
 have, an intereft in placing between the public and 
 the real fubjeft for their confideration, 
 
 The great principle of this Bill, namely equal 
 freedom in each kingdom to the merchants and 
 manufaflurers of the other, has been long my de¬ 
 cided opinion*. When for your fervice I endea¬ 
 voured to give fome light to this fubject, I pointed 
 out this inequality as one of the juft grounds of our 
 commercial complaints. Are my fellow-citizens, 
 after twenty-five years experience of my conduft as 
 one of their reprefentatives, fo little acquainted with 
 my character, as to fuppofe me capable of expreffing 
 to the public the warmeft feelings on the fubjedt of 
 their former oppreffions in trade, and that I fhould 
 how have any defign to renew thofe grievances, or to 
 impair thofe conftitutional rights, which alone can 
 proteft them in the enjoyment of commercial free¬ 
 dom ! Apply all the exertions of your knowledge 
 and experience to this fubject; its importance de- 
 ferves them all. Shew your veteran, and, let me 
 add, faithful Reprefentative, that any part of the 
 mealure injures your rights as merchants, manu¬ 
 facturers, or freemen, and then fee whether any man 
 
 See Commercial Reftraints pf Ireland, Letter 9. 
 
 will 
 
will ufe more vigorous exertions for your fervice,' 
 But confider it with that temper and good fenfe with 
 which the condudt of my fellow-citizens has. been/ 
 ufually marked ; and do not fufFer it, before it has 
 been read or underftood, to be encountered by vio¬ 
 lence and outrage. 
 
 I have the honour to be, 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Your molt faithful. 
 
 And obedient fervanr, 
 
 JOHN HELY HUTCHINSON. 
 
 Palmer Turn, . 
 §th September, 1785. 
 
£ 3 & 1 
 
 O N Friday, the 12th of Auguft, 1785, Mr. Ordfe 
 made his long expefted motion, for iCave to 
 bring in a Bill —“ for effectuating the Intercourfe’ 
 and Commerce between Great Britain and Ireland, off 
 permanent and equitable principles, for the mutual' 
 benefit of both countries.” Mr, Orde explained the 
 nature of the Bill in a fpeech of three hours conti¬ 
 nuance : and, in confidering an important fubjeCt, 
 he befeeched every member of the Houfe, to diveft 
 himfelf of what he had already heard, to throw afide 
 ail prejudice, and to difcufs a meafure, fo interefting to 
 all, with tempers free from any bias, and with minds, 
 open to conviction.” 
 
 Mr. Connolly, Agahyl. 
 
 Mr. Connolly faid, he had 
 “before declared the bufinefs' 
 to be .intricate and myfteri- 
 ous; he now found-it to be 
 extremely delicate. Inftead 
 of conciliating, and as he had 
 faid, dovetailing- the two 
 countries, it would in his opi¬ 
 nion, have a contrary effedt ; 
 it would take away their con - 
 ftitution, and leave them ito 
 commerce at ail. He had the 
 day before faid, he would 
 move a long adjournment, 
 2nd‘propofe an addrefs to his 
 Majefty to explain the reafon 
 of it, but his idea was now 
 totally changed: Having heard 
 the Bill, he would obJe& to 
 thij motion for leave to bring 
 
 Mr. Fitzgibbon, For. 
 
 He began by calling for the 
 Refolutinn agreed to unani- 
 moufly on the 20th of Decem¬ 
 ber, 1779, which was read, 
 and was in thefe words : 
 
 I will allure theRightHon. 
 
 Gentls- 
 
[ 37 ] 
 
 Mr. Connolly, Againft.- 
 it in. The Bill bartered a way 
 the conftitution of Ireland.’ 
 It was well known he had 
 been no advocate for the at¬ 
 tainment of that conftitution; 
 but that Houfe having afferted 
 the conftiiution, and the con¬ 
 ftitution having been recog¬ 
 nized, he had no right to give 
 his confent to alter or relin- 
 quilh it, nor had any member 
 of that Houfe any fuch right, 
 and the kingdom he was per- 
 fuaded, would never fubmit to 
 fuch a facrifice. The Bill pro- 
 pofed to be brought in by the 
 Right Hon. Gentleman, not- 
 withftanding the mazes and 
 the labyrinth into which he had 
 endeavoured to lead the Houfe 
 with a view to difguife and 
 glofs over its real purport, it 
 was evident, was in fubftance 
 and effeft, "'the fame with the 
 Bill upon the table; the Bill 
 brought into the Britilh Par¬ 
 liament, by the minifter. It 
 ought, therefore, to be oppofed 
 in the firft inftance They 
 had better not fuller the Hydra 
 that threatened ruin to both 
 kingdoms to grow up ; let 
 them meet the mifehief in its 
 infancy, and fit angle it in the 
 cradle. He had voted for the 
 original Propoiitions, becaufe 
 he thought a permanent fyftem 
 for the benefit of the two coun¬ 
 tries; but the Bill now opened 
 to the Houfe by the Right Hon. 
 Gentleman, inftead of dove¬ 
 tailing and uniting them, could 
 tend only to their mutual dif- 
 content and' reparation. 
 
 Mr. Fitzgibbon, For. 
 Gentleman, (Mr. Connolly;' 
 that I did not in any fort 
 allude to any thing which ha 
 fallen from him ; but fince b • 
 has done me the honour to ii, ■ 
 terrupt me, I (hall probably h- 
 induced to allude to him br 
 fore I fit down; and the Rig: .. 
 Hon. Gentleman having calle- 
 my attention to him, has ; 
 claim upon me for prece¬ 
 dence, I (ball therefore in tht 
 firft inftance difmifs/r/m. Th 
 Right Hon. Gentleman ha; 
 ftated that this is a ftibjeft of 
 fo much delicacy and intricacy, 
 fo much envelope in difficulty 
 and myftery, that it is nearly 
 incomprehenfible. And in the 
 fame breath he announces the 
 whole fyftem.to be injurious 
 to the trade and commerce of 
 this country, and fubyerfiveof 
 its legislative; independence. 
 The Right Hon. Gentleman 
 calls out for time to enable the 
 people to underftand the fub- 
 ject, and will not confent to 
 the introduction of a Bill which 
 is to point out to them vyha$ 
 they are to underftand. The 
 Right 'Hon. Gentleman will 
 not confent to the introduction 
 of a Bill which he has never 
 read, and which he profefies 
 his inability to underftand, be-, 
 caufe it is a Bill which he af- 
 lerts to be ruinous to the trade, 
 and fubverfive of the conftitu¬ 
 tion of Ireland. 
 
 Poffibly I may have imita¬ 
 ted the argument. I do not 
 think however, that I have, 
 imitated it; however, if my 
 Right 
 
C 33 ] 
 
 Mr . Fitzgibbon, Far . 
 Right Hon. friend feels any 
 thing like uneafinefs at the 
 repetition of his arguments, 
 or at any obfervation which I 
 have made upon them, he 
 knows my refpeft and regard 
 for him to be fo great, that I 
 never can proceed in any thing, 
 which may give him one mo¬ 
 ment’s pain. 1 am fatisfied 
 he afts upon every occafion, 
 to the belt of his judgment for 
 the advantage of this country. 
 I fhall therefore proceed as I 
 had intended when I firft rofe. 
 
 Mr . Grattan, Again ]}. 
 
 I can excufe the Right Hon. 
 Member who moves you for 
 leave to bring in the Bill, he 
 is an Englifhman, and con¬ 
 tends for the power of his own 
 •country while I am contend¬ 
 ing for the liberty of mine.; 
 he might have fpared himfelf 
 the trouble of Rating his own 
 Bill. I read it before, I read 
 it in the twenty Refolutions, I 
 read it in the Englilh Bill, 
 which is to all intents and pur- 
 pofes the fame; and which he 
 might read without the trou¬ 
 ble of reforting to his own. 
 His comment is of little mo- 
 meat; a Lord Lieutenant’s 
 Secretary is an unfafe com¬ 
 mentator on an Irifh conftitu- 
 tion : the former merit of the 
 Right Hon. Gentleman in 
 pi effing for the original Pro- 
 pontions and contending a- 
 gsinft the prefeat, which he 
 now 
 
 Mr. Fitzgibbon, For. 
 
 As my Rt. Hon. friend (Mr. 
 Grattan)alluded to the memor¬ 
 able aera of 1779,1 thought it 
 neceflary to remind him of the 
 unanimous fenfe of the Houfe 
 and theNation upon the fubjeft 
 at that time, and to remind him, 
 that the grant of the Colony 
 trade was at that time deemed 
 an aft of liberality, which 
 ought to attach us warmly to 
 Great Britain. I thought it 
 neceflary to remind him of his 
 language and conduft at that 
 time, that the emulation of 
 that day was, who fhould 
 Hand forward to exprefs his 
 gratitude to Great Britain, and 
 his admiration of the unex¬ 
 ampled ability and addrefs with 
 which Lord North had con¬ 
 ducted the caufe of Ireland. 
 How it has happened that, the 
 extenfion and permanent efta- 
 blilhment of the principle, 
 
 , which 
 
C 39 ] 
 
 Mr. Grattan, Againfl. 
 now fupports, may have been 
 very great, and I am willing 
 to thank him for bis paji fer- 
 viccs\ they may be a private 
 confolation to himfelf. No 
 
 more-1 differ from him in 
 
 his account of this tranfadfion. 
 He was plerlged to his eleven 
 Propofitions; his offer was the 
 Propofitions, our’s the taxes; 
 he took the latter, but forgets 
 the former. I leave both, and 
 come to his fyftem. Here it 
 becomes neceffary to go back 
 a little—I begin with your 
 free trade obtained in 1779; 
 by that you recovered your 
 right to trade with every part 
 of the world, whofe ports 
 were open to you, fubjedf to 
 your own unftipulated duties, 
 the Britifh plantations only 
 excepted; by that, you ob¬ 
 tained the benefit of your in- 
 fular fituation, the benefit of 
 your weftern fituation, and 
 the benefit of your exemption 
 from intolerable taxes. What 
 thefe advantages might be, no 
 man could fay, but any man 
 who had feen the ftruggle you 
 had made during a century of 
 depreffion, could forefee, that 
 a fpirit of induftry operating 
 upon a ftate of liberty in a 
 young nation, muft in the 
 courfe of time produce fignal 
 advantages —the fea is like the 
 earth, to non-exertion a wajie, 
 to induffry a mine-, this trade 
 was accompanied with another, 
 a plantation trade ; in this, you 
 retained your right to trade di- 
 redlly with the Britifh planta¬ 
 tions 
 
 Mr. Fitzgibbon, For. 
 which at that time was the 
 fubjedf of overftrained applaufe 
 and gratitude, has now be¬ 
 come a topic of popular cla¬ 
 mour and difcontent. How 
 it has happened that a volun¬ 
 tary and precarious grant of 
 the Colony trade, in 1779, 
 was confidered an affedlionate 
 mark of Britifh liberality, and 
 that an extended and irrevoca- . 
 ble grant of the fame trade, 
 in *785, is confidered as an 
 infult and an injury:—How 
 my Right Hon. Friend will 
 reconcile his condudt and his 
 language in 1779, to his con¬ 
 duit and his language on this 
 day, by what twift of argu¬ 
 ment he will be able to recon¬ 
 cile to the nation, opinions fo. 
 violently contrafted and incon- 
 fiftent, I am free to acknow¬ 
 ledge I want fagacity to dif- 
 
 That I may not incur the 
 hazard of contradiction, when 
 1 ftate what was in 1779 con¬ 
 fidered perfedt freedom of 
 trade, I will recur to the words 
 of a Gentleman now in my 
 eye (Mr. Flood), delivered in 
 this aflembly on the zcth of 
 December, 1779: “ What is 
 a Free Trade? I was one of 
 the firft and moft decided in 
 ufing the term. It is a trade 
 to the whole world, fubjedt to 
 the reftraints of your own le- 
 giflature, and that of the 
 country with which you trade; 
 confequently in Britain, and 
 the Britifh Colonies, fubjedt 
 to the reftridfions of the-Bri- 
 tifa 
 
c < 
 
 Mr. Grattan, Againjl. 
 tions in a variety of articles, 
 without a reference to Britilh 
 duties; by this, you obtained 
 a right to trade with the Bri¬ 
 tifli plantations diredlly in each 
 and every other article, fubjccl 
 to the rate of Britifli duty ; by 
 this, you obtained a right to 
 feledt the article, fo that the 
 general trade fliouid not hang 
 on the fpecial conformity; and 
 by this, you did not covenant 
 to afFeft, exclude, or poftpone 
 the produce of foreign planta¬ 
 tions —the reafon was obvious, 
 you demanded two things, a 
 free trade and a plantation 
 trade; had the then minifter 
 infilled on a covenant to ex¬ 
 clude the produce of foreign 
 plantations, he had given you 
 a plantation trade initead of a 
 free trade, (whereas your de¬ 
 mand was both) and his grant 
 h,.d been inadequate , unfatisfac- 
 fr/'y, and ir.admijftbie —thefe 
 points of trade being fettled, a 
 third in the opinion of fome 
 remained ; namely, the inter- 
 courfe with England or the 
 channel trade—A fuccefsful 
 political campaign, an unfuc- 
 cefsful harveft, the poverty of 
 not a few, together with the 
 example of England, brought 
 forward in the year 1783, a 
 number of fami{hing manu¬ 
 facturers with a demand of pro¬ 
 tecting duties ; the extent of 
 their demand was idle, tne 
 manner of conveying that de¬ 
 mand tumultuary, but not be¬ 
 ing wholly refilled nor yet 
 adequately .afijfted, they laid 
 
 .0 ] 
 
 Mr. Fitzgibeon, For. 
 tifh legifluture. This, fays 
 he, is a principle as clear as 
 the fun, which Ihines upon 
 our reviving empire, and wide 
 as the univerfe, if the univerfe 
 were wider than it is.” This, 
 Sir, is the Honourable Gentle¬ 
 man’s definition of a Free 
 Trade; and upon his own 
 principles, clear as the fun, 
 and wide as the univerfe, I 
 meet him upon the prcfent 
 queliion. From 1779 to 1784, 
 we relied fatisned upon the 
 fubjett of trade; but in 1-784, 
 it was difcovered that the com¬ 
 mercial inttrcourfe between 
 Great Britain and Ireland was 
 unequal ; that fne poured her 
 manufactures in upon us, and 
 Ihut our manufactures out 
 from her markets. But above 
 all, it was complained that by 
 the conllruct.on which fire put 
 upon her navigation laws, we 
 were prohibited from import¬ 
 ing into England the produce 
 of her colonies, whilft fhe 
 claimed a right, and we ac- 
 quiefced in the claim, to im¬ 
 port into this country, from 
 England, the produce of the 
 whole world. The remedy 
 propofed was, to commence a 
 war of Prohibitory Duties, 
 but the good fenfe of the 
 Houfe faw how deftruftive 
 fuch a meafure mull be, and 
 rejected it by as refpedtable a 
 majority as ever appeared 
 within tbefe walls. An Ho¬ 
 nourable Member then thought 
 it neceilary to move an addrefs 
 to the Throne, that the fer- 
 
[ - 
 
 Mr, Grattan, Againjl. 
 the foundation of another plan, 
 which made its appearance in 
 1785, oppofite indeed to their 
 wifhes and fatal to their ex- 
 peftation; this was the fyftem 
 of reciprocity, a fyftem fair in 
 its principle and in procefs of 
 time likely to be beneficial but 
 not likely to be of any great 
 prefent advantage, other than 
 by flopping the growth of de¬ 
 mand, allaying a commercial 
 fever and producing fettlement 
 and incorporation with the 
 people of England; this fyftem 
 was founded on the only prin¬ 
 ciple which could obtain be¬ 
 tween twoindependent nations, 
 equality, and the equality con¬ 
 futed in fimilarity of duty: now 
 as the total abatement of duties 
 on both fides, had driven the 
 Irifhman out of his own mar¬ 
 ket, as the raifing our duties to 
 the Britifh ftandard had driven 
 theEnglilhman out of the Irilh 
 market, a third method was 
 reforted to, the abatement of 
 Britiflv duty to the irifh ftan¬ 
 dard: but then this equality of 
 duty was inequality of trade, 
 for as the Englilhman with 
 that duty againft him, had 
 beaten you in the Irifh market 
 with that duty in his favour h 
 muil keep you out of.the Eng 
 lifh : fo that under this ar 
 rangement the Englifh manu 
 fafturer continued proteftec 
 and the Irifh manufacture 
 continued expoled, and the 
 abatement of duty was no 
 more than difarming the argu¬ 
 ment of retaliation. Had the 
 
 ■I ] 
 
 Mr. FlTZGtBBON, For. 
 vants of the crown might be 
 directed to employ the interval 
 between that time and the pre¬ 
 fent feffion in digefting a plan 
 of commercial intercourfe be¬ 
 tween Great Britain and Ire¬ 
 land, upon equitable and li¬ 
 beral principles. I have heard 
 Gentlemen fay, they confider- 
 ed that addrefs as alluding to 
 Protecting Duties, but l will 
 not pay their memories a com¬ 
 pliment at the expence of 
 their underftandingsit is 
 impoflible they could have un- 
 derftood that this addrefs al¬ 
 luded to Protefting Duties; the 
 words of the addrefs fpeak the 
 fenfe of it very plainly; and 
 Protefting Duties had been 
 juft rejefted, as a wild and 
 nonfenfical projeft. 
 
 A fyftem of commercial in¬ 
 tercourfe therefore was called 
 for, by the Parliament of Ire¬ 
 land, and 1 truft I fhall not 
 hear it again aflerted, that this 
 has .been a fubjeft obtruded 
 upon the nation. The una¬ 
 nimous addrefs of the Com¬ 
 mons gives the lie direft: to 
 that aft'ertion ; accordingly the 
 outline of the fyftem which 
 had been called for, was fub- 
 mitted to the Houfe in eleven 
 Propofitions, early in this, 
 feffion. The leading features 
 of it were, “■ That the 
 markets of both countries 
 fhould be open to the manu¬ 
 factures of each other upon 
 equal terms; that therefore 
 ho new prohibition or addi¬ 
 tional duties ihould be im- 
 
[. 4 2 
 
 Mr. Gratton, Agshfi. 
 arrangement Hopped here, it 
 had been unjust indeed, but 
 as Ireland was to covenant 
 that fhe would not raife her 
 duties on Britifhmanufactures, 
 England on her part was to 
 covenant, that the would not 
 oimimfh her preference in fa¬ 
 vour of Irifh linen, and the 
 adjuflment amounted to a co¬ 
 venant, that neither country 
 in their refpeetive markets 
 wouid affect the manuiadture 
 of the other by any operative 
 alteration of duty; however, 
 the adjuflment did not flop at 
 the home manufadlure, it went 
 to plantation produce, and 
 here you Hood on two grounds, 
 law and juilice; lav/, becaufe 
 you only defired that the fame 
 words of the fame a£t of na¬ 
 vigation Siould have the fame 
 cnnftrufiion on one lfde the 
 Channel as they have on the 
 other ; how they had ever 
 
 by fuppofmg that in your an- 
 
 tages, and then a doubt might 
 arife whether the acl of na¬ 
 vigation was tne law or Ire¬ 
 land, fo that you feented en¬ 
 titled to the confiruction or 
 
 free 
 
 ] 
 
 Mr. FitzGibeon, For. 
 pofed in either country upon 
 the manufactures of the other; 
 that Great Britain fhould fe- 
 cure and make permanent to 
 us, the grant of the colony 
 trade, which by the fettle- 
 ment of 1779, as my Right 
 Hon. Friend has termed it; 
 was precarious and revocable ; 
 and that fire fhould relax her 
 navigation laws in our fa¬ 
 vour.” For the prefent I 
 fhail not go into the detail 
 of this fyftem, but I muft re¬ 
 mind Gentlemen, that Eng¬ 
 land by this agreement binds 
 herfelf to fecure to this coun¬ 
 try the monopoly of her mar¬ 
 ket in the article of linens. 
 And 1 muft remind them alfo; 
 that a Gentleman of the firft 
 abilities, a leader of Englifli 
 eppofuion, did ftate emphati¬ 
 cally in the Biitifh Senate, 
 that Britain, by fo doing, gave 
 up her heft proteiflion againft 
 the futuie caprices of this 
 country. 
 
 As to the liberty of fending 
 our manufactures to the Britifh 
 markets, I freely own I have 
 not very fanguine expectations 
 
 Sir, lpiize the advantages of 
 a relaxation in her navigation 
 laws very highly. 1 think 
 that without fuch a relaxation 
 we have little profpedt indeed 
 of any foreign. trade : be¬ 
 caufe, if the Irifh merchant 
 has not the certain iflue of the 
 Englifh markets for foreign 
 commodities, he has no fpur 
 to enterprize and /peculation. 
 
C 43 ] 
 
 Mr. Gratton, Againjl. 
 free from the aft ; now it is 
 of more confequence to Eng¬ 
 land that you fhould be bound 
 by the aft of navigation, than 
 to Ireland to have the benefit 
 of the fair conflruftion of it. 
 But you flood on ft ill better 
 ground, jujiice-, was it juft 
 that you fhould receive plan¬ 
 tation goods froln England, 
 and that England fhould not 
 receive them from you ? here 
 if you don’t find the law e- 
 qual, you may make it fo: for as 
 yet you area'free Parliament. 
 
 - I' leave this part of the fub- 
 jcft; equality of duty but no 
 prefent equality of trade. I 
 come to that part of the ad- 
 juftment which is Inequality of 
 both ; — and firft, the part 
 which relates to the primurn 
 of your manufaftures. When 
 the original Propofitions were 
 argued, Gentlemen exclaimed, 
 “‘England referees her Wool, 
 and Ireland does not referve 
 her Woollen Yarn,' 1 it was 
 anfwered, “ Ireland may if 
 fhe pleafes,” what will thofe 
 Gentlemen now fay, ’when 
 England referves both ;—the 
 pritpum of her manufaftures, 
 and of yours ; and not only 
 \yoollen yarn but linen yarn, 
 hides, &c ? To tell me that 
 this exportation is beneficial to 
 Ireland is to tell me nothing; 
 the queftion is not about flop¬ 
 ping the export, but giving 
 up the regulation, in inftances 
 where England retains the 
 power of regulation, and the 
 aft of prohibition. To tell 
 
 Mr. Fitzgibbon, For. 
 
 But if England relaxes her na¬ 
 vigation laws in our favour, 
 fhe has a right to expeft that 
 we fhall proteft and cherifh 
 the fliips and mariners of the 
 empire, as fhe has protefted 
 them. ' She has a right to ex r 
 peftthat we willfollow her in 
 a code of laws, which have 
 been the fource of ber-com- 
 mercial opulence, the prime 
 origin of her maritime (irength, 
 and therefore it is folly to fiip- 
 pofe that England will ever, 
 conclude any 1 treaty of com¬ 
 merce with any nation on the 1 
 earth, without ample fecurity 
 for the proteftion and encou¬ 
 ragement of Britifh fhips and 
 mariners, and for the protec¬ 
 tion and /encouragement of her 
 Own plantations. - -This fecu¬ 
 rity fhe - has a right to expeft 
 from us, and without itj it is 
 vain to hope that fhe will ever 
 conclude any treaty with us, 
 and I muft remind Gentlemen, 
 that our trade with England is 
 of greater value than our trade 
 with the reft of the world. 
 If we were to lofe it, in fix 
 months, you would not have 
 gold in circulation for the 
 common occafions of life. 
 
 This is the outline of the 
 fyftetn, propofed and approved 
 of alnioil univerlallv, early in 
 the feffion, and I call upon 
 any man to fhew me where 
 the principle or fpirit of this 
 fiyftem has been departed from, 
 in the Englilh Propofitions, or 
 in the Bill introduced by the 
 Englilh Minifter. 
 
[ 44 ] 
 
 Mr. Grattan, Againjl. 
 ms, that this exportation is 
 neceflary for England is to tell 
 me nothing, but that you are 
 material to England and there¬ 
 fore' fhould have obtained at 
 leafl equal terms. I own, to 
 afuft the manufactures of Great 
 Britain as far as is not abfo- 
 luteiy inconfiftent with thofe 
 of Ireland is to me an ohjeii ; 
 butfiill the difference recurs, 
 {he is not content with volun¬ 
 tary accommodation on your 
 part, but cxails perpetual export 
 from vou in the very article, 
 in which {he retains abfolute 
 prohibition—“ no new pro¬ 
 hibition”-every prohibition 
 
 beneficial to England was laid 
 before—none in favour of Ire¬ 
 land. Ireland till 1779 was 
 a province, and every province 
 is a victim, your provincial 
 {late ceafed, but before the 
 provincial regulations are done 
 away, this arrangement efta- 
 bliihes a principle of uli pof- 
 Jideiis , that is. Great Britain 
 {hall retain all her advantages, 
 and Ireland {hall retain all her 
 difadvantages. But I leave 
 this part of the adjuflment 
 where reciprocity is difclaimed 
 in the outlet of treaty and the 
 rudiment of manufadture; I 
 come to inftances of more 
 finking inequality, and firft 
 your lituation in the Eaft. 
 You are to give a monopoly 
 to the prefent .or any future 
 Eaft-India Company during 
 its exiflence, and to the Bri¬ 
 tish nation for ever after; it 
 has. been faid that the Irifliman 
 
 Mr. Fitzgibeon, For. 
 
 But it was neceflary to com¬ 
 bat the prejudices of the Bri- 
 tifh manufacturers, and the 
 oppofition of a party, many 
 of whom do, I am fatisfied,- 
 oppofe any extenfion of the 
 trade and commerce of Ireland 
 upon principle, and therefore 
 it is, that the Britifh Minifler, 
 and the men who fupported 
 him, were forced into the de¬ 
 tail of this fubjedt in their Re- 
 folutions — A detail, which 
 mull neceffarily have followed, 
 even if the Britifh Parliament 
 had kept clear of it in this firft 
 ftage of the bufmefs. 
 
 God forbid that I fliould 
 impute wrong motives to any 
 man ; I am fatisfied that it is 
 the principle of fome of the 
 leading men of the prefent op¬ 
 pofition in England, not to. 
 extend the trade and commerce' 
 of this country. And if I did 
 .not chufe to keep this fubjedt 
 clear of any thing which might 
 look like a queftion of Englifh 
 party, I would prove to the 
 conviction of every man who 
 hears me, that the-weight of 
 Ireland in the fcale of the em¬ 
 pire mufl for ever prove an 
 obftacle to the great objedl of 
 their political career. 
 
 With refpedt to the Eaft 
 India trade, £ mufl inform the 
 Right Hon. Gentleman, that 
 it is a queftion, in my mind, 
 of no doubt or difficulty, that 
 we have by a law of Ireland 
 confirmed the monopoly of 
 the Eaft India Company; and 
 therefore, fo long as their 
 
C 4J 
 
 Mr. Grattan, rfgainft. 
 in this is in the fume fituation 
 as the Englilbma.n, but there 
 is this difference, the difference 
 between having, and not hav¬ 
 ing the trade: the Biilifli Par¬ 
 liament has judged it molt 
 expedient for Gieat Britain to 
 carry on her trade to the Baft, 
 by an exclufive Company; the 
 i Irifl) Parliament is now to de¬ 
 termine it mil expedient for 
 Ireland to have no trade at all 
 in thefe parts. This is not a 
 furrender of the political rights 
 of the conffitution, but of the 
 natural rights of man ; not of 
 the privileges of Parliament, 
 but “of the rights of nations,” 
 
 _“ not to fail beyond the 
 
 Cape of Good Hope and the 
 Straits of Magellan,” an aw¬ 
 ful interdidl ! Not only Euro¬ 
 pean fettlements, but neutral 
 countries .excluded, and God’s 
 providence fliut out in the 
 moft opulent boundaries of 
 creation; other interdicts go 
 to particular places for local 
 reafons, becaufe they belong 
 to certain European States, but 
 here are neutral regions for¬ 
 bidden and a path preferibed 
 to the irifhman on open fea. 
 Other interdidis go to a deter¬ 
 minate period of time, but here 
 is an eternity of reftraint, you 
 are to have no trade at all du¬ 
 ring the exillence of any Com¬ 
 pany, and no free, trade to 
 thole countries after its expi¬ 
 ration ; this refembles rather 
 a judgment of God than an 
 a& of the legillature, whether 
 you meafure it by immenfity 
 
 5 3 
 
 Mr, Fitzgibbon, Fir. 
 charter lalli, we are bound by 
 it. And were this charter ex¬ 
 pired, I believe our profpe& of 
 a trade to India, even if it were 
 the intereft of this country to 
 interfere with Great Britain, is 
 very remote'indeed. 
 
 The Right Hon.Gentleman 
 has faid, that we gain but a 
 fpeck of advantage in. the per- . 
 million gianted to -Eaft India 
 fliips to touch at Irilh ports 
 in their paffage out ; and yet 
 this was one very great caufe 
 of the clamour raifed in Eng¬ 
 land againft the fvftem; for 
 Mr.Wedgwood, and tw.oother 
 men,who were examined upon 
 the fubjedt, at the bar of the 
 Houfe of Lords, did not hefi- 
 tate to declare, that glafs, and 
 fome other articles, were likely 
 to be exported from Ireland to 
 the Eaft Indies, and in fucli 
 quantities as would prove ex¬ 
 tremely injurious to the ma- 
 nufadtures of England. 
 
 As to the Eaft India trade, 
 the Gentleman is much mif- 
 taken. Whenever the charter 
 of the Company fhajl expire, 
 Ireland will, upon the fame 
 terms as the fubjeiSs c-f Great 
 Britain, be enabled to trade, 
 with all the Britilh poffeffions 
 in the Eaft, as to Britilh colo¬ 
 nies, and ‘ to all the indepen¬ 
 dent Hates without reftridiion. 
 
 —The Right Hon. Gentle¬ 
 man is totally and radically 
 miftaken, and there cannot be 
 a lironger argument for the 
 introduction of the Biil than 
 he has furnilhed ; for it now 
 appears 
 
[ 46 ] 
 
 Mr. Gratton, Ageinjl. Mr. FitzgibBon, For. 
 
 of fpace or infinity of dura¬ 
 tion, and has nothing human 
 about it except ins prefump,- 
 
 Whac you Iofe by this fur- 
 render, what you forfeit by 
 giving up the poffibility of 
 intercourfe with fo great a pro¬ 
 portion of the inhabited Globe, 
 I cannot prefume to Jay ; but this 
 I can fay, that Gentlemen 
 have no right to argue from 
 prefent want of capital againft 
 future trade, nor to give up 
 their capacity to trade becaufe 
 they have not yet brought 
 that capacity into action, ftill 
 lefs haye they a right to do fo 
 without the fliadow of compen- 
 fificn, and Jeaft of all on the 
 affected compenfation which, 
 trifling with your underftand- 
 ing as well as intereit, fuffers 
 a veffel to go to the Weft, in 
 its way to the Eaft. I leave 
 this uncompcnfated furrender 
 —I leave your fituation in the 
 Eaft which is blank—l leave 
 your fituation in the Eaft 
 which is the furrender of trade 
 itlclf; and 1 come to your 
 fituation in the Weft which is 
 a furrender of its freedom. 
 You are to give a monopoly 
 to the Britifh plantations at 
 their own taxes; before, you 
 did fo only in certain articles, 
 with a power of felection, 
 and then only as long as you 
 pleafcd to conform to the con¬ 
 dition, and without any fti- 
 pulation to exclude foreign 
 produce. It may be very pro¬ 
 per to exclude foreign produce 
 by 
 
 appears that he is altogether 
 miftaken in his idea of the 
 fundamentals of it. He has 
 objefted to this fyftem, that 
 we lfipulate not to trade with 
 the colonies of foreign ftates. 
 Now I requeft of gentlemen 
 to attend to this objection. It 
 is modeftly defired on the part 
 of this country, that Great 
 Britain Ihould grant irrevoca¬ 
 bly to us a right to trade with 
 her colonies and plantations, 
 and leave it in our difcretion, 
 at any time, to trade with fo¬ 
 reign colonies and plantations, 
 to the prejudice of Britaip and 
 Britifh plantations ; nay more, 
 it is defired that England 
 Ihould open her ports to re¬ 
 ceive the produtEI of the Weft 
 Indies through the medium of 
 Ireland, and truft to the fcru r 
 pulous honour of Irifh mer¬ 
 chants not to deceive her, by 
 . impofing the produceofforeign 
 colonies upon Great Britain in 
 her own markets, to the utter 
 ruin of the Britifh plantations. 
 But can any thing be more 
 juft, if we are to Ihare with 
 England her colony trade, 
 than that we Ihould give to her 
 colonies a monopoly of our 
 market ? It has been infinu- 
 ated, that we could trade to 
 more advantage with the colo¬ 
 nies of foreign ftatesj but 
 what foreign ftates will ajlow 
 us to trade with their colonies? 
 Who is to protedl us if fo¬ 
 reign ftates Ihall refufe to ..do 
 us juftice ? or who is to aflert 
 our rights if they Ihall be vio T 
 lated ? 
 
Mr. GrATTON, Againft. 
 by your own temporary laws, 
 and at your own free will 
 and option, but now you are 
 to covenant to do fo for ever, 
 and thereby you put the trade 
 out of your own power for 
 ever, and you give to the Eng. 
 lifh, Weft as well as Eaft, 
 an eternal monopoly for their 
 plantation produce in the tax¬ 
 ing and regulating of which 
 you have no fort of delibera¬ 
 tion or interference, and over 
 which Great Britain has a 
 compleat fupremacy. Here 
 you will confider the advan¬ 
 tage you receive from that mo¬ 
 nopoly, and judge, how far 
 it may be expedient to fet up 
 againft yourfelves that mono¬ 
 poly for ever ; there is fcarcely 
 an article of the Britifh plan¬ 
 tations that is not out of all 
 proportion dearer than the fame 
 article is in anyrother part of 
 the Globe, nor any one arti¬ 
 cle that is not produced elfe- 
 where, for fome of which arti¬ 
 cles you might eftablifh a 
 mart for your manufactures. 
 Portugal, for inftance, capa¬ 
 ble of being a better market 
 for our drapery than Great 
 'Britain; this enormity of price 
 is aggravated by an enormity 
 of tax, what then is this co¬ 
 venant ? to take thefe articles 
 from the Britifh plantations, 
 and from none other, at the 
 prefent high rates and taxes, 
 and to take them at all times 
 to come, fubject to whatever 
 further rates and taxes the Par¬ 
 liament of Great Britain fhall 
 
 Mr. Fitzgibbon, For. 
 kited ? But admit fof a mo¬ 
 ment, that we could trade with 
 the colonies of foreign flates, 
 in exclufton to the colonies of 
 Britain, would not this be an 
 act of open hoftility, and call 
 for retaliation ? 
 
 The Right HonourableGen- 
 tleman is miftakeh as to the 
 fettlement of 1779—it was a 
 voluntary grant, revocable at., 
 pieafure ; and one great argu¬ 
 ment in favour of the prefent 
 fettlement is, that by it that 
 grant is rendered irrevocable. . 
 
 I now come to the great ar¬ 
 gument of thofe who oppofe 
 this fyftem—the argument, if 
 it deferves the name, which 
 has been trumpeted forth by 
 the enemies of Ireland in both 
 countries, to inflame her pride, 
 and to prejudice her againft 
 this fettlement. It is aflerted 
 again and again, that this trea¬ 
 ty is an infult to Ireland — 
 that it ftrikes direftly at the. 
 independence of her legifla- 
 ture. This is the firft inftancf: 
 in which Ireland has . ever 
 treated, and it is a new idea 
 to me, that England, by o- 
 pening and carrying on a trea¬ 
 ty with her as with an inde¬ 
 pendent ftate, infults her pride, 
 and ftrikes at her indepen¬ 
 dence. But what is defired of- 
 her on the part of England ? 
 So long as you continue to 
 trade with us, as you have 
 propofed, we defire of you, 
 by laws of your ena&ingj to 
 cherifh, and proteift, and en¬ 
 courage the fhips and mariners. 
 
[ 4 § 3 
 
 Mr. Grattan’, Againjl. Mr. Fitzgibbon, For. 
 enadh Let me a(k vou, ivhy of the empire, as we have 
 did you refufe Protecting Du- done. We only deiire of you, 
 ties to your own ( people ? be- by laws of your own, to adopt 
 caufe they looked like a mono- a code of laws, the policy of 
 poly ; and will you give to the which ftands admitted by all 
 Eaft India Merchant, and the the nations of Europe-—a code 
 Weft India planter fomething of laws which is the great 
 more? a monopoly where the fource of the ftrength and 
 monopolift is in fome degree wealth of the empire. So 
 the law-giver. The principle long as you continue to trade 
 of equal duty or the fame re- with our colonies, we detire 
 ffriefion is not the fhadow of that you will reguiaie that 
 fecurity; to make fuch a prin- trade, as we do. But if you 
 ciple applicable, the obje&s do not chute to adopt our na- 
 muft be equal, but here the vigation code—if you do not 
 objects are not onlv didimilar chute to protect the Blips and 
 but oppofite; the condition mariners of the empire by 
 of England is great debt and your laws, as we protect them 
 greater capita!, great incum- bv ours-—if you do not chufe 
 Frances, buc ftill greater aiiili- to regulate your trade with our 
 ties; the condition of Ireland, plantations, as we regulate 
 little capital but a fmall debt, ours, why then there is an end 
 poverty but exemption from of the agreement—you then 
 Intolerable taxes. Equal bur- make your option, not to trade 
 thens will have oppofite ef- with us, and with our planta- 
 fects, they will fund the debt tions, upon the terms which 
 of one country, and defiro/ ' are neceffary for the general 
 she trade of the other; high fecurity of the empire, 
 duties will take awav your re- Here give me leave to recur 
 fource, which is exemption to that principle, clear as the 
 from them, but will be a fund fun and wide as the univerfe, 
 for Great Britain : thus the which I have taken the liberty 
 colony principle in its extent to bonow ftom an Honour- 
 is dangerous to a very creat able Member — Freedom of 
 degree. Suppofe Great Bri- trade, is liberty to trade with 
 tain fhould mife her colony foreign'nations, fubjecl to the 
 duties to a ftill gieater degree, reftrictions of your own le- 
 to anfwer the exigency of giilature, and the legislature 
 fome future war, or to fund of the country with which you" 
 her prefent debt, you muit trade. Here I meet that Ho- 
 follov.-, for by this bill you nourable Member with his 
 would have r.o option in fo- own principle, clothed in his 
 reign trade ; you muft follow, own words: and if the prin- 
 'i»ot becaufe you -wanted the ciple is queitionsd, it is im-- 
 
 / tax poflible 
 
f 49 1 
 
 Mr. Grattan, Againfl. 
 tax, but left your -exemption 
 From taxes fhould give your 
 manufadtures any comparative 
 advantage, lrifh taxes are to 
 be precautions againft the 
 profperity of Iriftl manufac¬ 
 tures !■ You muft follow be- 
 c'aufe vour taxes here would 
 be no longer meafured by the 
 wants of the country or the 
 intereft of her commerce, be- 
 caufe we fliould have inftituted 
 a falfe meafure of taxation ; 
 the wants and the riches of 
 another country,which exceeds 
 you much in wants, but in¬ 
 finitely mote in riches. I fear 
 we fhould have done more. 
 We fhould have made Enofilh 
 jealoufy the barometer of Trifh 
 taxes. Suppofe this country 
 fhould in any degree eftablifh 
 a diredi trade with the Britilh 
 plantations, fuppofe the appre- 
 henfions of the Britifh manu¬ 
 facturers in any degree realized, 
 they may didtate your duties, 
 they may petition the Britifh 
 Parliament to raife certain du¬ 
 ties, which fhall not affedt the 
 articles of their intercourle, 
 but may flop yours 5 or, which 
 fhall affedt the articles of their 
 intercourfe a little and annihi¬ 
 late yours ; thus they may by 
 one and the fame duty'raife a 
 revenue in England, and de- 
 ftroy a rival in Ireland. Cam- 
 blets are an inflance of the 
 former, and every valuable 
 plantation import an inftance 
 of the latter ; your option in 
 foreign trade had-been a re- 
 .ftraint on England, or a re- 
 
 Mr. FitzgiBbon, Fori 
 poflible to form a commercial 
 treaty with any nation on 
 earth. But I will fhevv you’ 
 the principle tecorded again 
 and again in your own'ftatute 
 book, from I779 to 1785—< 
 feffion after feffion you have 
 recorded it. What was the. 
 principle admitted in 177 g —. 
 admitted and proclaimed by 
 the'whole nation in peals of 
 applaufe and gratitude? We 
 will import the produce of the 
 Britifh colonies and planta¬ 
 tions upon the terms of enadt- 
 ing from time to time, by our 
 laws, fpecific taxes impofed by 
 Great Britain upon Britifh fub- 
 jedts ; and accordingly, feffion 
 after feffion, this agreement 
 has been recited in your mo¬ 
 ney bill. The Britifh tax is 
 recited, and the Britifn tax is 
 enadted. What is your op¬ 
 tion here ? Have you an op¬ 
 tion as to the quantum of tax? 
 No; you enadt the Britifh tax¬ 
 or you give up the trade. I 
 defy the ingenuity of man to 
 diftinguifh the two cafes in 
 point of conftitution. What 
 does England delire now ?— 
 You have propofed to trade 
 with me in a more extended 
 way, than you have heretofore 
 done—-1 agree to it, provided 
 you agree on ypur part to make 
 the fame regulations from time 
 to time, to protedt and en¬ 
 courage the mariners and fhips 
 of the empire, as I do here. 
 Where is the infult here, or 
 where is the attack upon your 
 independence ? 1 fay again. 
 
C 50 ] 
 
 Mr. Grattan, Agamjl. 
 fource to Ireland, but under 
 this adjuftment you give up 
 your foreign trade, and confine 
 yourfelf to that which you 
 muft not prefume to regulate. 
 The exclufion of foreign plan¬ 
 tation produce would feem 
 fufficient, for every purpofe of 
 power and domtaation, but to 
 aggravate, and it would feem, 
 t oinfult, the IndependentStates 
 of North America are molt 
 ungracioufly brought into this 
 arrangement, as if Ireland was 
 a Britifh colony, or North 
 America continued a part of the 
 Britifh dominion ; by the Re¬ 
 futations almoft all the pro¬ 
 duce of North America was 
 to be imported to Ireland, fub- 
 ject to Britifh duties ; the Bill 
 is more moderate, and only 
 enumerates certain articles: 
 But what right has Great Bri¬ 
 tain to interfere in our fo¬ 
 reign trade, what right has 
 file to dictate to us on the 
 fubjeft of North American trade? 
 How far this country may be 
 further affected by clogging 
 her plantation trade and fur¬ 
 rendering her free trade, I 
 fhall not for the prefent flop 
 more minutely to inquire, but 
 I muft flop to proteft againft 
 one circumftance in this ar¬ 
 rangement, which fhould not 
 accompany any arrangement, 
 which would be fatal to fettle- 
 ment itfelf, and tear afunder 
 the bands of faith and affec¬ 
 tion; the circumftance I mean, 
 ii the opening of the fettle- 
 
 Mr. Fitzgibbon, For. 
 where is the departure from the 
 Honourable Member’s prin¬ 
 ciple, clear as the fun, and 
 wide as the univerfe?—where 
 is the departure from the prin¬ 
 ciple, fandlified and recorded 
 again and again in your own 
 ftatute book ? An Honourable 
 Member has alluded to the 
 Methuen Treaty. What is 
 that treaty ? It confifts of two 
 articles only—Portugal agrees 
 to receive Englifh woollens, 
 and England agrees, from time 
 to time, to enact fpecific taxes 
 upon the wines of Portugal. 
 Is not this the fame principle 
 again ? Why the Honourable 
 Member may as well fay, that 
 England is infulted, and that 
 England furrendered her inde¬ 
 pendence, becaufe Ihe agreed 
 not to raife more than a ftated 
 revenue upon the importation 
 of Portugal wines ; becaufe 
 file binds herfelf to give a pre¬ 
 ference to the wines of Portu¬ 
 gal in the Britifh market, at 
 all times over the wines of 
 France. In fliort, if the Irilh 
 nation will never condefcend 
 to promife a compliance with 
 any condition of a treaty, the 
 Irilh nation muft determine 
 never to make any commercial 
 treaty, or any treaty whatever. 
 
 It has been faid, we cannot 
 confide in the prefent Mini- 
 fter ; but if we cannot confide 
 in him, I do not know in what 
 part of the Britifh dominions 
 we can find the man in whom 
 we can confide. As to the lead¬ 
 ing 
 
C 5* ] 
 
 Mr. Grattan, Again/}. Mr. Fitzcibbon, For. 
 
 ments of the colony trade, 
 and free trade of 1779: this 
 adjuftment takes from you the 
 power of chufing the article, 
 fo that the whole covenant 
 hangs on the fpecial circum- 
 ftance, and takes from you 
 your option in the produce of 
 foreign plantations, and even 
 of America. It is a revifion 
 in peace of the fettlements of 
 war; it is a revocation in 
 peace of the acquifition of 
 war. I here a(k by what au¬ 
 thority? By what authority 
 is Ireland obliged now to en¬ 
 ter into a general account for 
 paft acquisitions ? Did the 
 petition of the manufacturers 
 defire it ? Did the addreflss 
 of the laft feflion defire it ? 
 Did theMinifter in this feflion 
 fuggeft it ? No ; I call for 
 authority, whereby we can be 
 juftified in waving the benefit 
 of paft treaties, and bringing 
 the whole relative fituation of 
 this country into queftion in 
 an arrangement, which only 
 profefles to fettle her channel 
 trade. I conceive the fettle¬ 
 ments of the laft war are fa- 
 cred; you may make other 
 fettlements with the Britifh 
 nation, but you will never 
 make any fo beneficial as thefe 
 are; they were the refult of 
 a conjun&ure miraculoufly 
 formed, and fortunately feiz- 
 ed. The American war was 
 the Irilh harveft. From that 
 period, as from the lucky mo¬ 
 ment of your fate, your com¬ 
 merce, conftitution, and mind 
 took 
 
 ing men who bppofe him, I 
 am fatisfied it is a firft princi¬ 
 ple with them not to make 
 any conceflion to this country 
 which is to add to her weight 
 in the fcale of the empire.— 
 In 1779, when Lord North 
 propofed his Refolutions in 
 favour of Ireland, they would 
 not aflent, nor would they dif- 
 fent — they would referve 
 th'emfelves. In 1785, when 
 Mr. Pitt, with the liberality 
 of a great and firm mind, 
 flood forth to combat the pre¬ 
 judices of the manufacturers 
 of Great Britain, for the ge¬ 
 neral advantage of the empire, 
 they echoed the clamours and 
 the prejudices of thefe men, 
 and having failed in their pro- 
 fpeft of damning the meafure 
 in England, they inllantly 
 changed their ground, and 
 applied themfelves to the pride 
 and the prejudices of this 
 country ; and, as 1 have been 
 informed, they have fome- 
 what prematurely indulged 
 
 pence—they have fome-what 
 prematurely indulged their 
 merriment at the expence of 
 a few individuals, whom they 
 fuppofe to have fvvallowed the 
 bait. And this country will 
 be the laughing-flock of every 
 nation in Europe, if Hie be¬ 
 comes the dupe of fo palpably 
 and fltallowan artifice. Here, 
 Sir, I defire to be underftond, 
 not to ftate this as a condufi: in 
 any degree reprehenfible—lam 
 fatisfied thefe gentlemen a£f 
 H 2 upon 
 
C 5* ] 
 
 aiafl . Mr. Fitzgibbon, For. 
 
 took form and vigour ; and to 
 that period, and to a firft and 
 falient principle muft they re¬ 
 cur for life and renovation. 
 ’Tis therefore 1 confider rhofe 
 fettlements as facred, and from 
 them I am naturally led to 
 that part of the fubjeft which 
 telates to compenfation, the 
 payment which we are to make 
 for the Ioffes which we are to 
 fuftain. Certainly compen¬ 
 fation cannot apply to the free 
 trade fuppofmg it uninvaded, 
 firft, becaufe that trade was 
 
 upon lyflem, but no man fhal! 
 perfuade me- that they are 
 friends of Ireland. Let gentle¬ 
 men recollect the language held 
 by the leader cf Englilh oppo- 
 fition, and by a gentleman 
 foremoft in his confidence on 
 the fame day; ope gentleman 
 ftated, that Captain Brooke 
 was an interefted witnefs, and 
 therefore not to be credited, 
 becaufe this was an agree¬ 
 ment wholly and exclufively 
 beneficial to Ireland. And ip 
 the next half hour his friend 
 
 your right; to pay for the re¬ 
 covery of what you ihould ne¬ 
 ver have loft, had been to a 
 great degree unjuft: and dero¬ 
 gatory : fecondly, becaufe that 
 free trade was eftablilhed in 
 1779, and the fettlement then 
 clofed, and cannot be opened 
 now ; to do fo we e to deftroy 
 the faith of treaties, to make 
 It idle to enter into the prefent 
 fettlement, and to render it 
 vain to enter into any fettle¬ 
 ment with a Britiftl Miniftcr. 
 The fame may be faid of the 
 colony trade; that too was 
 fettled in 1779 on terms then 
 fpecified, not now to be open¬ 
 ed, clogged, conditioned, or 
 circumfcribed ; llill lefs does 
 compenfation apply to the free 
 conftitution of 1782. His 
 Majefty then informed you 
 from the throne, “• tnefe things 
 come unaccompanied with any 
 
 ftipulation”- befides, the 
 
 free conftitution, like tbe free 
 trade, was your right. Free¬ 
 men wont pay for the recovery 
 
 ftated, that he had wrirten to 
 all his friends in Ireland to be 
 upon their guard, for that it 
 was an agreement ruinous to 
 the commerce and the confti¬ 
 tution of this country—I liften 
 to the one and the other with 
 perfedt indifference. I do not 
 pretend to fay, that a few in¬ 
 dividuals in Great Britain may 
 not perhaps feel a temporary 
 'inconvenience from this fet¬ 
 tlement; but l am perfectly 
 affured, that it will be highly 
 advantageous to the empire. 
 There is no folid advantage 
 which this country can acquire 
 that will not ultimately tend 
 to the ftrength and wealth of 
 the Britiftl empire, and there¬ 
 fore he is a narrow and flimfy 
 politician, who will facrifice 
 the ftrength of the empire to 
 the narrow prejudices of inte- 
 relted individuals. A fpirit.of 
 monopoly is the firft principleof 
 a merchant or a manufadturer. 
 Whilft man continues to be a 
 creature of paflion and intereft, 
 lelte 
 
[ 5 
 
 Mr. Grattan, Againjl , 
 of right; payment had dero¬ 
 gated from the claim of right; 
 fo we then flated to Miniftry. 
 It was then thought that to 
 have annexed fubfidy to con - 
 ftitution had been a barren ex¬ 
 periment on pubfic poverty, 
 pnd -had marred an illuftrious 
 experiment on the feelings of 
 the nation, and had been nei¬ 
 ther fatisfa&ion to Ireland, 
 nor revenue to Great Britain. 
 This bolder policy, this hap¬ 
 py art, which faw how much 
 may be got by tax, and how 
 much mult be left to honour, 
 which made a bold pulh for 
 the heart of the nation, and 
 leaving her free to acquire, 
 took a chance for her difpofi- 
 tion to give, had its effeCt; 
 for fince that time until the 
 prefent vwjl unfortunate at¬ 
 tempt, a great bulk of the 
 community were on the 
 lide of Government, and 
 the parliamentary conftitution 
 was a guarantee for public 
 
 See then what you obtained 
 yvithout compenfation —a co¬ 
 lony trade, a free trade, the 
 independency of your judges, 
 the government of your army, 
 the exteniion of the uncon- 
 ftitutionai powers of your 
 council, the rehoration of the 
 judicature of your lords, and 
 the independency of your le- 
 
 See now what you obtain 
 by compenfation—a covenant 
 not to trade beyond the Cape 
 of Good Hope and the Straits 
 of 
 
 3 ] 
 
 Mr. FitzgibboN, For. 
 felf-intereft will be his firft 
 confideration; and therefore in 
 a great national fyftem of com¬ 
 merce, a merchant or a manu¬ 
 facturer is perhaps thelaft man 
 from whom you may expeCt 
 information. The great ob- 
 je&ofhis life is to accumulate 
 wealth for himfelf; but in 
 what manner national wealth 
 is accumulated, his education 
 or his purfuits do not enable 
 him to fee; and therefore, 
 upon a great national fyftem, 
 amerchant ora manufacturer is 
 perhaps the laft man to whom 
 I would apply for information. 
 Let me remind gentlemen of 
 the evidence delivered at the 
 bar of this Houfe in the courfe 
 of the laft feffion. How many 
 of your merchants and manu¬ 
 facturers informed you, that 
 this would never be a nation 
 of trade, foreign or domeftick, 
 until you impofed prohibitory 
 duties on the importation of 
 Britifh woollens. In a coun¬ 
 try whole imports from Eng¬ 
 land jdo not exceed one mil¬ 
 lion,and whole exports toEng- 
 la.nd exceed two millions and 
 an half, the merchants and 
 manufacturers came forward 
 to prefs you to commence a 
 war of prohibitory duties. 
 An Hon. Gentleman fays, he 
 has no contidence in the Irifti 
 Adminiftration, and he affigns 
 one reafon for his want of 
 confidence, that my Right 
 Hon. friend when he. was at 
 London never appeared in the 
 Houfe of Commons to clear 
 ‘ up 
 
L 5 
 
 Jfr. Grattan', Jpinji. 
 of Magellan : a covenant not 
 to take foreign plantation prti- 
 iluce, but as the Parliament 
 of Great Britain fnali permit; 
 
 produce of the United States 
 of North America, but as 
 Great Britain fhail permit ; a 
 covenant not to take Btitifh 
 plantation produce, but as 
 Great Britain fhail prefcribe^; 
 
 of navigation as Great Britain 
 Iball prefcribe; a covenant 
 
 nufaclures, never to guard the 
 primum of thofe manufactures! 
 —Thefe things are accompa¬ 
 nied, I do acknowledge, with 
 a covenant on the part of 
 England to difarm your argu¬ 
 ment for protedting duties, to 
 give the Englilh language in 
 the act of navigation the fame 
 conftruclion in Ireland, and to 
 leave our linen markets with¬ 
 out nroleftation or diminution. 
 One fhould think fome god 
 preftded over the liberties of 
 this country who made it fru¬ 
 gality in the Irifh nation to 
 continue free, but has annexed 
 the penalties of fine as well as 
 infamy to the furrender of the 
 Conftitution ! From this con- 
 itderation of commerce, a 
 queftion much more high, 
 much mote deep, the invalu¬ 
 able queftion of conftitution 
 a riles, in which the idea of 
 protecting duties, the idea of 
 reciprocal duties, countervail¬ 
 ing duties, and all that detail 
 vanilh, and the energies of 
 ' every 
 
 I ] 
 
 Mr. Fitzgibbon, For. 
 up a doubt whether he ha'd 
 tiled the word mart, or the 
 word emporium when he firlt 
 ftated his eleven Propofitions 
 to this Houfe. There is ano¬ 
 ther reafon, and I will fay it is 
 the true reafon, why that gen¬ 
 tleman has no confidence in 
 the lrilh Adminiftration—he 
 has no connexion with them; 
 —but being clofely connected 
 with them, it Iball always be 
 my pride, as a gentleman of 
 this country, to acknowledge 
 my obligations to the Duke of 
 Rutland, and to my Right 
 Hon. Friend. This country 
 owes more to them than to 
 any men who have ever filled 
 their ftations. In the courfe 
 of this very interefting bufi- 
 nefs, they have difplayed the 
 moft unwearied affiduiiy, and 
 unlhaken firmnefs and inte¬ 
 grity. 
 
 Before I fit down I muft re¬ 
 mind the Houfe, that my Right 
 Hon. Friend (Mr. Connolly) 
 has, by authority from a noble 
 Duke, difavowed the declara¬ 
 tion which was imputed to 
 him, bccaufe it refeues a noble¬ 
 man for whom I entertain a 
 very affeiftionate refpedt, from 
 fome imputations which I have 
 heard thrown upon him, and 
 which from my knowledge of 
 his ftridt honour and integrity, 
 
 I have always afierted to be 
 falfe and groundlefs. We all 
 recollect when a motion was 
 made in this Houfe, with re- 
 fpedt to the Eaft Indies, that 
 my predeedfor in office de- 
 
[ 55 ] 
 
 Mr. Grattan, A gain ft. 
 every heart, and the prudence 
 of every head, are called upon 
 to fliield this nation, that long 
 deprefled, and at length by 
 domeftic virtue and foreign 
 misfortune emancipated, has 
 now to defend her newly-ac¬ 
 quired rights, and her juilly- 
 acquired reputation; the qucf- 
 tion is nolefs than that, which 
 three years ago agitated, fired 
 and exalted the Irilh natioji — 
 the independency of the lVifh 
 Parliament! By this Bill we, 
 are to covenant that the Par¬ 
 liament of Ireland lhall fub- 
 fcribe whatever laws the Par¬ 
 liament of England IhalMpre- 
 fcribe, refpe&ing your 'trade 
 with the Britilh plantations, 
 your trade in the produce of 
 foreign plantations, and part 
 of your trade from the United 
 States of North America. 
 There is alfo a fweeping co¬ 
 venant or condition, whereby 
 we are to agree to fubfcribe 
 whatever laws the Parliament 
 of England lhall prefcribe re- 
 fpedting navigation ; the ad- 
 juftment fubje&s alfo your re- 
 verfionary trade to the Eaft to 
 the fame terms—over all thefe 
 objedb you are to have no 
 propounding, no deliberative, 
 no negative, no legiflative 
 power whatfoever. Here then 
 is an end of your Free Trade 
 and your Free Conftitution ! 
 I acquit the people of Eng¬ 
 land ; an ill-grounded jealouiy 
 for their trade feems aggra¬ 
 vated by a well-founded alarm 
 for your liberty; unwilling to 
 ' •' relinquilh. 
 
 Mr . Fitzgibbgn, For . 
 dared, that it was improper to 
 fritter away piece-meal a grea^ 
 fyftem of trade, which Admi- 
 niftration meant to bring for T 
 ward. And I know Lortl 
 Northington’s honour, inte¬ 
 grity, and firmnefs to be fuch, 
 that he never would have fuf- 
 fered fuch a declaration of a 
 gentleman in his confidence to 
 have remained unccntradicled, 
 if the Britilh Cabinet had de¬ 
 termined not in any fort to 
 concede any extenfion of com¬ 
 merce to this country, and 
 therefore I am happy, for 'the 
 fake of a nobleman wbofe 
 principles I admire, and whole 
 worth and honour will ever 
 remain unfullied,. that my 
 Right Hon. friend has public¬ 
 ly difavowed the declaration 
 imputed to the noble Duke. 
 
 For my part, 1 never have 
 hid myfelf from any public 
 queftion, nor ever will. The 
 man who in or out of office 
 can ftoop to hide himfelf 
 from any public queftion is, 
 in my opinion, a rnoft defpi- 
 cably corrupt man ; the man 
 who, in or out of office, can 
 fkulk from his duty in this 
 aliembly, 1 confider to be, 
 guilty of the molt pitiful and 
 nafty fubterfuge that can dis¬ 
 grace a man, and therefore £ 
 never will fkulk from any 
 meafure ; if I approve it I will 
 fupport it like a man, if not, I 
 will oppofe it like a man. And. 
 I repeat before this Houle, I 
 repeat it in the face of the, 
 natiqn, that the Bill moved 
 for, 
 
[ i 
 
 Mr. Grattan, Agahjl. 
 relinquilh, but when relin- 
 qui£hed, too magnanimous and 
 too wife to refume abdicated 
 tyranny; they feel in thefe 
 Propofnions an honourable fol- 
 licirude fijr the freedom of Ire¬ 
 land and the good -faith of 
 Great Britain, and fee the dar¬ 
 ling principles and paffions of 
 both countries wounded in an 
 arrangement which was to 
 compole them for ever: to a 
 propofal therefore fo little war¬ 
 ranted by the great body of 
 the people of England, fo little 
 expected by the people of Ire¬ 
 land, fo little fuggcjled by the 
 Minifter, and fo involving to 
 whatever is dear to your inte- 
 reft, honour, and freedom, I 
 anfwer, no. I plead paft fet- 
 tlements, 1 infill on the faith 
 of nations; the objeftions 
 Ihould have been made when 
 thefe fettlements were making; 
 but now the logic of empire 
 comes too late; no accommo¬ 
 dation, no deorecation on this 
 fubject: affert'ion, national af¬ 
 fection, national re-ojfertion! 
 If three years after the reco¬ 
 very of your freedom you bend 
 —your children, corrupted by 
 your example, will furrender ; 
 —but if you Hand firm and 
 inexorable, you make a fea- 
 fonable imprefiion on the peo¬ 
 ple of England, you give a 
 wholefome example to your 
 children, you afford an awful 
 inffrufticn to his Majefty’s 
 Minifters, and make (as the 
 Old Englilh did in the cafe 
 of their Charter} the attempt 
 
 :6 X 
 
 Mr. Fitzgibbon, Fori 
 for this night is highly advan J 
 tageous to its commerce, and 
 in no fort incompatible with 
 its free conftitution. Gentle¬ 
 men may triumph in their op- 
 pofition to this Bill, but I will 
 defend it line by line, and word 
 by word; I will meet their 
 whole array upon it—I fear 
 them not; 1 will defend it on 
 the principle of the Britilh 
 Confiitution; and as to the 
 clamour which has been railed 
 againit this meafure, it is as 
 unfounded and as little to be 
 regarded as any that ever dif- 
 turbed the deliberations of a 
 wife affembly. Your own re¬ 
 cords declare, that you have 
 not thought the principle of 
 the Bill unconftitutional. In 
 every feffion fince 1779, in 
 which year you obtained the 
 Colony trade, you recite the 
 condition on which you pof- 
 fefs it; you recite the Britilh 
 tax, and you enadf that tax. 
 What then is the difference 
 here? You are permitted to 
 trade to every pofieflion Great 
 Britain has, provided you a- 
 dopt the laws by which lhe 
 regulates her trade ; provided 
 you trade as Britilh fubjedls 
 trade. Every advantage which 
 Britilh fubjedls enjoy is of¬ 
 fered to your acceptance. I 
 call upon any man living to 
 tell me—where is there an 
 iota of difference ? There¬ 
 fore let no man talk to me of 
 hiding my head; I fupport 
 the Bill as highly advanta¬ 
 geous to this country ; and 
 Gentlemen, 
 
Mr. Grattan, Agahift. 
 or) Irifh liberty its confirma¬ 
 tion and eftablifhrrient ! 
 
 However, left certain glofles 
 fhould feem to go unanfvvercd, 
 I (hall, for the fake of argu¬ 
 ment, wave paft fettlements, 
 and combat the reafoning of 
 the Englifh Refolutions, the 
 Addrefs, his Majefty’s anfwer, 
 and the reafoning of this day. 
 It is here laid, that the laws 
 refpe£ting commerce and na¬ 
 vigation fhould/oe funilar, and 
 inferred, that ^Ireland fhould 
 fubferibe the laws of England 
 on thofe fubje&s : that is the 
 fame law, the fame legiflature; 
 but this argument goes a great 
 deal too far—it goes to the ar¬ 
 my, for the mutiny bill fliould 
 be the fame; it was endea¬ 
 voured to be extended to the 
 colleftion of your revenue, 
 and is in train to be extended 
 to your taxes'; it goes to the 
 extinftion of the moft invalu¬ 
 able part of your parliamen¬ 
 tary capacity ; it is an union, 
 an incipient and a creeping 
 union ; a virtual union, efta- 
 bjifhing one will in the ge¬ 
 neral concerns of commerce 
 and navigation, and repoling 
 that will in the Parliament of 
 Great Britain; an union where 
 our Parliament preferves its 
 exiftence after it has loft its 
 authority, and our people are 
 to pay for a parliamentary efta- 
 blifhment, without any pro¬ 
 portion of parliamentary re- 
 prefentation. In oppofing the 
 Right Hon. Gentleman’s Bill, 
 I confider myfelf as oppofing 
 
 Mr. Fjtzgibbon, For.. 
 Gentlemen, who are fo ex¬ 
 tremely anxious to prevent us’ 
 fiom going into the merits of 
 it, may perhaps be fufpedfed' 
 by illiberal men not to wifh 
 that the merits fhould appear 
 to the public. 
 
 But the Honourable Gen¬ 
 tleman fays, it is neceflary to 
 anfwer theRefolutions of Eng¬ 
 land by the Refolution which 
 he has read. He fays, he does 
 not think file has attacked 
 our legiflative independence, 
 and yet he fays he does think 
 an anfwer neceffary; and what 
 is that anfwer ?—why, that 
 we will preferve our indepen¬ 
 dence. 
 
 Let me tell Gentlemen,' 
 that it is not very prudent, 
 upon every occafion, to come 
 forward in terms of indigna¬ 
 tion ag.unft the fitter king¬ 
 dom, becaufe we cannot exift 
 one moment without her pro¬ 
 tection. Let me tell them, that 
 it will not be perfedlly pru¬ 
 dent to rouze Great Britain. 
 She is not eafily rouzed,—. 
 but if rouzed, file is not very 
 eafily appealed ; and in this, 
 perhaps, lies the difference be¬ 
 tween the two nations—Ire¬ 
 land is eafily rouzed, but then 
 fhe is eafily appealed ; Eng¬ 
 land is not eafily rouzed, nor 
 eafily appeafed.—If you rouze 
 the Britilh Lion, you may not 
 eafily lull him to left. 
 
 Gentlemen fay you may go 
 on in the way you are; you 
 have already a Free Trade,' 
 and that is all you want. You' 
 I have 
 
[ 58 3 
 
 Mr. Grattan, Againjl. 
 an union in limine , and that 
 argument for union which 
 makes fimilariiy of law and 
 community of intereft (reafon 
 ftrong for the freedom of Ire¬ 
 land !) a pretence for a con¬ 
 dition which would be dif- 
 fimilarity of law, becaufe ex¬ 
 tinction of Conftitucion, and 
 therefore hofliljty, not com¬ 
 munity of intereft ; I alk on 
 what experience is this argu¬ 
 ment founded ? — Have you 
 ever Cnee your redemption re- 
 fufed to preferve a iimilarity 
 of law in Trade and Navi¬ 
 gation? Have you not fol¬ 
 lowed Great Britain in all her 
 changes of the Aft of Navi¬ 
 gation, during the whole of 
 that unpalatable buftnefs, the 
 American War? Have you 
 not excluded the cheap pro¬ 
 duce of other Plantations, in 
 order that Irifh poverty might 
 give a monopoly to the dear 
 produce of Britifh Colonies ? 
 Have you not made a better 
 ufe of your liberty than Great 
 Britain did of her power? But 
 I have an objection to this ar¬ 
 gument, ftronger even than its 
 want of foundation, in reafon 
 and experiment; I hold it to 
 be nothing lefs than an into¬ 
 lerance of the Parliamentary 
 Constitution of Ireland, a de¬ 
 claration that the full and 
 free external legifiation of the 
 Irifh Parliament is incompa¬ 
 tible with the Britifh Empire. 
 I do acknowledge that by your 
 external power, you might dif- 
 ccmpofe theharmony of empire 
 
 Mr. Fitzgibbon, For. 
 have indeed a right to trade, 
 but without the afliftance and 
 protection of Great Britain 
 you have not the means of 
 trading with any nation on 
 earth. There is not a Gngle 
 article in which you can trade 
 without the afliftance of Eng¬ 
 land ; and I defire by that 
 Bill to enfure her proteftion 
 and afliftance, and when the 
 people of this country are re- 
 ftored to their fober fen fes, they 
 will fee it. The Bill for ever 
 guarantees your Linen Trade, 
 to promote which England 
 taxes her own confucription 
 450,0001. yearly. The con- 
 fumption of England is ftated 
 to be forty-eight million of 
 yards; of this fhe at prefent 
 takes twenty millions from 
 Ireland, the remaining twenty 
 million from Ruffia and Ger¬ 
 many ; on the Ruflian and 
 German Linens fhe lays 4 
 heavy duty, and is content to 
 pay an advanced price for the 
 Irifh ; yet ftill the Ruflian and 
 German manufaftures can in 
 fome degree meet Ireland in 
 the Englifh market; if the 
 duty was taken off, they would 
 beat her out of it altogether, 
 and therefore 1 fay fhe is a 
 befotted nation if fhe feeks to 
 quarrel with England. 
 
 1 am much obliged to the 
 Gentlemen who in pure kind,- 
 nefs wifh to give me an op¬ 
 portunity for reflection, and 
 I hope Gentlemen who have 
 been fo very forward and fa 
 very hot upon this bccafion, 
 will 
 
[ ‘ 
 
 Mr. Grattan, Againjl. 
 &nd I add, that by your power 
 Over the Purfe, you might dif- 
 folve the State,but to the latter 
 you owe your exiftence in the 
 Conftitution, and to the for¬ 
 mer, your authority and ftation 
 intheEmpire; this argument, 
 therefore, refts the connexion 
 upon a new and a falfe principle 
 — goes diredlly againft the 
 root of Parliament—and is 
 not a difficulty to be accom¬ 
 modated, but an error to be 
 eradicated ; and if any body of 
 men can ftill think that the 
 Irifh Conftitution is incom¬ 
 patible with the BritilhEmpire, 
 a dodtrine which I abjure as 
 fedition againft the Conftitu¬ 
 tion—but if any body of men 
 are juftified in thinking that 
 the Irifh Conftitution is in¬ 
 compatible with the Britilh 
 Empire,—perilh the Empire! 
 live the Conftitution! Re¬ 
 duced by this falfe dilemma to 
 take a part, my fecond with 
 is the Britilh Empire, my firft 
 wifti and bounden duty is the 
 liberty of Ireland—but we are 
 told this imperial power is not 
 only necelfary for England but 
 fafe for Ireland. What is the 
 prefent queftion ? what but 
 the abufe of this very power 
 of regulating the trade of Ire¬ 
 land by the Britifh Parliament 
 excluding you, and including 
 herfelf by virtue of the fame 
 words of the fame Adt of 
 Navigation ? And what was 
 the promovent caufe of this 
 arrangement? what but the 
 power you are going to fur- 
 render. 
 
 i? i 
 
 Mr. FlTZGIBBO.fi, Per. 
 will reflect alfo on the belt 
 manner in which I can {hew 
 my fenfe of the obligation 
 conferred upon me will be, to 
 repeat and re-afiert the words 
 at which they have taken fo 
 much offence, I fay if Ire¬ 
 land feeks to quarrel with. 
 England {he is a befotted na¬ 
 tion. I fay {he has not the 
 means of trading with any na¬ 
 tion upon earth, without the 
 affiftance and protcdlion df 
 Great Britain, and I with 
 every man and every child 
 throughout Ireland to hear 
 me when I ftate it. I fay that 
 Ireland cannot exift one hour 
 without the fupport of Great 
 Britain ; and therefore again 
 I fay {he is a befotted nation 
 if {he feeks to quarrel with 
 her; and l fay further, when 
 the people recover their fenfeS, 
 and awaken from the delti- 
 fion and the phrenzy into 
 which they have been milled, 
 if the benefits df that Sill ate 
 then Within their reach they 
 will grafp at them; but I very 
 much fear they may net always 
 be within their reach; if they 
 are, they will be glad te' ac¬ 
 cept of that very fettlement 
 which they are now advifedt© 
 rejedt with fallen indignation 
 and with infult. 
 
 A Right Hon. Friend of 
 mine(Mr.Connollyj,whenhis 
 firft fymptoms of oppofitioft to 
 this meafure appeared, only 
 defired time to the next feffion, 
 that the people might under- 
 Hand 1 it. However, when the 
 I ?. Bill 
 
C 60 ] . 
 
 Mr. Grattan, Agalnjl. Mz. Fitzgibbon, For. 
 
 render, the diftinS and inde¬ 
 pendant external authority of 
 the Irilh Parliament, compe¬ 
 tent to queition that mifcon- 
 flruclion r What is the re¬ 
 medy now propofed ? the evil , 
 —go back to the Parliament 
 of England—I afe again, what 
 were the difficulties in the 
 way of ycur Eleven Propor¬ 
 tions? what but the jealoufy 
 of the Britiffi Manufacturers 
 on the fufcject of trade ? And 
 will you make them your Par¬ 
 liament, and that too for ever, 
 and that too on the fubjedt of 
 their jealoufy, and in the mo¬ 
 ment they difplayed it—fare ! 
 
 1 will fuppofe that jealoufy 
 realized, that you rival them 
 in fome market abroad, and 
 that they petition their Parlia¬ 
 ment to impofe a Regulation 
 which (hall affect a tonnage 
 which you have and Great 
 Britain has not; how would 
 you then feel your fituation, 
 when you ffiould be obliged to 
 regifter all this ? And how 
 would you fee! your degtada-' 
 tion, when you fhould fee your 
 own Manufacturers pafs you 
 by as a cypher in the Con- 
 ftiiution, and deprecate their 
 ruin at the bar of a Foreign 
 Parliament—fafe 1 Whence 
 
 the American war ? Whence 
 the Irilh reftriclions? 'Whence 
 the mifeonftruction of the Act 
 of Navigation? Whence but 
 from the evil of fuffiering one 
 country to regulate the Trade 
 and Navigation of another, 
 and of inftituting, under the 
 
 Bill was offered to the Houfe 
 he would have prevented the 
 introduction of it. How this 
 w'as to enlighten the people, 
 or to enable them to under- 
 ftand the fubjedt, I do not 
 perfectly comprehend. Again, 
 the Right Hon. Gentleman 
 declared that he did not un- 
 derftand commerce, nor was 
 he ever a flickler for conftitu- 
 tion. and then proceeded to 
 pronounce fentence of con¬ 
 demnation wholefale upon the 
 Bill, which he had never read, 
 and which if he had read, he 
 declared he fhould not under- 
 ftand. Another Hon. Gentle¬ 
 man who oppofes this meafure 
 with equal violence, has let it 
 out fomewhat indifcreetly in 
 my mind, that this is a queition 
 in which a certain fet of Gen¬ 
 tlemen in England are deeply 
 interelled ; and he has in my 
 mind fomewhat indifcreetly 
 reproached an Hon. Member 
 who fits above me (Mr. G. 
 Ponfonby) with having upon 
 this occaiion deferted the caufe 
 of his Englilh connexions*. 
 How this reproach conftfts 
 with the repeated declarations 
 which have been made from 
 that fide of the Houfe, that 
 this was a queftion perfectly 
 detached from all Englifh 
 party, 1 leave to the judgment 
 of the nation. But I cannot 
 but fay, that in my mind the 
 charge which has been made 
 
 from the oppofiie fide of the Houfe. 
 
 
[ 61 *} 
 
 Mr. Grattan, ■ Againft-. Mr. Fitzgirbon, For. 
 
 idea of general proteftorefs, 
 a proud domination, which fa- 
 crifices the intereft of the 
 whole to the ambition of a 
 part, and arms the little paffions 
 of the Mouopolift with the fo- 
 vereign potency of an imperial 
 Parliament; for great nations 
 ' when curfed with unnatural 
 fway follow but their nature 
 when they invade; and human 
 wifdom has not better provided 
 for human fafety than by li¬ 
 miting the principles of hu¬ 
 man power. The furrender of 
 Legiflature has been likened 
 to cafes that not infrequently 
 take place between two equal 
 1 nations covenanting to fuf- 
 pend in particular cafes their 
 refpedtive legiflative powers 
 for mutual benefit ; thus 
 Great Britain and Portugal 
 agree to fufpcnd their legif¬ 
 lative power in favour of the 
 Wine of the one and the 
 Woollen of the other, but if 
 Portugal had gone farther, 
 and agreed to fubicribe the 
 , laws of England, this cove¬ 
 nant had not been treaty but 
 conqueft; fo Great Britain 
 and Ireland may covenant not 
 to raife high duties on each 
 other’s manufadfures, but if 
 Ireland goes farther, and co¬ 
 venants to fubfcribe Britifli 
 law, this is not a mutual fuf- 
 penfion of the exercife of le¬ 
 giflative power, but a transfer 
 of the power itfelf from one 
 country to another, to be exer- 
 cifed by another hand ; fuch 
 covenant is not reciprocity of 
 trade, 
 
 upon that Gentleman refledts 
 very high honour upon him; 
 becaufe, in my mind, any 
 man who is adiuated upon 
 this occafion by motives of 
 Englilh or of Irilh party, is a 
 dangerous and decided enemy 
 
 But it is eurious to hear 
 the charges which have been 
 brought againft Miniftry ; they 
 are accufed of having origi¬ 
 nated this meafure, and urged 
 it forward with their whole 
 force. But whatintereft could 
 Adminiftntion have had in 
 obtruding it on this country ; 
 it was called for by the una¬ 
 nimous addrefs of this Houfe, 
 and when it was introduced, 
 there were but three men 
 found who could oppofe. it; 
 and now I challenge any man 
 to (hew me a Angle inftancein 
 which the Bill now upon your 
 table departs from the prin¬ 
 ciple and fpirit of the Eleven 
 Refolutions of this kingdom. 
 It is objedkd that they have 
 been multiplied into twenty, 
 but let any man look at them, 
 and he will find that many 
 of the additional Refolutions 
 a.e mere matters of detail, 
 mere matters of commercial 
 regulation, intended chiefly to 
 guard againft the frauds of 
 fmugglers ; he will find that 
 the Refolutions are more con¬ 
 demned for their numbers than 
 their demerit. If, however. 
 Gentlemen are determined to 
 rejedt this meafure without 
 examination or enquiry, in my 
 
Mr. Grattan, Againji . 
 trade, it is a furrender of the 
 government of your trade, in¬ 
 equality of trade and inequa¬ 
 lity of conftitution. 1 fpeak 
 however as if fuch transfer 
 could take place, but in fact 
 it could not, any arrangement 
 fo covenanting is a mere nul¬ 
 lity, it could not bind you, 
 ftill lefs could it bind your 
 fucceflbrs, for man is not 
 omnipotent over himfelf, nei¬ 
 ther are Parliaments omnipo¬ 
 tent over themfelves to ac- 
 complifn their own deftruc- 
 tion, and propagate death to 
 their fucceflbrs; there is in 
 thefe cafes a fuperior relation- 
 fhip to our refpedtive Creators 
 — God — the Community, 
 which in the inftance of the 
 individual, nrrefts the hand of 
 fuicide, and in that of the po¬ 
 litical body, flops the act of 
 furrender; and makes man the 
 means of propagation, and 
 Parliament the organ to con¬ 
 tinue liberty, not the engine 
 to deftroy it. However, though 
 the furrender is void, there are 
 two ways of attempting it, one 
 by a furrender in form, the 
 other by a furrender in fub- 
 ftance; appointing another 
 Parliament your fubftitute, 
 and confenting to be its re- 
 gifter or ftamp, by virtue of 
 which to introduce the law 
 and edict of another land ; to 
 cloath with the forms of your 
 law, foreign deliberations, and 
 to prefide over the difgraceful 
 ceremony of your own abdi¬ 
 cated authority; both methods 
 
 Mr. Fitzgibbon, For. 
 mind it will not be an a£t of 
 wifdom to rejedt it with indig¬ 
 nation, and it will be ftill more 
 unwife to reject it with in- 
 fult; for if a fair and honour¬ 
 able and advantageous offer of 
 England is treated with in¬ 
 dignation, we fliall not proba¬ 
 bly have an opportunity of re-' 
 peatingthe infult; we fliall not 
 probably have a fecond offer 
 of the Engliftt market, and a 
 partnerfliip in the Englilh ca¬ 
 pital. We fliall not probably 
 be courted to an adjustment of 
 commercial intercourfe be¬ 
 tween the two countries, and 
 he is a bitter enemy to both 
 countries who wilhes to throw ■ 
 any impediment in the way 
 of fuch an adjuftment. It is 
 eflentia] to the interefts of 
 Great Britain; it is eflential 
 to the exiftence of Ireland. 
 
 A Gentleman who declared 
 himfelf to be in a ftate of con- 
 ftitutional infanity, whether 
 political or natural I cannot 
 tell, advifes us not to be too 
 forward in celebrating the fu¬ 
 neral of the prefent Chief Go¬ 
 vernor, left we Ihould not be 
 permitted to walk in the co¬ 
 ronation proceffion of his fuc- 
 ceffor. 
 
 Sir, I am not the Have of 
 party, nor the inflrument of 
 fadlion ; for much as I defpife 
 popular clamour, or popular 
 applaufe, I defpife party ftill 
 more ;—and I will tell that 
 Hon. Gentleman, that I con- 
 fider myfelfto be perfectly be¬ 
 yond the teach of Minifterial 
 
Mr. Grattan, Againjl. 
 are equally furrenders and both 
 are wholly void. I fpeak on 
 principle, the principle on 
 which you Hand —your creation. 
 We, the limited trufteesof de¬ 
 legated power, born for a par¬ 
 ticular purpofe, limited to a 
 particular time, and bearing 
 an inviolable relationfhip to 
 the people who fent us to Par¬ 
 liament, cannot break that re¬ 
 lationfhip, counteradt that pur- 
 'pofe, furrender, diminifh, or 
 derogate from thole privileges 
 we breathe but to preferve. 
 Could the Parliament of Eng¬ 
 land covenant to fubfcribe 
 your laws? Could fhe cove¬ 
 nant that Young Ireland 
 fhould command and Old En¬ 
 gland fhould obey ? If fuch a 
 propofal to England were 
 I mockery; to Ireland it cannot 
 be conftitution. I reft on au¬ 
 thority as well as principle, 
 the authority on which the re¬ 
 volution refts; Mr. Locke, 
 who in his chapter on the 
 abolition of Government, fays 
 that the transfer of legiflative 
 power is the abolition of the 
 ftate, not a transfer. Thus I 
 may congratulate this Houfe 
 and myfelf, that it is one of 
 the bleffings of the Britifh 
 Conftitution, that it cannot 
 perifh of a rapid mortality nor 
 die.in a day, like the men who 
 fhould protect her; any act 
 that would deftroy the liberty 
 of the people is dead-born 
 from the womb; men may 
 put down the public caufe for 
 a feafon, but another year 
 would 
 
 Mr. Fitzgibbon, For. 
 difpleafure ; but'if the Gen¬ 
 tleman luppofes Mr. Pitt’s 
 Adminiftratioh will be fhaken 
 by an intemperate rejedtion on 
 the part of Ireland—if his op- 
 pofition to it is founded in the 
 hope that he will fhortly be 
 called upon to affift at the co¬ 
 ronation of the Duke of Rutc 
 land’s fucceflor, he will find 
 that he is miferably miftaken. 
 In my mind, we have taken 
 a mill ftone from Mr. Pitt’s 
 neck, and hung it about our 
 
 Mr. Mason, For. 
 
 He was not furprized that 
 the Right HonourableGentle- 
 man fhould be exceedingly 
 jealous of any meafure that 
 appeared to him to infringe, 
 even in the flighted degree, 
 that conftitutional indepen¬ 
 dence which he himfelf had 
 reftored to his Country ; but 
 that jealoufy was a paffion 
 which applies itfelf more pow¬ 
 erfully to the imagination,than 
 it does to the underftanding 
 of the perfons poftefled with 
 it, and is apt, as Shakcfpeare 
 tells us, to make the food it 
 feeds on. This, faid he, was 
 precifelv the cafe of the Right 
 Hon. Gentleman on that oc- 
 cafion, as he would venture to 
 afierr, that this attack on the 
 Conftitution of Ireland, which 
 the Right Hon. Gentleman 
 had repelled with fo much 
 ability and zeal, had no real 
 exiftence. 
 
[ < 
 
 Mr. Grattan, Agmnjl. 
 would fee Old Conftitution 
 advance the honours of his 
 head, and the good inftitution 
 of Parliament fhaking off the 
 tomb to realcend in all its 
 pomp and pride, and plenitude 
 and privilege! 
 
 Sir, I have ftated thefe Pro¬ 
 portions and the Bill as a 
 mere transfer of external le- 
 giflative authority to the Par¬ 
 liament of Great Britain, but 
 I have uuderftated their mif- 
 chief, they go to taxation, 
 taxes on the trade with the 
 Britifh plantations, taxes on 
 the produce of foreign plan¬ 
 tations, taxes on feme of the 
 produce of the United States 
 of North America; they go 
 to port duties, fuch as Great 
 Britain laid on America ; the 
 mode is varied, but the prin¬ 
 ciple is the fame —Here Great 
 Britain takes the damn of the 
 Irilh Parliament, Great Britain 
 is to preferihe, and Ireland is 
 to obey \ Yvc anitcm.ire the 
 rape by previous fun coder, 
 and throw into the fcale our 
 honour, as wen as oui nuerty. 
 Do not imagine that all thefe 
 Refolutions are mere acls of 
 regulation ; they are fo'id fub- 
 ftantial revenue, great part or 
 your additional duty. I allow 
 the Bill excepts rum and to¬ 
 bacco : but the principle is re¬ 
 tained, and the operation of 
 itonl, kept back. 1 have ftated 
 that C c B .' by 
 
 that the comtr.erci.tl jealoufy 
 
 4 3 
 
 Mr. Mason, For. 
 exiftence, but was merely the 
 creatuie of his own imagina- 
 
 He fail, he fhould not be 
 furprized, if the commercial 
 regulations of the Bill then 
 moved for fhould occafion' a 
 great diverfity of opinion, or 
 that feme of them, when con- 
 fidered lingly, and not as com- 
 pofing part of a fyftem, fliouid 
 app.ar exceptionable ; for if, 
 in a treaty of that nature,, 
 every article was in favour of 
 one of the parties, there would 
 be an end of that equality 
 which mult neceffarily be the 
 balls of any permanent agree¬ 
 ment between the two nations; 
 —but that the obje&ions that 
 ha.1 been urged agamft thofe 
 regulations on conftitutional 
 grounds appeared to him en- f 
 tireiv void of foundation; to 
 be fraught with abfurdity and 
 mifehief, and caiculated to 
 anfwer the worft of Durpofes ; 
 tofprc.id afalfe alarm through 
 all pairs of the kingdom, to 
 irritate the public without juft: 
 caufe againft the Britilh Par¬ 
 liament, and to perluade the 
 people, that the conftitutional 
 independence of their country 
 was ir. danger at the very mo¬ 
 ment that it was moft fecure ; 
 —at the very moment that all 
 the branches of the legiflature 
 in both kingdoms were vying 
 with each other, which of 
 them fhould affert the inde¬ 
 pendence of Ireland in the 
 ftrongeft terms ;—at the very 
 time- when the Minifter . of 
 ' lit land 
 
[ 6^ 
 
 Mr.. Grattan-, Jgainji. 
 of Great Britain is at an end.. 
 But are her wants at an end? 
 are her wifhes for Irifh fubfidy 
 at an end ? No—and may be 
 gratified by laying colony du¬ 
 ties on herfelf, and fo railing 
 on Ireland an imperial revenue 
 to be fubfcribed by our Parlia¬ 
 ment, without the confent of 
 our Parliament, and in defpite 
 of our people. Or if a mini- 
 fier Ihould pleafe to turn him- 
 felf to a general excife, if 
 wiflling to relieve from the 
 weight of further additional 
 duties the hereditary revenue 
 now alienated, if wifhing to 
 relieve the alarms of the t-ng- 
 lifh manufafturers, who com¬ 
 plain of our exemption from 
 excifes, particularly on foap, 
 candles, and leather ; he 
 Ihould proceed on thofe al¬ 
 ready regiftered articles of 
 taxation, he might tax you 
 by threats , fuggetting that if 
 you refufe to raife an excife 
 on yourfelf, England wouid 
 raife colony duties oh both. 
 See what a mighty inftrument 
 of coercion this Bill and thefe 
 Refolutions— ftir and Great 
 Britain can crufh you—ftir 
 and theMinifter can crufh you 
 in the name of Great Britain 
 —he, can crufh your imports 
 —he can crufh your exports 
 •—he can do this in a manner 
 peculiarly mortifying, by vir¬ 
 tue of a claufe in a Britifli 
 Aft of Parliament that would 
 feem to impofe the fame re- 
 ftricli'ons on Great Britain— 
 he .can do this in a manner 
 ftill 
 
 ]; 
 
 Mr. Mason, For. 
 Ireland had moved for a Bill,, 
 intended to contain a claufe 
 for that purpofe; when the 
 Minifter of Great Britain had 
 aftuaily prefented a Bill de¬ 
 claring that the Parliament of 
 Ireland alone was competent 
 to make laws to bind that 
 kingdom, in any cafe what¬ 
 ever ; and when both the 
 Houfes of Parliament in Great 
 Britain had concurred in pre- 
 fenting an add refs. to the 
 Throne, containing the like 
 explicit declaration ; nay, even 
 the Population required by 
 Great Britain, that Ireland 
 fhould adopt her future com¬ 
 mercial regulations, was the 
 ftrongeft acknowledgment of 
 their independence; for why 
 had file departed on that oc- 
 cafion from her eftablifhed 
 praftice of regulating the 
 commerce of every part of the 
 empire, by her own Parlia¬ 
 ment only ? Why had file 
 then relinquifhed that power 
 which fhe had exercifed with¬ 
 out controul for i 20 years ? 
 Becaufe fhe acknowledged the 
 independence of Ireland ; be¬ 
 caufe fhe well knew that no 
 aft of her Parliament would 
 be confidered as valid by the 
 people of Ireland, if it were 
 not confirmed by the Irifli le- 
 giflature. 
 
 He faid, that he had liftened 
 with attention to' the feveral 
 claufes of the' intended Bill, 
 and fhould not hefitate to 
 aflert, that if there was any 
 one claufe more abfolutelv 
 K necef- 
 
C 6< 
 
 Mr . Grattan, Againjl . 
 
 {fill more offenfive by the im¬ 
 mediate means of your own 
 Parliament, who would be 
 then an active cypher, and no¬ 
 torious ftamp in the hands of 
 Great Britain, to forge and 
 falfify the name and authority 
 of the people of Ireland. I 
 have confidered your fituation 
 under thefe Propofitions with 
 refpeft to Great Britain : fee 
 what would be your fituation 
 with refpect to the Crown ? 
 You would have granted to 
 the King a perpetual Money 
 Bill, or a Money Bill to con¬ 
 tinue as long as the Parlia¬ 
 ment of Great Britain fhall 
 pleafe, with a covenant to 
 increafe it as often as the 
 Britiih Parliament fhali pleafe. 
 By thefe Refolutions a great 
 part of the additional duty 
 would have been fo granted— 
 the trade of the country is 
 made dependant on the Parlia¬ 
 ment of Great Britain, and 
 the Crown is made lefs de¬ 
 pendant on the Parliament of 
 Ireland, and a code of prero¬ 
 gative added to a code of em¬ 
 pire. If the merchant after 
 this (hould petition you to 
 lower your duties on the arti¬ 
 cles of trade, your anfwer is 
 “ trade is in covenant." If 
 your conftitirents ihould in- 
 ftruct you to limit the Bill of 
 Supply, or pafs a fhort Money 
 Bill, your anfwer, “ the purfe 
 of the nation like her trade is 
 
 fix months Money Bills—no 
 more of inftruclions from con- 
 ftituents 
 
 i ] r 
 
 Mr. Mason, For. 
 neceflary than the reft, any 
 one with which it was impof- 
 fible to difpenfe, it was that 
 very claufe which the Right 
 Honourable Gentleman had re¬ 
 probated ; for what was the 
 objeft of the pending negoti¬ 
 ation between Great Britain 
 and Ireland ? It was to form 
 upon principles of juftice and 
 equality a final and permanent 
 adjuftment of commercial in- 
 tercourfe between the two 
 countries. Now if they took 
 into confideration only the 
 commercial regulations at pre- 
 fent exifting, they might form 
 a fyftem that would be juft 
 and equal; but in order to. 
 render it permanent alfo, they 
 muft go fomewhat farther—■ 
 they muft look forward to fu¬ 
 turity, and take care not only 
 that the commercial regula¬ 
 tions of both kingdoms were 
 the fame at that day, but that 
 they fhould ever be the fame 
 at all times hereafter. If they 
 did not that, their fyftem could 
 neither be final nor permanent, 
 and their eternal adjuftment 
 would laft but for a feffion. A 
 perpetual conformity of com¬ 
 mercial regulations was necef- 
 fary to render the fyftem per¬ 
 manent, which could never be 
 preferved unlefs the Parliament 
 of one country fhould agree 
 to adopt the commercial regu¬ 
 lations that fhould, from time 
 to time, be eftablifhed in the 
 other; the queftion therefore 
 was reduced to the fingle 
 point, in which of the two 
 kingdoms 
 
[ 6 7 ] 
 
 Mr. Grattan, Againjl. Mr. Mason, For. 
 
 ftituents—that connexion is kingdoms the future commer- 
 broken by this Bill—pafs this, cial regulations of the empire 
 you have no con/iituent —you ought properly to originate ? 
 are not the reprefentative of Should they originate in Ire- 
 the people of Ireland, but the land, a country that as yet 
 regifter of the Britilh Parlia- had but little experience in 
 ment, and the equalizer of matters of commerce, in the 
 Britilh duties ! infancy of its trade, manu- 
 
 In order to complete this failures and induftry ? or 
 chain of power, one link {!' Ihould they originate in Great 
 do acknowledge) was wanting Britain, the greatelt commer- 
 —a perpetual Revenue Bill, cial nation upon earth, the 
 or a covenant from time to feat of empire, and of courfe 
 time to renew the Bill for the kingdom on which mud 
 the colleftion thereof. The depend their treaties of corn- 
 twentieth Refolution and this merce with foreign nations ? 
 Bill founded upon it attain She was miftrefs of the colo- 
 that objeft. Sir, this Houfe nies to which the principal 
 refts on three pillars —your part of their trade would be 
 power over the annual Mu- diredled, and miftrefs of the 
 tiny Bill—your power over navy that muft protect that 
 the annual Additional Duties trade. There was furely no 
 —your power over the Col- man fo blindly prejudiced in 
 lection of the Revenue. The favour of his country as not 
 latter power is of great con- to acknowledge that the fu- 
 fequence, becaufe a great part ture commercial regulations of 
 of our revenues are granted for the empire ought rather to 
 ever. Your anceftors were originate in Great Britain than 
 Haves; and for their eftates, in Ireland, 
 that is, for the a£t of fettle- When Mr. Yelverton pro- 
 ment granted the hereditary pofed his bill for adopting in 
 revenue, and from that mo- Ireland all fuch commercial 
 ment ceafed to be a Parlia- laws of Great Britain as con- 
 ment; nor was it till -many ferred equal benefits, arid im- 
 years after that Parliament pofed equal buidcns on the 
 revived; but it revived as you fubjefts of both kingdoms, 
 under this Bill would con- the motion was received with 
 tinue ; without parliamentary general applaufe ; now the' 
 power; every evil meafure only purport of the claufe in 
 derived argument, energy, queftion was, to extend to fu- 
 and eflence from this conftitu- turity the provifions of that 
 tional fund. If a country Bill, which they all approved 
 gentleman complained of the of, and to recommend it to 
 expences of the Crown, he fucceeding Parliaments to a- 
 was K. 2 dutp 
 
[ 68 ] 
 
 Mr. Grattan, Againjl. Afr. Mason, For. 
 
 was told a frugal government dopt filch future commercial 
 couid go on without a Par- regulations as (hould be found- 
 liament, and that we held our ed on the fame principles of 
 evidence, by withholding; the juftice and equality, 
 dii'charge of our duty. How- He next begged leave to 
 ever, though the funds were remind the Houfe of the terms 
 granted for ever, ' the provi- on which they then enjoyed 
 Son for the collection was in- the privilege of trading with 
 adequate—the ftnusgkr Ie_rn- the Britilh plantations; the 
 ed to evade the penalties, and terms, he ('aid, were, that they 
 Parliament, though not necef- fhould conform from time to 
 
 fary for its collection.- (hould enaft for regulating the 
 
 Here then we reft on three Well India trade, and alfo 
 pillars—the annual Mutiny that they (hould adopt fuch 
 Bill — the annual Additional duties on all commodities ex- 
 Supply—and the annual Col- ported from Ireland to the 
 lection of the Revenue. If plantations, and imported from 
 you remove all thefe, this them, as Great Britain irn- 
 labric falls; remove any one poled upon the fame articles 
 of them, and it totters; for i: —not only the duties exifting 
 is not the mace, nor the chair, at that day, but alfo ihofe 
 r.or this dome, but the delibe- that GreatBritain Ihould think 
 ■rative voice relident therein proper to lay on at any future 
 that conliimtes the elTence of time; and accordingly, though 
 Parliament. Cloir your deli- they Daifed one equalizing Bill 
 
 ment the po.ivers which this I hofe, faid lie, were the terms 
 Bill prefumes to peipetuaie— dictated by Gieat Britain, and 
 a perpetual repeal of trial by accepted by lieland on that 
 jury—a perpetual repeal of occafion. Did the Right Ho- 
 the great charter—a perpetual nourable Gentleman’s pride 
 writ of 2lnl!ance—a perpetual revolt againft that ftipula’tion? 
 felony to IPrike an excife- Did he reject with fcorn ihofe 
 rn-n ! humiliating conditions, as in- 
 
 Phe late Chief Baron fringing on the legiflative in- 
 Burgh fpeaking on the reve- dependence of Ireland ? No, 
 nue bill, exclaimed, “ You he received this concellion 
 
 like 
 
C 69 ] 
 
 Mr. Grattan, Agamfl. 
 give to the dipping rule -what 
 you fhould deny to the fcep- 
 
 A!1 the unconftitutional 
 powers of the excife we are 
 to perpetuate, the conftitu- 
 ticrnnl powers of Parliament 
 we are to abdicate. Can we 
 do all this ? can we make 
 thefe bulky furrenders, in 
 diminution of the power, in 
 derogation of the pride of 
 Parliament, and in violation 
 of thofe eternal relationfhips, 
 which the body that reprefems 
 fhould bear to the community 
 which confiitutes ? 
 
 We can go on, we have a 
 growing profperity and as yet 
 an exemption from intolera¬ 
 ble taxes ; we can from time 
 
 commerce, cherifli our ma- 
 nufaftures, keep down our 
 
 people, and brood over the 
 rowing profperity of Young 
 reland. In the mean time 
 we will guard our Free Trade 
 and Free Ccnflitution as our 
 only real r-fourccs ; they were 
 the ftruggles of great virtue, 
 the refult of much perfeve- 
 rartce, and our broad b.-.fe of 
 public afiion ! Wc fhould 
 recollect that this Houfe may 
 now With peculiar propriety 
 interpofe, becaufe you did 
 with great zeal and fuccefs, 
 on this very fubjedt of trade, 
 bring on the people, and you 
 did with great prudence and 
 moderation on another oc- 
 pafion, check a certain de- 
 feriptjon 
 
 Mr. Mason, For.' ' 
 like the reft of his fellow 
 citizens, with fatisfadtion and 
 gratitude yet that ftipula- 
 tion was furely more ofFenftve 
 than that which was the fub- 
 jecl of the prelent debate ; for 
 in order to avail themfelves of 
 the treaty which they were then 
 about to conclude, nothing 
 was required but that Ireland 
 fhall adopt fuch commercial 
 regulations of the Britifh Par¬ 
 liament as fhould confer equal 
 benefits, and impofe equal 
 burdens on thefubjefls of both 
 kingdoms, and fhould tend at 
 the fame time to increafe the 
 fhipping and mariners of the 
 empire. But in order to en¬ 
 joy the commerce of the plan¬ 
 tations, they bound themfelves 
 not only to adopt her regula¬ 
 tions, but alfo to impofe fuch 
 duties as Great Britain fhould 
 prescribe on all commodities, 
 whether native or foreign, ex¬ 
 ported to the Weft Indies, 
 and on every article imported 
 from thence, rum only except¬ 
 ed. He therefore contended 
 for it, that that was the more 
 offenfive flipulation of the 
 two, as if e\er a country was 
 to be jealous of the interfe¬ 
 rence of a foreign legiflature, 
 fhe ought furely to be moll 
 fo in matters that related to 
 the impofition of taxes. 
 
 He fuppofed it would be 
 faid, that by accepting of the' 
 trade to the plantations, on 
 the terms he had ftated, Ire¬ 
 land bound herfelf to nothing 
 —that fhe had it always in her 
 power 
 
L 7° ] 
 
 Mr. Grattan, Agahift, 
 fcription of the people, and 
 you are noiv called upon by 
 confiftency to defend the 
 people. Thus mediating be- 
 
 ferve this ifiand long, and 
 prefcrve her with a certain 
 degree of renown. Thus 
 faithful to the conllituticn of 
 the country, you will com¬ 
 mand and infure her tran¬ 
 quillity, for our belt authori¬ 
 ty with the people is, pro- 
 tefiion afforded againft the 
 minifters of the crown. It 
 is not public clamour but 
 public injury that fhould a- 
 larm you ; your high ground 
 of expoftulation with your 
 fellow fubjefts has been your 
 fervices; the free trade you 
 have given the merchant, and 
 the free con'Iitution you have 
 given the ifland ! Make your 
 THIRD GREAT effort, pre- 
 ferve them, and with them 
 preferve unaltered, your own 
 calm fenfe of public right, the 
 dignity of the Parliament, the 
 majefty of the people, and the 
 powers of the ifland ! Keep 
 them unfullied,'uncovenamed, 
 unciicumfcribed, and unfti- 
 pendiary! Thefc paths are 
 the paths of glory, and let 
 me add, thefe ways are the 
 ways of peace; fo fhall the 
 profperity of your country, 
 though without a tongue to 
 thank you, yet laden with 
 the bleffings of conflitution 
 and of commerce, bear attef-' 
 tation to your fervices, and 
 wait on your progrefs with 
 involuntary praife ! 
 
 Air. Mason, For. 
 power to refufe to impofe the 
 fame duties with Great Bri¬ 
 tain, and that the only confe- 
 quence of that refufal would 
 be a fufpenfion of their trade 
 to the Weft Indies, with re- 
 fpect to that article, the duty 
 on which they refufed to e- 
 qualize ; but he faid, that in 
 the prefent cafe they flood pre- 
 cifely on the fame ground, for 
 that it would be always in the 
 power of the Parliament of 
 Ireland to rejeft the commer¬ 
 cial regulations of Great Bri¬ 
 tain, and that the only confe- 
 quenceof that rejection would 
 be, a diffolution of the prefent 
 
 No man, he faid, could be 
 fo ignorant as to imagine that 
 Great Britain required by this 
 flipulation that they .Ihould 
 pafs any law, rendering it 
 compulfory on future Parlia¬ 
 ments to regifter the commer¬ 
 cial edicts of Great Britain ; 
 every man of common fenfe 
 mult know that this was irn- 
 poffible ;—that it was not in 
 the power of a Parliament by 
 any act of theirs to bind fuc- 
 ceeding Parliaments, or even 
 to bind themfelves in a fubfe- 
 quent feflion. All we hound 
 ourfelves to by accepting of 
 rhofe conditions, tvas to adopt 
 fuch laws as had been paffed 
 by Great Britain flnee Mr. 
 Yelverton’s Bill, impofing e- 
 qual burdens, and conferring 
 equal benefits on the fubjefts 
 of both kingdoms, and then to 
 recommend it to fucceeding 
 Parliaments 
 
[ 7 1 ] 
 
 Mr. Mason, For. 
 Parliaments to follow their ex¬ 
 ample, and to adept from time 
 to time fuch further regula¬ 
 tions as fhould be founded on 
 the fame principles of juftice 
 and equality. But notwith- 
 ftanding their recommenda¬ 
 tion and example, every fu¬ 
 ture Pailiament would have its 
 option, either to adopt or re- 
 jedt thofe regulations. How 
 then, faid he, in the name of 
 God, can this flipulation af¬ 
 fect the fupremacy of the Irifh. 
 Legiflature ! 
 
 He exprefied his hope that 
 the treaty, if concluded, would 
 be final and permanent, but 
 defired the Houfe would re¬ 
 coiled!: that they -were not a- 
 bout to form an indifioluble 
 con trad!, like the treaty of 
 union between England and 
 Scotland ; for the moment the 
 ad! of union pafied, the Par¬ 
 liament of Scotland was an¬ 
 nihilated, or rather merged in 
 that of Great Britain ; and if 
 the articles of union had proved 
 ,highly oppreffive to the people 
 of Scotland, they were left 
 without refource, except what 
 they fhould find in the mode¬ 
 ration of the Britifh Parlia¬ 
 ment, or the hazards of a ci¬ 
 vil war; the body of men to 
 whom they would otherwife 
 have applied for redrefs no 
 longer exifted— their Parlia- 
 
 Parliamentoflreland,notwith- 
 ftanding this treaty, would re¬ 
 main in full vigour, and would 
 always be able to rejedi, if 
 they 
 
[ 7 2 ] 
 
 Mr. Mason, For. 
 they preafeJ, the regulations 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 He faid, that he was confi¬ 
 dent it would ever he their in- 
 tereft to adopt thofe regula¬ 
 tions ; for though they could 
 not be too jealous of the mo¬ 
 nopolizing fpirit of that king¬ 
 dom, whilft fire afiumed the 
 right of making laws to bind 
 them, and of promoting her 
 own commerce by the deftruc- 
 tion of theirs; from the time 
 that, in confequence of the 
 prefent treaty, the commerce 
 of both countries would be¬ 
 come the fame, and their in- 
 terefts fo united, it would be 
 impofiible for Great Britain to 
 make any laws injurious to 
 the trade of Ireland, which 
 would not be equally fatal to 
 her own ; they fhould run no 
 hazard by adopting the policy 
 of the wifeft commercial peo¬ 
 ple in Europe. But if, con¬ 
 trary to every reafonable ex- 
 peftation. Great Britain fhould 
 happen to pafs any laws inju¬ 
 rious to the commerce of the 
 empire—ifOld England fhould 
 fall into a ftate of dotage, and 
 grow too foolifh to underftand 
 or to purfue her real interefts, 
 it would then be in the power, 
 and become the duty of the 
 Parliament of Ireland to de- 
 clareofF from any commercial 
 connexion with that devoted 
 people; and the word that 
 could happen to them was, that 
 after having enjoyed, for cen¬ 
 turies together, a full parti¬ 
 cipation of the Britifh com¬ 
 merce. 
 
C 73 ] 
 
 • Mr. Mason, Perl. 
 merce, and increafed both the 
 wealth and Confequence of the 
 nation by that participation, 
 they might be forced in the 
 end to break off the connec¬ 
 tion, and Hand precifely in the 
 fame fituation, with refpedt to 
 Great Britain, that they did 
 at that day. 
 
 Mr. Flood, Againjl. 
 
 I do not at all wonder that 
 this fyftem fhould end in an 
 open attack upon the rights 
 of Ireland in commerce and 
 in conftitution, becaufe in its 
 origin it appeared to me to be 
 a covered attack upon both. 
 On this principle, I oppofed 
 
 have been reproached with- 
 being in a minority of one 
 upon this fubjedt; I (hall be 
 no longer reproached on that 
 ground. 
 
 The King’s fpeech, under 
 the fan&ion of which the fyf¬ 
 tem was introduced, declared, 
 that it was only to adjuft mat¬ 
 ters which had not been before 
 adjuftedt Yet the very fecond 
 of the original ten Propor¬ 
 tions, in contradi&ion to this, 
 went only to objedfs that had 
 been before adjufted in tyho- 
 and 1782 — namely, foreign 
 tiade and Britijh colonial trade. 
 
 As to foreign trade, one 
 word difpatches that, viz. the 
 word, Independence. Inde¬ 
 pendent Ireland has every right 
 ef foreign trade, which Bri- 
 
 Mr. Forster, For. 
 
 He faid, he could not lit 
 filent when he heard a mea- 
 fure in which he was proud 
 to have had a confiderable 
 part, reprefented by fo many 
 gentlemen as injurious to the 
 independence of the Irilh Ie- 
 giflature, and a barter of the 
 conftitution for commerce. 
 He fhould think himfelf, in¬ 
 deed, unworthy of a feat in 
 that Houfe, or of the name of 
 Irilhman, if he could confent 
 to barter an atom of the 
 conftitution of his country 
 for all the commerce in the 
 world ; but he was fo fully fa- 
 tisfied the prefent meafure did 
 not violate it, in the fmalltrft 
 degree, that he could not re- 
 prefs his furprife at its being 
 fuppofed to do fo. When 
 gentlemen faid, that it violated 
 the conftitution, they forgot 
 that they had recorded a fimi- 
 lar violation of it in every fef- 
 fion, ftnee the freedom of their 
 legiflation had been eftablifh- 
 ed. His Right Hon.friend {the 
 Attorney General)had quoted 
 the refolution of that Houfe 
 L in 
 
t 74 1 
 
 Mr. Flood, Again]}. 
 tain herfelf polTefies. For this, 
 therefore, file had no compaft 
 to make with Britain. This 
 had been adjuftea in 1782. 
 Britifh colony trade was 
 adjufted in 1780. The Bri¬ 
 tifh Parliament, in 178c, de¬ 
 clared, by refolution, that the 
 unfhaken loyalty of Ireland, 
 entitled her, to participate in 
 every advantage of Britilh Co¬ 
 lony trade. The Britifh aft 
 of Parliament, in purfuanceof 
 this refolve, authorized Ireland 
 to trade to the Britifh Colo¬ 
 nies with like advantages with 
 Britain herfelf. In equity 
 and good faith, what can we 
 have to afk that this did not 
 give? Or can Britain now 
 fay that Ihe withheld any 
 thing without impeaching her 
 own candour ? Britain boaft- 
 ed the liberality of that tran- 
 faclion. Ireland illuminated. 
 
 Now I afk did not mod of 
 you imagine, that in 1780, 
 Ireland was put in a better fi¬ 
 xation, than ever fhe had pof- 
 fefied before, as to Britifh Co¬ 
 lony trader And, of this 1 
 am fure, that there is not a 
 man among you who will 
 not admit, that it would be 
 abfurd to hold, that you were 
 not at leaft rellored, to every 
 advantage of Britifh Co¬ 
 lony trade, that Ireland had 
 ever poflefTed. Now I fay, 
 that till the 15th of Charles 
 the lid, you could export any 
 thing to, and import any thing 
 from, the Britifh colonies, as 
 freely as England herfelf: and, 
 
 Mr. Forster, For. 
 in 1779. He would now read 
 a part of the ftatute of 1781, 
 made in confequence of that 
 
 prohibitions, &c. be granted, &c.” 
 
 This ftatute was pafled at a 
 time when the fpirit of the na¬ 
 tion was as high as ever it had 
 been, and her jealoufy of the 
 conftitution as great, and has 
 been repeal ed every feffion fince. 
 Now, Sir, the condition as to 
 regulating trade is as exprefs 
 in this ftatute as in the pre- 
 fent bill.— [Mr. Grattan inter¬ 
 rupting , defired to know what 
 trade ?J— Mr. ForJler proceed¬ 
 ed, the Plantation trade—the 
 very trade now in agitation ; 
 and if accepting trade on 
 conditions would deftroy the 
 conftitution, our conflitution 
 has been long fince deftroyed, 
 even in the very year of its 
 emancipation. But the Right 
 
t 75 ] 
 
 Mr. Flood, Agamfi. 
 that, after landing it in Ire¬ 
 land, you could relhip it for 
 any other country; and for 
 England, as well, as for any 
 other. In 1780 therefore, you 
 were either reftored to that li¬ 
 berty. or it mull: follow, that, 
 that boafted tranfadtion was a 
 deception ; and that inftead of 
 giving you immunities you ne¬ 
 ver had before, it did not even 
 reftore you, to what you had 
 formerly polfefled. This li¬ 
 berty therefore of relhipping 
 Britilh colony produce (the 
 only boon which this fvftem 
 boafts) did in every coniide- 
 ration of reafon and good faith 
 accompany the tranfaclion of 
 1780, and was therefore, not, 
 now to be adjufted. Nay it 
 is abfurd to fuppofe, that, in 
 1780, that was withheld from 
 Ireland, which Ireland had 
 poflefled, till the 15th year of 
 Charles the I Id; which every 
 one of the Thirteen States of 
 America did polfefs to the 
 hour of their feparation ? and 
 which New Brunfwick pof- 
 fefles now ? and would it not 
 be more abfurd to fuppofe fo, 
 if in fa£t it is as much the 
 intereft of Britain, as it can 
 be of Ireland, that Ireland 
 fhould be allowed that liberty? 
 Now it is even more fo, and 
 1 prove it thus. This liberty 
 can be of no advantage to 
 Ireland except in this contin¬ 
 gency : except Ireland has a 
 furplus of colony produce over 
 and above her own confump¬ 
 tion—-That is one neceflarv 
 
 fa a— 
 
 Mr. FoRSTES, For. 
 
 Hon. Gentleman acknow¬ 
 ledges the condition which 
 he inveighs againft as being, 
 moft dangerous now, to be fi- 
 milar tp that one which he 
 then and ever fince has deemed 
 fo innocent. He only dwells 
 on its extending to foreign 
 trade, that is, to foreign co¬ 
 lonies, as if the greater or lefs 
 extent could change its con- 
 flitutional or unconftitutional 
 nature ; but will Gentlemen 
 conftder the matter, itripped 
 of all oratory and declama¬ 
 tion ? Great Britain has co¬ 
 lonies, fhe offers full com¬ 
 munication of her trade to 
 Ireland,on condition of Ireland 
 trading on the fame terms as 
 fhe does herfelf; one of thofe 
 terms is equal duties and re¬ 
 gulations, which the gentle¬ 
 men admit to be fair and harm- 
 lefs,for we have complied with, 
 it in part thefe two feffions ; 
 another of the terms is the 
 giving a like protedfion, as 
 Great Britain gives to their 
 produce againft the produce 
 of foreign colonies. This too 
 is fair, but it deftroys our 
 conftitution—what pitiful rea- 
 foning ! It does not deftroy 
 us to receive a monopoly of 
 their confumption ; but to, 
 give them a monopoly of 
 our confumption, annihilates 
 our independence ! No man 
 of common fenfe can hefitate 
 that it is fair we fhould re¬ 
 ceive the trade on the fame 
 terms as Britain. The Colo¬ 
 nies are hers—fhe has a right 
 L z to 
 
' [ ; 
 
 Mr. Flood, Agn'mft. 
 faft—Arother is, that, at the 
 fame article of time, that 
 fhould happen, which rarely 
 can happen, namely, that Bri- 
 tifb colony produce fhould be 
 dearer in Britain than in Ire¬ 
 land, or in any other neigh¬ 
 bouring country—For if that 
 were r.ot the cafe, Ireland 
 would iufe by fending it to 
 Britain. Now it is abfurd to 
 fuppofe that Ireland would do 
 than. What follows ? That 
 at the moment when the li¬ 
 berty cf fending colony pro¬ 
 duce to England would be 
 tifeful to Ireland, it would be 
 doubly the intereft of Britain, 
 to receive it from Ireland. 
 For jft, Britain as a confumer 
 would be relieved by it; and 
 2d, the Britifh merchant, in 
 his commiffion, would be a 
 gainer. In another capacity 
 Britain would be a gainer alfo 
 —that is to fay, as head of 
 the empire, fhe would profit 
 by the encreafe of trade, con- 
 fequent on this intercourfe, 
 between her colonies and Ire¬ 
 land, a member of the empire. 
 Who after this will fay, that 
 this liberty was not included 
 in the tranfadtion of 1780; 
 or, if it was not, that Ireland 
 ought to purchafe it now, with 
 the furplus of her hereditary 
 levenue, with the degradation 
 of her condition, and with 
 the facrifice of her commercial 
 legiflation ? 
 
 As to Ireland’s not having 
 paid for the tranfaction of 
 178c, I fay the argument 
 
 6 ] 
 
 Mr. Forster, For. 
 to annex thofe terms. The 
 trade with them is a gift from 
 her, and the gift is condition¬ 
 al ; Ihe offers to take us into 
 partnerlhip in their trade; fhe, 
 an old eftablifhed country, 
 raifed by commerce 3lone to an 
 height above any other Eu¬ 
 ropean power, invites us to 
 partake of the means that 
 raifed her to wealth and great- 
 nefs, to a full and equal fhare 
 in that trade which coft her 
 millions to obtain and will 
 colt her millions to preferve ; 
 and this fhe does without de- 
 firing any thing towards that 
 coft, or for their maintenance, 
 or any return, fave a fmall 
 fhare of what may arife from 
 our profits in that new part- 
 nerfhip. But when gentlemen 
 argue on. bad ground, even 
 their own arguments often 
 make againft them, and an 
 Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Flood) 
 at the fame time that he exerts 
 all his eloquence to perfuade 
 us that the confining ourfelvcs 
 to the Britifh Colonies, or ac¬ 
 cepting the trade on fuch 
 conditions, is injurious to the 
 conftitution, not only admits 
 but contends, that we have 
 done it already, and that we 
 have done it on the folemn 
 faith of compadt. Hear his 
 reafoning; he fays, that the 
 tranfaction of 1780 was a 
 compaft, and not a gift, and 
 he fays it was a compadt, be- 
 caufe we gave a confideration; 
 three confederations, each of 
 more value than the gift; we 
 
[ 77 1 
 
 Mr. Flood, Againjl. . Mr. Forster, For. 
 would be a fordid one, if it gave monopoly -for monopoly, 
 were founded in fact, which that is, in other words, we 
 it is not. The fentiment of agreed to prohibit the goods of 
 the Britifh Parliament in 17S0 other colonies, the very thing 
 was a vvifer and more ftatef- that is now held up as a fur- 
 man-lilce conception. It was render of legiflarure, and the 
 that the unihaken loyalty of faff is, we did, and Hill do 
 Ireland entitled her, to thofe prohibit, by heavy duties, the 
 advantages; and, furely, that fame as Biitain pavs, all fo- 
 is a price above all prices, reign colony produce, in theo- 
 But Ireland paid for it in two ry, therefore, we have agreed 
 ways befides, and in each of to what he now fays cannot 
 them more than the value of be agreed to without ruin, and 
 the objeft. ift, Ireland gave in praflice we have aftually 
 to the Britifh Colonies (that done the very thing without 
 is to Britain) a monopoly of injury, if not with benefit to 
 her confumption in thofe nr- our trade. His other confi- 
 t 'lclcs , in which (he then obtained derations are curious; we gave 
 that free trade; Now I fay, revenue, that is, we received 
 univerfallv, that any nation liberty to import an article, 
 pays too dear for any one mar- fugars, that would bear a con- 
 ket, when file gives up all fiderable revenue, which we 
 other markets for one. And rnuft have otherwife impofed, 
 particularly that the nation elfewhere, and thus he ftrange- 
 pays too dearly for the fugar ly conftrues the accepting the 
 market of the Britifh Colo- means of a revenue into giv- 
 nics, who gives up all other ing cne. His third confidera- 
 Jugar markets for the Britifh ; tion is flill more wonderful; 
 which is neither the bell nor we gave loyalty. Good Hea- 
 the chcapeft. 2dly, 1 add, veils ! in an Irifh Houfe of 
 that Ireland paid in taxes for Commons does he fay that we 
 the direct trade mere than it gave our duty to our Prince 
 was worth, and I prove it as a partner for a grant of 
 thus; ioi. per cent, is a good trade ? 
 
 , profit in general on trade, and [Mr. Flood interrupted to fay, 
 no trade can afford to pay the that he had quoied the Refo- 
 whole nor the greater part of lution of the Britifh Parlia- 
 jts clear profit in tax. To ment, when he Rated that the 
 apply this. We paid for that loyaly of Ireland was deemed a 
 diredl trade an ellimated fum confideration.] 
 of tax to the amount of above Mr. Forjhr refumed. To 
 too.oocl. a year. Now this fuch wretched fliifts are gen- 
 ' would be the whole clear tlemen driven, who attempt 
 profit, at 1 oh per cent, of to fupport what is not fup- 
 2,ooo,ocol. . portable, 
 
[ ?s ] 
 
 Mr. Flood Again/!. _ 
 2,000,oooi. worth of trade. 
 Could the whole clear profit 
 be afforded in tax—or can the 
 whole encreafe of traffic, by 
 the direft trade, amount, in 
 any feries of years, to any 
 thing like the enormous fum 
 of two millions l Molt cer¬ 
 tainly not. 
 
 Thus the firft of the origi¬ 
 nal ten Propnfitions was a 
 mere preamble; a.id the fe- 
 ccnd, which began the bufi- 
 nefs, began it in a diredtion, 
 rmfair to Ireland, and incon- 
 fiftent with the King’s fpeech. 
 Ireland was drawn, unaware, 
 to treat for the things already 
 fettled; and thereby impliedly 
 to relinquilh the two fettle- 
 meins of rySo and of ij 82— 
 This was net enough. Ire¬ 
 land had ufed non-importation 
 and non-confumption agree¬ 
 ments, towards the attainment 
 of thofe fettlements; and when 
 her Parliament was acknow¬ 
 ledged to be independent, lire 
 applied to her Parliament, for 
 duties of proteclion or prefe¬ 
 rence, fimilar to thofe which 
 Britain had long enjoyed, in 
 favour of her home manu- 
 failure, in her home market. 
 To cut all this up, by the 
 root, was the objecl of the 
 third and fourth of the origi¬ 
 nal ten Propofitions. The 
 third therefore makes Ireland 
 propofe not only that there 
 Ihould be no prohibitory fta- 
 tutes, but that there Ihould 
 
 vate afi'ociatioiis, againft im¬ 
 portation. 
 
 Mr. Forster, For. 
 portable, and would vainly 
 endeavour to perfuade you that 
 this meafure trenches on the 
 independence of our legifla- 
 ture : you need not adopt any 
 laws that Great Britain may 
 pafs for the regulation of com¬ 
 merce : if you do not approve 
 them, you may reject them 
 whenever you think proper; 
 you do but rejecl the benefit 
 of the condition, and return 
 to the iituation in which you 
 now are : but the fame Mem¬ 
 ber has proved moll ftrongly 
 the neceffity of introducing 
 the Bill, for when fuch abilities 
 as his can totally mifconceive 
 its tendency, it ought to be 
 introduced, in order to be fully 
 underftood. He has obferved 
 largely on each Propofition, 
 and nothing was ever fo mif- 
 tated, mifreprefented and mif- 
 underllooJ, as every part of 
 them has been by him. It 
 would be abfurd to follow him 
 through all his errors, many 
 of them the moft ignorant 
 child would be afhamed to 
 advance; but 1 will point out 
 a few, not perhaps fo obvious 
 without examination. 
 
 Let me firft take notice of 
 his having alluded to me, and 
 faid, that I voted againft a de¬ 
 claration of Rights. I deny 
 it; I declared my opinion of 
 the independence of our le- 
 giflature from this very feat, 
 early in the debate on that day; 
 but did bo vote for it? He 
 did not, and I repeat the Hon. 
 Gentleman did not vote for 
 
L 79 ] 
 
 Mr. Flood, Again]}. 
 portation, ufe br file. Such 
 affociations had been made, 
 and had been found beneficial 
 by Ireland ; they had not been 
 made, and they had been com¬ 
 plained of as injurious, by 
 Britain. Yet Ireland is drawn 
 in thefe Propofitions, to make 
 it one of her preliminaries, 
 that there never Ihould be fuch 
 afl'ociations again. But, at the 
 fame time, Ireland is made to 
 forget, that Ihe had never pro¬ 
 hibited the export of raw ma¬ 
 terials to Britain, whereas Bri¬ 
 tain had prohibited the export 
 to Ireland of the raw materials 
 Ihe moft valued. And, there¬ 
 fore, though Ireland, in her 
 fuppofid third Propofition is in- 
 duftrious, to preclude all pro¬ 
 hibitions againft import (by 
 which kind of prohibitions 
 Ireland had profited), Ihe for¬ 
 gets to preclude, prohibitions 
 againft export, of which Ire¬ 
 land complained. Can any 
 thing be more clear than that 
 thefe Propofitions never origi¬ 
 nated in Ireland i But the 
 boldeft ftroke of all was, in 
 the very moment that Ireland 
 was foliciting higher duties on 
 import, in order to give pro¬ 
 tection and preference to her 
 manufactures; to make this 
 kingdom propofe, in the 4th 
 of the original ten Refolves, 
 that. Hie not only Ihould not 
 now, but that Ihe never Ihould 
 hereafter have fuch duties of 
 protection. Yet the 4th Pro¬ 
 pofition does this —for it re¬ 
 quires that the lowelt exifting 
 
 it, but lamented that the fub- 
 ject bad been brought in that 
 day. 
 
 [Mr. Flood appealed to the 
 Idot/fe, whether he did noten¬ 
 ter into a long declaration ore 
 the fubjeft.— Here the Speaker 
 interfered to order.] 
 
 Air. Forjler proceeded —I {hall 
 leave this fubjeft as a lelfon to 
 the Hon. Gentleman, never 
 for the future to charge faCts 
 that are unfounded. I fhail 
 now proceed to the Hon.Gen¬ 
 tleman’s obfervations. He 
 fays “ Mark the cunning wiife 
 “ which the refolutions are 
 “ drawn, to the injury of ire- 
 “ land ; there is no new pre- 
 “ hibition to be allowed on the 
 “ import from one country to 
 “another.” This is certainly 
 a great evil, efpecially if we 
 cohfider that the Exportation 
 of Irilh produfts to England 
 amounts to two millions 
 and an half annually—and 
 the Exportation of Britifli 
 produfts to Ireland amounts 
 but to ONE MILLION ; fo it is 
 injurious to a country which 
 may by prohibitions iofe two 
 millions and an half, to ftipu- 
 late againft prohibitions, and 
 the country that fends more 
 than Hie takes, is not wife in 
 guarding againft mutual pro- 
 
 Anoiher difeovery the Hon. 
 Gentleman has made is that 
 countervailing duties are un¬ 
 fair —why ? Becaufe the brew¬ 
 ery of Ireland will thereby be 
 effectually protefted. The 
 
[ S° ] 
 
 Mr. Flood, Jgainji, 
 duties, viz. the Irifh, fhould 
 hereafter be the port duties for 
 both kingdoms. Now expe- 
 rience had proved that they 
 were too low to protect Ire¬ 
 land, and therefore Ireland had 
 prayed, that they might be rai¬ 
 led. This 4th Propofition 
 therefore, makes Ireland pro- 
 pofe a perpetual negative on 
 her own application. So far 
 was well —but a fear began to 
 be entertained that as thefe 
 low duties would certainly 
 leave the Irifh market open to 
 Britifh imports (perhaps to the 
 ruin of Irifli manufacture, and 
 therefore finally to the damage 
 of Britain), fo, by podibility, 
 'thefe low duties might now 
 and then fuller fome Irifh ma¬ 
 nufacture to efcape into the 
 Britifh market. Before the 
 4th Fropofttion {hould be ef- 
 t2blifhed therefore, it was 
 thought advifeable, in the lat¬ 
 ter end of the third Propofi¬ 
 tion, to find an expedient, 
 by which Britain fhouid have 
 higher Protecting Duties than 
 Ireland, without appearing to 
 mean it. Now what was that 
 expedient? The principle of 
 countervailing duties — That 
 is to fay, that the port duties, 
 though too low for the protec¬ 
 tion of Ireland, fbould be 
 equal; but that the country, 
 that had the higheft internal 
 duties on confutnpticn, might 
 add to the port duty, a coun¬ 
 tervailing duty in proportion 
 to its internal impofts; where¬ 
 by the before equal duties 
 
 Mr. Forster, For. 
 Hon. Gentleman complains of 
 the report of the Fnglifh Privy 
 Council, who fay, that to put 
 Ireland and England on a 
 footing of exaft reciprocity as 
 to Linen, Ireland ought to give 
 a bounty on the exportation of 
 Englifh Linens, becaufe Eng¬ 
 land gives a bounty on the 
 exportation of Irifh Linens. 
 Can any thing be more juft ? 
 Yet England makes no fuch 
 demand, but is ready by this 
 adjuftment to give additional 
 fecurity to our Linen trade for 
 ever. If, indeed, the adjuft¬ 
 ment were to take away the 
 benefit from Ireland, it would 
 be a good caufe for rejedling 
 it; but as it for ever confirms 
 all the advantages we derive 
 from our Linen trade, .and 
 binds England from making 
 any law that can be injurious 
 to it; furely Gentlemen who 
 regard that trade, and whofe 
 fortunes and rent depend on 
 its profperity, will not enter¬ 
 tain a moment’s doubt about 
 
 Another of his curious ob¬ 
 jections is, that as we have not 
 a navy of our own, and if we 
 affift the navy of the empire, 
 England will turn that navy 
 to her own ambitious purpofes. 
 To what ambitious purpofes ? 
 To the proteciion of that 
 commerce and of thofe colo¬ 
 nies which are now to be¬ 
 come ours.—In the moment 
 that fhe gives up her mono¬ 
 poly of colonies, fhe is ac- 
 cufed of ambitious purpofes, 
 
( 8 
 
 Mr. Flood, rfgainji. 
 would become unequal. Now 
 to folve this problem, we have 
 only to afk, which of thefe 
 kingdoms, now has, and which 
 of them, as richer, muft al¬ 
 ways be able to have, the high- 
 eft internal duties onconfump- 
 tion ? Undoubtedly Britain. ' 
 What follows ? That Ireland 
 was made, on the countervail¬ 
 ing principle, to propofe, that 
 Britain fhould have higher du¬ 
 ties againft Irifli imports, than 
 Ireland fhould have againft 
 Britifh imports; which was, 
 firft, contrary to what Ireland 
 had deftred; and, fecondly, 
 was in itfelf unreafonable ; be- 
 caufe certainly the weaker ma¬ 
 nufacturing country required 
 more protection ' than the 
 flronger; though fhe was con¬ 
 tent with a protection equal 
 to what Britain had long en¬ 
 joyed, and by the long enjoy¬ 
 ment of which,- fhe had gain¬ 
 ed fuch advantage ground, as 
 Ireland could never recover, 
 nor Britain ever lofe.. 
 
 Thus Ireland was made to 
 propofe in the 2d, 3d and 4th 
 of the original ten Propofi- 
 tions, either implicitly or ex- 
 prefsly, a total renunciation of 
 every principle fire had held,and 
 of every fettlement and advan¬ 
 tage file had obtained in that 
 aera of about five years, in 
 which Ireland gloried more, 
 than in any other period per¬ 
 haps of her exiflence. Yet a 
 bolder ftroke remained behind 
 —and that was, by the tenth 
 of the original Refolves, to 
 
 ‘ ) 
 
 Mr. Forster, For. 
 for her feparate aggrandize- 
 
 The Hon. Gentleman com¬ 
 plains, that the Bill now be¬ 
 fore the Englifh Parliament' 
 makes it neceffary that every 
 proper and authentic document 
 to prevent fmuggling fhould 
 be fent by the revenue officers 
 of this country with any fo¬ 
 reign or plantation goods fent 
 from hence to England, but 
 that the fame precaution is 
 not taken with regard to the 
 fame kind of goods fent from 
 England to Ireland. This is 
 the ftrongefl argument for 
 waiting the introduction of 
 the Irifh Bill; it fpeaks the 
 confcioufnefs of the Englifh 
 Parliament, that they could not 
 prefcribe to our revenue offi¬ 
 cers what documents fhould 
 be fatisfaftory to them on re¬ 
 ceiving goods from England, 
 but that the Irifh Parliament 
 alone in their own Bill could 
 determine that matter. ft 
 fhews the Hon. Gentleman to 
 be totally ignorant of what ei¬ 
 ther is or ought to be the fub- 
 ftance of the Bill. 
 
 The Hon. Gentleman talks 
 of bounties, and fays, by a- 
 bolilhing bounties we fhall np 
 longer be able to bring corn 
 
 turned into Protecting Duties 
 for England. A ftrange con¬ 
 ception ! But why has he fix¬ 
 ed on corn and flour ? If he 
 had read the Refolution on 
 which he is arguing, he would 
 M have 
 
Mr. Flood, Againjl. 
 make Ireland propofe, to pay 
 tribute, for this negative on all 
 her defrres, and for this re¬ 
 nunciation of 2ll her principles 
 and attainments—and to pay 
 tribute in a manner peculiarly 
 revolting, 2nd repugnant, to 
 tbofe principles and attain¬ 
 ments. In the firft place, fhe 
 was made to propofe, that Ire¬ 
 land flrould make a perpetual 
 granr to the Britifh navy, 
 which Britain had never made 
 to her own navy; and, which, 
 no free country, ought to make 
 to armaments, that muft be 
 under the command of the 
 crown. Iieland too, had, in 
 this cafe peculiar reafon to de¬ 
 cline any fuch idea. Above 
 an hundred years ago, in the 
 fever of the reftcration, and in 
 the infatuation of this king¬ 
 dom, Ireland had made a per¬ 
 petual grant, for the fupport 
 of an Irifh marine. This Eng¬ 
 land never Dermitted to be ap- 
 phed. Why? Bccaufe fhe 
 vifhed that Ireland fhould 
 have no marine—becaufe (he 
 wifiied to have a monopoly of 
 Navy to herfelf— for what pur- 
 pofe, let her'fubfequent con¬ 
 duct to Ireland explain. What 
 followed? Engiiih Minifters, 
 in fpite of law, diihppropriated 
 this fund, and applied it to an 
 overgrown land army, rather 
 than to a marine. The de¬ 
 fence of this land army Bri¬ 
 tain had, and Ireland had the 
 burden. With what grace 
 could Britain, afterthis, come 
 to Ireland, and fay, you do 
 
 Mr. Forster, For. 
 have feen that corn and flour 
 are every where exempted. 
 
 Another argument of the 
 Hon. Gentleman is, that the 
 declaring that neither country 
 hereafter can lay any new 
 prohibition on native produce ‘ 
 tions, implies cunningly that 
 it may on foreign. What an 
 argument! when the very 
 firft principle of the fyftern 
 is, that a mutual iuterchange 
 of foreign commodities is for 
 ever to take place between the 
 two kingdoms, and one even 
 of the Twenty Propofitions 
 declares it in precile terms— 
 But, the Hon. Gentleman talks 
 of prohibitions on exports, 
 fee.; Would the Hon. Gen¬ 
 tlemen wifh to leave it in the 
 power of either nation to pro¬ 
 hibit their native commodities 
 from being exported to the 
 other ? would he wifh to leave 
 it in the power of England 
 to- prohibit the exportation of 
 coals, fait, iron, bark, hops, 
 and many other articles, or to 
 raife a revenue on thefe articles 
 when exported hither. 
 
 The Hon. Gentleman talks 
 particularly of wool. 1 ad¬ 
 mit if you balance wool againft 
 wool, that his argument is 
 right; but the juft way is to 
 b,dance the whole of the ex¬ 
 ports England engages ne¬ 
 ver to prohibit the export of 
 articles which are neccflary air 
 moft to our exiftence, and we 
 engage not to prohibit the ex¬ 
 port of articles which bring us 
 in 500,000!. a year. We are 
 
C 83 ] 
 
 Mr. Floods Jgalnft. 
 hot fupport a marine; when 
 Britain herfelf prevented Ire¬ 
 land from doing fo ? When 
 a monopoly of navy was the 
 choice of Britain,' what right 
 had {he to fay, that Ireland 
 ought to pay Britain, for her 
 having her own choice? When 
 Britift Minifters, contrary to 
 legal appropriation, had ap¬ 
 plied the marine fund of Ire¬ 
 land to a iand army for the 
 convenience of Britain, what 
 right ha'd they to come to Ire¬ 
 land to demand a new marine 
 fund 3 and that, not for an 
 Irifh marine, but for the Bri- 
 tilh Navy? which was in effefl 
 to demand, that Ireland Ihould 
 for ever abdicate any marine, 
 and make a formal recogni¬ 
 tion, that {he never ought to 
 have a fea-guard of her own ? 
 As to the fa£l of protection, 
 does Britain keep a frigate for 
 the protection of Ireland ? Or 
 when the Stag frigate was in 
 our bay, was it for the pro¬ 
 tection of our trade ? But 
 admitting that Britain ever fo 
 much, and at ever fo great 
 charge, did protect Ireland by 
 her Navy, I afk, has (he not 
 teafon, and is it not well worth 
 her while, to do fo without 
 any fuch tribute and humilia¬ 
 tion as this ? Ireland is will¬ 
 ing to oblige Britain in every 
 way {he can; but yet with 
 confcious dignity. What na- 
 tioh would not protet Ireland 
 without tribute, to whom Ire¬ 
 land were to give what {he 
 does give to Britain ? She 
 
 Mr. Forster, Fur. 
 to engage not to prohibit the 
 export of Woollen and Linen 
 Yarn, which we have ex¬ 
 ported for a whole century, 
 and without keeping a market 
 for the redundancy of which 
 by export, we could not enfure 
 plenty for our own manufac- 
 
 The Gentleman too totally 
 miftakes the cafe of patents 
 and copy-rights. Britifli pa¬ 
 tents and copy-rights are pro¬ 
 tected in Britain by prohibi¬ 
 tion againft import. The Re- 
 folutions fay to us, “ Protect 
 your’s in like mauner;”a mea- 
 fure never yet adopted here, 
 which muft promote genius, 
 printing, and invention in Ire¬ 
 land. 
 
 I am afhamed, Sir, of tak¬ 
 ing up fo much of your time 
 on a fubjeft which might be 
 fo eafily underftood by the 
 loweft capacity ; I {hall there¬ 
 fore quit the Hon. Gentleman 
 and come to the queftion of 
 conftitution, which I do not 
 at all think involved in this 
 fubjet. If Great Britain grants 
 us a full parrnerfliip in all her 
 trade in all her colonies, if 
 {he admits us to a full parti¬ 
 cipation in the benefits of Her 
 Navigation laws, by which 
 {he has railed herfelf to be the 
 greatefi: commercial power in 
 the world 5 if {he does not 
 call upon us to contribute to 
 the expence of the partnerfhip, 
 but merely to receive our {hare 
 of the profits, and fays, we 
 may continue in that partner- 
 
 M ?. ft i? 
 
[ 8 4 ] 
 
 Air. Flood, Aga'mji. Mr. FoRSTER, For. 
 
 gives her the nomination of {hip only fo long as we chufe, 
 her monarch, and therein of can any man fay, the condi- 
 her whole adminiftration, tions of it amount to a furren- 
 throughout every department; dcr of our legiflature ? furely 
 a third eftate in her legilla- not, it is idle fpeculation. 
 ture i the creation of her peer- Let us then look at the fubjeft, 
 age; the influence over place- free from all imaginary dread 
 men and penftoners in the for the conftitution. 
 
 Houfe of Commons ; {he gives Britain imports annually 
 her a mighty army; the ufe from us 2,500,oool. of our 
 of near a million and an half products, all,orvery nearlyall, 
 of yearly revenue; five mil- dutyfree, and covenants ne- 
 lion a year in imports and in ver to lay a duty on them, 
 exports; above a million a We import about 1,000,oool. 
 year in abfentee expenditure, of hers, and raife a revenue 
 which at the grievous iflue of on almoft every article of it, 
 one million a year from Ire- and referve the power of con- 
 land, carries above 200,cool, tinuing that revenue. She ex- 
 a year in taxes into the Bri- ports to us fait for our filheries 
 tifla exchequer; {he gives her and provifions; hops which 
 the ufe of three millions of we cannot grow; coals which 
 people in peace and war, and we cannot raife; tin which 
 of feventeen millions of Eng- we have not, and bark which 
 lifh acres in an happy climate we cannot get elfewhere; and 
 and of an happy foil, and fo all thefe without referving any 
 firuated as to be the beft friend 'duty, ora power to impofe 
 or the worft enemy in the any on them; tho' her own 
 world to Britain. In giving fubjefts pay 2, 3, or 4s. a 
 her the nomination of her mo- chaldron for her own coals, 
 narch, Ireland gives to Bri- fent coaftways, and in London 
 tain, in eftefi, the power of ys. We on the contrary 
 treating for her, with all the charge a duty for our own ufe 
 world; and of declaring peace here on almoft every article we 
 and war for her with all man- fend to her. So much for ex¬ 
 kind. What follows? That ports:nowastobounties,iheal- 
 Ireland can have no enemies moft ruined our manufacture of 
 hut thofe who are made fo by fail-cloth, by bounties on ex- 
 Britain. And what follows port of her own to Ireland. In 
 from that? That Britain is 1750, or thereabouts, when 
 bound by every principle of her bounty commenced, we 
 honour, as weii as of inteteft, exported morethan we impor- 
 to potect Ireland, againft thofe ted, and in 1784 we exported 
 enemies, which Britain creates none, and imported r8o,oco 
 to her. What aftoniftm-.ent yards; Ihenow withdraws that 
 then bounty. 
 
Mr. Flood, Jlgalnft. Mr. Forster, Fe>\ 
 
 then muft thinking men have bounty. And let me digrers 
 felt, at Ireland’s being brought here a little on faiI-cloth,which 
 for a moment toentertain fuch although gentlemen affedt to 
 an idea? and this too, at defpife when mentioned, will £ 
 
 what time ? In three years af¬ 
 ter the affertion of her national 
 independence. For I afk, 
 what country has ever been 
 free, that could not protedl it- 
 felf? What country can be 
 independent, that relies for 
 ever, on the protedlion of ano¬ 
 ther nation ? Is not a con- 
 feffion that you cannot protedl 
 yourfeif a virtual cancelment 
 of all pretenlions to indepen¬ 
 dence ? That fuch a tribute 
 therefore Ihould have been 
 the virgin fancy of Indepen¬ 
 dent Ireland, muft have been 
 aftonilhing. And that it 
 Ihould have originated within 
 ’three years of the laft war, 
 muft encreafe one’s aftonifh- 
 ment: for in laft war you had 
 the ftrongeft experience that 
 the fail was falfe, on which the 
 principle was grounded. Did 
 the Britifh navy protedl Ireland 
 laft war? No—it did but pro¬ 
 tedl Great Britain. Did the 
 Britifh army protedl Ireland ? 
 No—it was gone to America. 
 Did the Irifh army protedl Ire¬ 
 land ? No—it was gone to 
 protedl Great Britain. What 
 then did protedl Ireland ? Ire¬ 
 land herfelf—in other words, 
 her Volunteers. They defend¬ 
 ed Ireland—and by defending 
 Ireland they enabled Ireland to 
 fend her army to defend Great 
 Britain—that is, they in effedt 
 protedted both kingdoms—yet 
 the 
 
 truft be an immediate fource 
 of wealth by this adjuftment. 
 For i. This bounty is to be 
 removed. 2. The export of 
 fail-cloth to the Indies is to 
 be allowed, and Great Britain 
 exported there, in 1782, about 
 200,000 ells. 3. There is a 
 Britifh law, obliging every 
 Britifh and colony (hip to have 
 its firft fuits of Britifh fail- 
 cloth. Irifh now is to be deem¬ 
 ed Britifh. 4. There is a pre¬ 
 ference of 2d. an ell given by 
 Britifh law to Britifh fail-cloth, 
 over foreign, for the Britifh 
 navy. Irifh is now to have 
 the fame preference. 5. The 
 furplus of the hereditary reve¬ 
 nue is to be applied in the firft 
 place to the purchafe of Irifh 
 fail-cloth. All thefe give a 
 glorious profpedt for that valu¬ 
 able manufadture—But to re¬ 
 turn, were a man to look for 
 the country moft advantageous 
 to fettle manufadture in, what 
 would be his choice ? One 
 where labour and provifions 
 are cheap; that is Ireland; arid 
 what would he next look for ? 
 why to have a rich, extended 
 and fteady market near him,, 
 which England ftretched a- 
 long-fide affords, and to efta- 
 blifh that market for this 
 country, is one great objedl 
 of this fyftem. Gentlemen 
 undervalue the redudtion of 
 Britifh duties on our manufac- 
 
[ 36 ] 
 
 Mr. Flood, Aga'mjl. 
 the fafhion has of late been 
 with fome men in both king¬ 
 doms to revile that illuftrious 
 body. The curfe of ingrati¬ 
 tude has fallen on the nation, 
 and the Independence of Ire¬ 
 land having thrown away its 
 fiaffhas begun to totter. 
 
 I have fpoken of the roth 
 Refolve, as it flood numbered, 
 in the original Propofitions. 
 It became the 11 th, as the Pro- 
 politions went from the Irifh 
 Parliament to Britain. This 
 change, in the number and 
 arrangement, arofe, from the 
 addition of one Propofition, 
 and one only in Ireland ; which 
 Was but prefatory to the tenth, 
 and therefore was inferted be¬ 
 fore it. As it has been aflert- 
 ed, I cannot doubt, the inten¬ 
 tion of it to have been oecono- 
 my and limitation. Yetitwas 
 fo exprefled, that I thought it, 
 as likely, to lead to further 
 new taxes at lead, as to pre¬ 
 vent the further accumulation 
 ■ of debt. At all events, the 
 faft is, that the Right Hon. the 
 Secretary, juft took advantage 
 of that added Refolve, fo far, 
 as to make it a ground on 
 which to alk 140,0001. a year 
 of new taxes, and to get them 
 .—Why ? That our income 
 might be equal to our expence. 
 And to what end ? That we 
 might, in confequencc, give 
 away the fpecified furplus of 
 hereditary revenue. That is, 
 be faid thus in effect-, “ Your 
 eftabliftiments which are form¬ 
 ed by Britilh Minifters, are 
 
 .MvForster, For. 
 tures ; I agree with them it 
 may not operate foon, but we J 
 are to look forward in a final 
 fettlement, and it is impoffibie 
 but that in time, with as good 
 climate, equal natural powers, 
 cheaper food, and fewer taxes,- 
 we mufl be able to fell to 
 them. When commercial jea- 
 loufy fliall be banilhed by 
 final fettlement, and trade take 
 its natural and fteady courfe, 
 the kingdoms will ceafe to look 
 to rivallhip, each will make 
 that fabric which it can do 
 cheapeft, and buy from the 
 other what it cannot make fo 
 advantageoully. Labour will 
 be then truly employed to 
 profit, not diverted by duties, 
 boun ties,jealoufies or legiflative 
 interference, from its natural 
 and beneficial courfe; this 
 fyftem will attain its real ob- 
 jeft, confolidating the ftrength 
 of the remaining parts of the 
 •empire, by encouraging the 
 communications of their mar¬ 
 ket among themlelves, with 
 preference to every part again!!: 
 all ftrangers. 
 
 I need not mention the Na¬ 
 vigation Aft, the proper bene¬ 
 fits of which we have fo long 
 looked for; I will only obferve, 
 that Great Britain could never 
 agree to receive the Britilh 
 Colonies’ goods from us, unlefs 
 we prohibited the goods of 
 foreign Colonies as Ihe does, 
 which is a powerful argument 
 for that part of the fyftem a- 
 gainft thecoriftitutionalphren- 
 zy that threatens it. Let us 
 alfo 
 
C <7 ] 
 
 Mr. Flood, Agahjl. 
 too great for your revenue ; 
 we have refufed to retrench ; 
 and yet we expedt a part of 
 your inadequate revenue to be 
 fent to Britain.—Neither will 
 we quarrel with you, for fay¬ 
 ing, that the income ought to 
 be equal to the expence of 
 Government, provided the e- 
 quality is not to arife from re¬ 
 trenchment but from new 
 taxes. On the contrary, we 
 will join you heartily in raif-' 
 ing r40,ocol. a year of new 
 taxes, to enable you to part 
 with the fpecified furplus of 
 your old duties.” Butnofooner 
 had the Right Hon. Secretary 
 got the new taxes, under the 
 cover of this Refolution, than 
 the Refolution as to all other 
 Purpofes was laid afide; nor 
 did he condefcend to have a 
 queftion put upon that added 
 Refolve in the Britifh Parlia¬ 
 ment. Thus funk into con¬ 
 tumelious annihilation, the 
 only Refolve that originated 
 in Ireland. It was conceived 
 in fraud, and it was dropped 
 in infult. 
 
 Such, and fo inadmiffible 
 were thcfe Propofitions, before 
 they entered the Britifh Parli¬ 
 ament. Hence it was, that they 
 were hurried through the Irifh 
 Parliament, that no man might 
 have time to fee to the bottom 
 of them, or to explain them 
 to the public. Short as the 
 moment was, I faw a glimpfe 
 of their tendency, and endea¬ 
 voured to obtain time, that a 
 preoccupied public, might have 
 
 Mr. Forster, For.' 
 alfoobferve, that now, for the 
 firft time. Great Britain offers 
 us a right for ever in all prefent 
 and future Colonies, without 
 any refervation of power, to 
 call on us either to procure, 
 fupport, or preferve them; Jhe 
 maintains them, %ue Ihare all 
 the profits ; and, not only 
 their goods, but all goods of 
 Irifh produce, are to pafs 
 through Britain duty free. Can 
 foreign nations, after this is 
 fettled, make diftinefion be-’, 
 tween Britifh and Irifh goods ? 
 Our manufadtures will be uni¬ 
 ted as our interefls, and we; 
 fhall laugh at Portugal folly. 
 
 J could rnn out for hours 
 into the many benefits of this 
 fyffem, but I have tired the 
 Houfe too long; let me only 
 implore you not to rejedt this 
 meafure for ill-founded, vi- 
 fionary objections, or to facri- 
 fice realities to fhadows. ; If 
 this infatuated country gives 
 up the prefent offer, ihe may 
 
 things cannot remain as they 
 are; commercial jealoufy is 
 rouzed, it will increafe with 
 two independent legiflatures, 
 if they dont mutually declare 
 the principles whereby their 
 powers fliall be feparately em¬ 
 ployed in diredting the com¬ 
 mon concerns of trade; and 
 without an united intereft of 
 commerce, in a commercial 
 empire, political union will 
 receive many fhocks, and fepa- 
 ration of interefls muff threaten 
 feparationof connexion, which 
 every 
 
( 88 ) 
 
 Mr. Flood, Againjl. 
 leifure to underftand them ; 
 all was fever for a {hort time— 
 but they had fcarce got to 
 Britain, before the public be¬ 
 gan to recover from its error. 
 The contrary was reported to 
 Ministers, and believed in Bri¬ 
 tain. What was the confe¬ 
 rence ? Ireland was thought 
 to have fallen into fuch a ftate 
 of infatuation and dejedtion, 
 that any thing might be at¬ 
 tempted with fuccefs. Hence, 
 in the 2oPropofitions, a bolder 
 hand appears every where. 
 The Right Hon. Secretary, 
 when he firft mentioned the 
 idea of tribute, did it with a 
 trembling diffidence; and men¬ 
 tioned it, not as a condition on 
 the part of Britain ; but as his 
 pre-fentiment, of Spontaneous 
 generofity on the part of Ire¬ 
 land. Then delicately and ti- 
 moroufly was it uihered in, at 
 the end of the Propofitions in 
 the firft ftage—but in the laft 
 exhibition, it Hands immedi¬ 
 ately after the preamble, and in 
 thevan of that hoft of Propofi¬ 
 tions to which the original ten 
 have encreafed. Here too it 
 Hands in a different form ; as 
 a peremptory demand and ab- 
 folute condition, to be fulfilled 
 in all its parts (implying dif- 
 truftjbefore a ftep is to be taken 
 by Britain. In the confidera- 
 lion of this tribute, the 2cth 
 Prcpofition muft be combined 
 with this fecond Refolve, in 
 order to fee the whole altera¬ 
 tion. Now what are the alte¬ 
 rations that have been made in 
 the 
 
 Mr. Forster, For. 
 every honeft Irilhman muft 
 Ihuddcr ever to look at as a 
 poffible event. 
 
 I will only add, that if this 
 meafure be refufed, Ireland 
 will receive more folid injury 
 than from any other evil that 
 ever befel her ; it is in vain for 
 Gentlemen to think we can 
 go on as we have done for fome 
 years—or to expect to cope 
 with England in a deftruclive 
 war of bounties—our fituation 
 muft every day become more 
 difficult, and it is impoffible to 
 forefee all the ruinous confe- 
 quenccs that may enfue. 
 
 J. H. Hutchinson, Efq. For. 
 
 He prefented a petition from 
 Cork, praying that theRefolu- 
 tions, if not reje&ed, Ihould be 
 poftponed till the next feffion 
 of Parliament. The adjourn¬ 
 ment was propofed for the pur- 
 pofe of giving the fulleft time 
 to the public to confider the 
 Bill, which had been that day . 
 moved for, with a declara¬ 
 tion of not taking up the mea¬ 
 fure till the next feffion of 
 Parliament, and an aflurance 
 that it would never be taken 
 up, if not called for by the 
 public voice. That the Mini- 
 ller who held fuch language 
 was intitled to the public e- 
 fteem, and to fliare in the tri¬ 
 umph which a learned Gentle¬ 
 man had fo eloquently expreir- 
 ed. He was alfo for the ad¬ 
 journment, becaufe he was 
 againft 
 
[ 8p 3 
 
 Mr. Flood, rfgainjl. 
 the Irilh grant by the 20th Pro¬ 
 portion? iff. The grant was 
 conditional, and the 20th 
 makes it abfolute. In war, at 
 all events, the fpecified iur- 
 plus was to be given to the 
 Britilh Navy as the Refolves 
 left Ireland; but in peace, no¬ 
 thing might be given. Thus 
 Ireland feemed to be at a cer¬ 
 tainty not to give more, with a 
 poffibility of not giving fo 
 much.—But by the 20th Pro¬ 
 portion, this certainty is taken 
 away, and the reverie is efta- 
 blilhed. That is to fay, it is 
 made certain that Ireland (hall 
 never give lefs, but that in 
 war, fhe ihould lie open to an 
 unlimited demand. In other 
 words, it is made certain that 
 on the hr it war there Ihould 
 be a rupture between the na¬ 
 tions, which, conrdering the 
 dillruft that this fyftem would 
 infpire, might probably be fa¬ 
 tal. Thus the' nature' and 
 quantunvofthe Irifh grant was 
 altered. The application, too, 
 by the Irilh Parliament, was 
 conceived to be referved as a 
 right to be exercifed from time 
 to time, and to be adapted 
 .to circumftances that no man 
 can forefee. The 20th Pro¬ 
 portion cuts off this free ex- 
 ercife of Parliamentary autho¬ 
 rity in the application of it’s 
 ;grant, and requires the appli¬ 
 cation to be made, now.and 
 for ever, by one ad. Laftly, 
 a perpetual revenue bill in ef- 
 feft is demanded — perpetual 
 duties are unconftitutional e- 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson, For. 
 againft the Refolution intend¬ 
 ed to be propofed. That the 
 Refolution implied a contra- 
 diftion of the declarations 
 made by the two Houfes of 
 Parliament in Great Britain, 
 in their addrefs to the Throne, 
 and to the Bill of the Britilh 
 Houfe of Commons, both 
 of which declared, in the 
 moft explicit terms, that the 
 Irilh Parliament was alone 
 competent to make laws for 
 Ireland ; and to the objedtion, 
 that the Houfe Ihould make 
 fuch a declaration as well as 
 the Britilh Houles of Parlia¬ 
 ment, he anfwered, that it 
 was done by the Bill now 
 moved for, which would be 
 printed and difperfed through 
 the kingdom. It was faid that 
 theBill introduced a new com¬ 
 mercial fyftem in refpedt to 
 the Britilh colonies, different 
 in principle from that of 1779; 
 he denied it, and infilled that 
 by the unanimous refolution 
 of the Houfe of Commons in 
 that year, the liberty fo grate¬ 
 fully accepted by Ireland was 
 a liberty of trading with thofe 
 colonies “ in'like manner as 
 “ trade was carried on between 
 “ Great Britain and them.” 
 That on that principle their 
 feveral laws were paffed from 
 that year to the prelent time, 
 and in thofe laws the fame du¬ 
 ties, regulations, prohibitions 
 and reftridtions were introdu¬ 
 ced as in the Britilh laws, ex¬ 
 cept in the inftance of rum, 
 which was excepted in the 
 N Bill, 
 
Mr. Flood, Jgahift. 
 Dough in themfelves, and de¬ 
 rogatory enough from Parlia¬ 
 ment.—A perpetual bill for 
 collecting perpetual duties 
 would make the matter much 
 v.-crfe. Were the whole he¬ 
 reditary revenue to go as ufual 
 to. Life feivices, what man 
 would fuffer a perpetual reve¬ 
 nue bill for its collection ? 
 Any quellion approaching to 
 fuch 2n idea, has been always 
 
 How moniirous then was the 
 
 iition"? ° And what doesVde- 
 ninnJ r No left, than that 
 Ireland feoujd make a perpetual 
 revenue bill'for the whole he¬ 
 reditary revenue, becaufe fee 
 
 part of that revenue to Bri¬ 
 tain. It is difficult to ftate 
 any thing more extravagant 
 
 The 2d of the 20 Propo¬ 
 rtions, declared, that, on the 
 
 tion of tribute, a full partici- 
 pnti-n of commerce feould be 
 given to Ireland. This is 
 doubly falfified by what fol¬ 
 lows : this makes the tribute 
 the [At condition, and yet, 
 afterwards, condition is added 
 t ifomuch, that 
 
 in the Britifn Bill, founded on 
 the Propositions, there are 
 twentv-three indifpenfable and 
 fundamental conditions. It is 
 foliilied again by the very next, 
 as well as be fubfequent claufes 
 of refit iction, that prove that 
 the oartiefoadon is not to be 
 full. 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson, For. 
 Bill, and one or two articles 
 of little importance. It was 
 objected, that by the Bill they 
 were to have no feledtion; he 
 thought it unjuft they feould 
 have any, becaufe Great Bri¬ 
 tain herfelf had none ; that 
 they had accepted the trade on 
 the’fame terms Great Britain 
 enjoyed ir, and that it was ab- 
 furd to expeft it on any other. 
 That whatever Great Britain 
 and Ireland could fupply, the 
 colonies could take from no 
 other country, and whatever 
 the colonies could fupply, the 
 two kingdoms ought only to 
 take from them, for that was 
 the ti ue principle of colonial 
 connection. He infilled that 
 no change whatever was made 
 bv the Bill in the indepen¬ 
 dence of the Irifii legiflature; 
 tnat the Englife colonies and 
 fettlements were the property 
 of Great Britain, and every 
 country had as good a right 
 to grant its property on con¬ 
 demn, as an individual. The 
 nature of a condition was, that 
 t'. e perfon who had accepted 
 the grant was at liberty not 
 to perform the condition, and 
 to rdinquife the grant on one 
 foie, the grantor is fure that 
 his property was not to be en¬ 
 joyed longer than the con¬ 
 dition was performed ; and on 
 the other fide, the grantee was 
 at liberty not to perform the 
 condition, and to determine 
 die grant. 
 
 He obferved, that the con¬ 
 dition c-xpecied from Ireland 
 
C 9 r ] 
 
 Mr. Flood, dgainjl, 
 full. To fpeak at prefent of the 
 third, what does that except ?• 
 Not lefs than all the countries 
 between the Cape of Good 
 Hope and the Straits of Ma¬ 
 gellan, containing in the leaft 
 exaggerated eftimate a fourth 
 part of the terraqueous glebe, 
 over and above what Britain 
 has any title of property to in 
 that region. We read with 
 furprife of a Roman Pontiff 
 granting one hemifphere toone 
 prince, and another hemifphere 
 to another prince, and here 
 we fee half an hemifphere cut 
 off from Ireland in a paren- 
 thefis ; and that, in a refolu- 
 tion purporting to extend the 
 commerce of Ireland. This 
 parenthefis in the 3d, is detail¬ 
 ed in the 9th Propofition. As 
 to both, I Ihall only fay this, 
 that if Ireland is now under 
 no rcftri&ion as to her Eafl 
 Indian commerce, fuch a re- 
 ftraint is not fit to be a part of 
 a fyftem of commercial exten- 
 fion, for which Ireland Ihould 
 beexpefted to pay ; and if Ire¬ 
 land be under any reftriflion 
 as to her Kail Indian commerce, 
 it is only by a law of her own, 
 and by a voluntary and unfti- 
 pulated a£t of her Parliament 
 in favour of the Britifh Eaft 
 India company, merely becauie 
 it is Britilh. Such a conduct 
 on the part of Ireland, {news 
 how little fuch hard conditions 
 are either neceflary or deferv- 
 ed. It is foolifl) in any nation 
 to bind itfelf, for ever, to 
 the exilling monopoly of any 
 
 1 Mr. Hutchinson, F;r. 
 was of the mod honourable 
 
 this—that Ihe fhould enjoy 
 the property of Great Britain 
 on the very fame terms on 
 which it was enjoyed by preat 
 Britain herfelf, and whenever 
 Ireland did not choofe to en¬ 
 joy it on .thole terms,, that 
 then each nation was to re¬ 
 turn precifely to the commer¬ 
 cial fituation in which fhewas 
 now placed. He faid Great 
 Britain had granted her co¬ 
 lony trade on no other terms, 
 and that, in juft ice' to the 
 whole Empire, fhe. could have 
 granted it on no ; other; for 
 that otherwife -the whole ma¬ 
 ritime and commercial fyftem 
 of Great Britain would be : at 
 the feet of Ireland. He ad¬ 
 verted to tile articles of union 
 between England and Scotland, 
 and faid, that event, fo long 
 defired by England, had. been 
 obftruifed for many-ages by 
 Scotland’s infilling upon hav¬ 
 ing the benefits of trading 
 with the Englifh Colonies,and 
 of the i* nglifh navigation laws. 
 What Scotland had been long 
 refu'fed, and- had at laft ob¬ 
 tained by parting with the 
 fovereignty of her legiflature, 
 was granted to Ireland as a 
 free gift on the condition of 
 fimilar laws, and while that 
 fhould he performed, was then 
 offered to be perpetuated to 
 her, without infringing, .in 
 the final left degree, on the un- 
 queftioned independence of 
 her legiflature; and that when 
 N 2 Scot- 
 
[ 9 * ] . 
 
 Mr. Flood, Aga'mji. Mr. Hutchinson, For. 
 
 other nation: but to bind it- 
 felf to the future and poffible, 
 but unexifting monopolies of 
 any other nation, would be a 
 folly much more than com¬ 
 mon. Many people think, 
 that it would not be right for 
 Britain to perpetuate this mo¬ 
 nopoly, as to herfelf.—Now 
 fuch a contradf, on the part of 
 Ireland, would have a ten¬ 
 dency to perpetuate that mo¬ 
 nopoly, whilft the freedom of 
 Ireland from fuch a compaft, 
 might, according to fome able 
 opinions, be a means of dif- 
 folving that monopoly by de¬ 
 grees, if fuch a meafure were 
 deemed to be beneficial. At 
 • all events, it cannot be the 
 intereft of Ireland to be for 
 ever bound during the exift- 
 ence of fuch monopolies—nor 
 after they (hall ceafe, to give 
 up her legiflation as to fo large 
 a portion of foreign trade, by 
 fubjeQing herfelf to' the du¬ 
 ties, regulations and prohibi¬ 
 tions that may from time to 
 time, be laid by the Britifh 
 Parliament on the produce of 
 th3t immenfe region which 
 lies between the Cape of Good 
 Hope and the Straits of Ma- 
 
 If the trade of Ireland could 
 be extended by exclufion, the 
 3d and 9th Propofitions would 
 deferve our thanks, as far as 
 the Afiatic world and its cir- 
 cumjacencies are concerned. 
 But this third Propofition takes 
 in another objedt. It ftrikes 
 at our trade in all foreign 
 
 Scotland had confented to an 
 incorporating union, fhe was 
 fo anxious for the fecurity of 
 thofe favourite objefts, that 
 fhe infilled on an exprefs pro- 
 vifion forthatpurpofe. Would 
 any man then have forefeen 
 that thofe advantages could 
 ever have been granted to ano¬ 
 ther kingdom, with a view to 
 no other union but that of in- 
 tereft and affediion ? The prin¬ 
 ciple of a fimilarity of laws be¬ 
 tween the two kingdoms as 
 far as related. to colonies, 
 fhips and feamen, had been ef- 
 tablilbed by feveral Irtfli fta- 
 tutes, from the year 1780 to 
 the prefent feffion. To fup- 
 port this, he repeated the pre¬ 
 amble of one of thofe adds, 
 the 19th and 20th Geo. III. 
 the fpirit of which had been 
 fiuce uniformly agreed to. . . 
 
 “ Whereas fuch part of the trade 
 between this kingdom and the Britifh 
 colonies in America and the Weft In- 
 
 That one of thofe ftatutes, 
 palled in the year 1782, enadt- 
 ed that principle with much 
 
 greater 
 
i 91 
 
 Mr, Flood, Againft. 
 fpirits, and confequently muft 
 injure our whole trade and in- 
 tercourfe with France, Spain, 
 Portugal and America. Add 
 to this, as to America, the 
 16th Propofition, which, has 
 for its objedt foreign trade 
 only; and, as a branch of that, 
 fubje&s our imports from the 
 independent States of America 
 to fuch duties, regulations and 
 prohibitions as the Britifh 
 Parliament (hall from time to 
 time think fit to impofe on 
 Britain; as to all articles 
 fimilar to thofe that are pro¬ 
 duced in the Britifh Colonies 
 or Settlements. Now, what 
 articles can America fend to 
 us, to which, fimilar articles 
 are not, or may not be pro¬ 
 duced in fome of the Colonies 
 or Settlements of Britain ? A 
 great revolution took place, as 
 to the relative fituation of A- 
 merica and Ireland, about the 
 year 1782. In a commercial 
 confideration in 1785, the chief 
 objedt that Ireland could pof- 
 fibly have was America. The 
 reft of the world, compara¬ 
 tively fpeaking, was mortgaged 
 and pre-occupied. The new 
 ftates were unengaged. Much 
 Irifh blood circulates in A- 
 merica, and there is no fmall 
 partiality towards Ireland in 
 thofe ftates. Was this a thing 
 for Ireland to throw away ? 
 Or was it the found and per¬ 
 manent intereft of Britain, that 
 Ireland fliould fo throw it a- 
 way ? If there be a firing, by 
 which Britain can recover the 
 affedlions 
 
 5 1 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson, For. 
 greater extent, than the Bill 
 then moved for.; for.that con¬ 
 fined it to the . colony fyf- 
 tem, and to the fhipping and 
 feamen, but the adt of. 1782 
 not only adopted the principle 
 in thofe articles, but extends 
 it generally to a fimilarity in 
 the laws of commerce, pro¬ 
 vided thofe laws impofed equal 
 reftraints, and conferred equal 
 benefits on the fubjedis of 
 both kingdoms; and enabled 
 all fuch.claufes and pfovifions 
 made in. England .or Great 
 Britain, in any ftatute made 
 in England or Great Britain, 
 fave fo far as they have been 
 altered or repealed,. to bind 
 the fubjedis of Ireland only 
 fo long as they bind the fub- 
 jefts of Great Britain. The 
 whole of the prefent aft Clew¬ 
 ed, that a fimilarity of. trade 
 laws was the objedt; and the 
 duration, while they . were 
 
 laws in Great Britain, {hewed 
 a view to the future as well 
 as the paft. The prefent Bill 
 annexed the fame condition 
 of equal reftraints and bene¬ 
 fits to the laws relative to the 
 polonies, to {hipping and fea¬ 
 men ; and of that equality the 
 Irifh legiflature was to judge 
 as well as the Britifh ; and if, 
 at any time, the adherence 
 to that reftrained fimilarity 
 fiiould be found prejudicial to 
 Ireland, her two Houfes of 
 Parliament might determine 
 the fettlement, and bring them 
 back to their prefent con¬ 
 dition. He then affirmed as 
 
C 94 ] 
 
 Mr. Flood Jgainjl. 
 affections of America, it is a 
 firing which Ireland holds out 
 to her. The 5th Propofition, 
 of the 20, extends to all our 
 imports from Colonies foreign 
 as well as Britifh, and fubjccls 
 them to the fame duties, re¬ 
 gulations and prohibitions 
 which the Britifh Parliament 
 fhali think proper to adopt in 
 Britain. This neither con- 
 fifts with Free Trade, nor 
 with independent legiflation. 
 The 8th extends to all thofe 
 exports of Ireland that in 17S0 
 were exempted, and fubjects 
 them, in going to the Britifh 
 Colonies or Settlements, to 
 fuch duties, drawbacks and 
 regulations, as that they may 
 not be exported with lefs in¬ 
 cumbrance of duty or impofi- 
 tion than the like goods going 
 from Great Britain. This 
 lubjefts our export trade to the 
 Colonies to difadvantages from 
 ■which it is at prefent free.— 
 Is this extenfion and'gracer Is 
 this a thing to be paid for ? 
 We have juft attained the 
 trade of candles to the Weft 
 Indies—This would deftroy it. 
 Capital is a greater advantage 
 than poverty—The only ad¬ 
 vantage of the latter, is free¬ 
 dom from incumbrance—And 
 this Propofition deprives Ire¬ 
 land of that. Is this for the 
 intereft of the empire? Cer¬ 
 tainly not; unlefs the intereft 
 of the empire be the ruin of 
 Ireland ; and if fo, the prof- 
 perity of the cmcire would 
 not be the inter,.it ‘of Ireland. 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson, For. 
 a lawyer, that the aft of 
 1782, did affirm the principle 
 that he had dated ; he call¬ 
 ed upon the gentlemen of the 
 long robe to fay, whether her 
 was miftaken, and if he was 
 not contradifled, it mult be 
 taken as granted, that the 
 principle then objefted to was 
 at that time advanced with 
 greater latitude; and when 
 was it acknowledged ? At a 
 time when the independence' 
 of their legiflature had been re¬ 
 cently eftablifhed, and when 
 the fpirit of liberty was as 
 high as it ever bad appeared in 
 any country. With whom did 
 that principle originate ? With 
 fome of the foremoft alienors 
 of the liberties of Ireland, the 
 late and prefent chief Barori, 
 the prefent Attorney General, 
 and Mr. Grattan; for thofe 
 refpeftable men were the per- 
 fons appointed to prepare the 
 aft. The generality of the 
 expreffions in that law might 
 poflibly have occalioneJ ex¬ 
 preffions of a ftmilar import in 
 fome of the Ciltifli proceed¬ 
 ings, but thofe expreffions had 
 been fufficiently reftrained,and 
 the object had been placed be¬ 
 yond the poflibility of doubt, 
 by the addrefs of the two 
 Houfes of Parliament in Great 
 Britain, and by the Englilh 
 Bill. 
 
 He faid, they were now 
 alarmed at a principle repeat¬ 
 edly recognized by their own 
 aits, and at a condition which 
 they at firft received with gra- 
 
C 9 
 
 ■ Mr. Flood, Againft. 
 Now thefe, in my mind, are 
 noxious doiSrines, and a fyf- 
 lem that fuggefts them cannot 
 meet with my fupport. 
 
 Tn a word ; what follows ? 
 That we ought to put an end 
 to the bufmefs, and the fooner 
 that we do it the better. The 
 public has been too long agi¬ 
 tated already—The only good 
 that has refulted, is, that 
 both nations, may fee, that 
 there is nothing m commerce 
 about which they ought to 
 .quarrel. Temper has been 
 fhewn on both fides, and I 
 hope it will remain. The im¬ 
 portance of the fubje£t de¬ 
 manded free difcufiion, and 
 that neither kingdom Ihould 
 feel refentment, or chagrin, 
 at the deliberation of the other, 
 in private and in public, I 
 have always faid fo, from the 
 . commencement of this quef- 
 
 firmed me in that fcnli- 
 mentf. 
 
 f [Mr. Floud, in the comfe of his 
 fperch, tom notice of a declaration 
 made on a former occafion by Mr. Fitz- 
 gibbon, who had faid he never would 
 fupport anynreafu.c detrimental to the 
 
 5 ] ' 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson, For. 
 titude, and had fince uniform¬ 
 ly performed without mur¬ 
 mur; nor could it ever have 
 been thought fair or equal be¬ 
 tween tile two countries, that 
 Ireland fliould have the bene¬ 
 fit of the Britifli Navigation 
 fyftem, and not fubmit to it 
 herfelf. 
 
 He faid, the Refolution pro* 
 pofed would be a cenfure on 
 the Britifli Minilter, who de- 
 ferved very different treatment 
 from them, for having encoun¬ 
 tered the miftaken prejudices 
 of many of his own country¬ 
 men to promote the interefts 
 of that kingdom, and the 
 ftrength and profperity of the 
 whole Britifh empire. He faid, 
 it would be unjuft to condemn 
 the Bill before the majority of 
 the Houfe was apprifed of its 
 contents, and before the kincr- 
 dom had confidered it. To 
 their difpafiionate and unpre- 
 judicedopinion it was referred; 
 with that view, and becaufe he 
 could fafely affirm that the Bill 
 contained not a fyllable inju¬ 
 rious to their conftitutional 
 rights, he had voted for the 
 introduction of it. 
 
' [Mr. Connolly /aid, that the 
 Right Hori. young Man, at 
 prefent the Britifh Minifter, 
 had made no ftruggles for Ire¬ 
 land at all, nor did he deferve 
 to be panegyrized. Had he 
 thought fit to have interfered 
 ■with his weight in favour of 
 Ireland, it was impoffible but 
 that his power and influence 
 muft have prevailed.] 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson, For. 
 
 Mr.Hutch!n/on,m reply, faid, 
 that he confidered the Britifh 
 M'nifter entitled to the ac¬ 
 knowledgments of that coun¬ 
 try; that he bad refitted the 
 petitions of between fifty and 
 fixty of the principal trading 
 cities and towns of Great Bri¬ 
 tain, and the oppofition of ma¬ 
 ny of the principal manufac¬ 
 turers of England, who de¬ 
 clared their intentions of re¬ 
 moving with ,their capitals to 
 that kingdom, and had repeat¬ 
 ed their evidence before the 
 Houle of Lords of Great Bri¬ 
 tain, under the fanftion of an 
 oath. That a conduct direft- 
 ed to the good of the whole 
 empire, in oppofition to the 
 clamours of fuch a multitude 
 of manufafturers, deferved 
 praife; but he flattered no man: 
 he had not the honour of 
 being known to the Britifh 
 Minilfer; his Majefty’s favour 
 and his own fituation rendered 
 him independent of all Minif- 
 tcrs. 
 
 The Houfe divided. 
 
 For leave to bring, in the bill 
 
 .Againft 
 
 127 
 
 10S 
 
Advertisement. 
 
 Since the foregoing letter and speeches 
 were printed, Mr. Laffan’s pamphlet was 
 handed to the Publifher with feveral notes, 
 which throw additional light on all thefe per¬ 
 formances. And he was equally induced by 
 the defire, fuggefted in his firft Advertifement, 
 of conveying ufeful information to the Public, 
 to fubjoin Mr. Laffan’s ’Political Arithmetic 
 to the two former trafts. 
 
 London, 
 
 5th January^ 1786. 
 
POLITICAL ARITHMETIC 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Population, Commerce, and Manufactures 
 
 O F 
 
 IRELAND, 
 
 WITH 
 
 OBSERVATIONS on the RELATIVE SITUATION 
 of GREAT BRITAIN and IRELAND. 
 
 By JAMES LAFFAN, 
 
 Of the Middle Temple, Eso, 
 
 .. ... —— Sr csiiid novisti kectius istis, 
 
 Candidus imferti; si non, his vtere mectjm. 
 
C iv ] 
 
 nn 
 
 ;lj HE following Calculations were not originally 
 ( intended for the Prefc, but deligned'for the Author’s 
 private Information.. He is now induced to ofier- 
 them to the Public as there is every Probability thabthe' 
 Commercial Regulations will be preffed forward, in the 
 next Seffions of Parliament®, and he thinks it criminal 
 to with-hold any Information on a Subjedt fo interefting, 
 
 1 The Neceffity of a fpeedy Publication prevents him 
 from arranging more methodically the Deductions from 
 his Calculations, and from paying a proper Attention 
 to Corredtnefs of Stile .—Unconnected with Party, and 
 '■ uninfluenced by faEUous Views, his only Motive in this 
 Publication is to promote the Profperity of Ireland, 
 i He is of opinion that Commercial Regulations with 
 
 * What inducement can a minifter, in either kingdom, have to prefs 
 forward a meafure, which, by the arts of faction, has been rendered 
 unpopular in both ? A minifter may fay : ” I rifqued my credit m 
 “ preffing forward an arrangement, which I thought, and foil think, 
 ( * was for the eflential advantage of both : but, if the lifter kingdoms 
 « think differently, it is my duty and my intereft to fubmit; fince, tq 
 « do otherwife would create me enemies, without gaining a friend." 
 
 Great 
 
C Vi 3 
 
 Great Britain on fair Terms of Reciprocity of Benefits 
 are expedient .—Thefe Terms can only be procured by 
 a clofe Inveftigation of the relative Situation of both 
 Kingdoms, which he has attempted in a Manner here¬ 
 tofore unattended to. He would not fubfcribe his 
 Lfame, but that he thinks it is unfair to attack fomc 
 Arguments and Deductions of a noble Writer from a 
 Hiafked Battery, 
 
 Kilkenny, 
 ffi Nsvmier, i?Sj. 
 
 POLITICAL 
 
POLITICAL ARITHMETIC 
 
 O F 
 
 IRELAND. 
 
 IRELAND contains 17.927.864 ftatute acres. 
 
 I fhalJ, by allowing 927.864 acres for lakes, rivers and 
 roads, fuppofe it to contain 17.000.000 acres of ufeful land. 
 
 By the laft general return of the hearth money colleftors, 
 in 1777, the number of houfes was - 448.426' 
 
 I £hall fuppofe the number of houfes to be 450.000 
 
 I Mr. King, in his Natural and Political Obfervations on the 
 State of England, calculates 4| T perfons to each houfe; Dr. 
 Davenant and Dr. Price allow 5 ; and Mr. Howlet 5-f, to 
 each houfe. 
 
 By allowing eleven perfons to two houfes, the number of 
 inhabitants in Ireland is - 2.475.000 
 
 which I fuppofe is the moil exaft calculation that can be 
 made, except by enumeration. 
 
 ' Sir WiJJiam Petty, in his Political Anatomy of Ireland., 
 
C 8 1 
 
 computes the number of inhabitants, in the year 1672 , td 
 amount to* - - 2.-200-003 
 
 viz. English . . „ - . - 2CO.OOO - 
 
 Papifts defcended from Englifli 800.000 
 Non-papifts defcended from Englifh 300.000 
 Scotch - - 100.006 
 
 Native Irifh - - 800.060 
 
 It is unaccountable how fo very able a writer as Sir Wil¬ 
 liam Petty, after this particular ftatement of the number of 
 inhabitants, fhould make his deductions on a principle of 
 the enumeratioa of the people being but 1.100.000, unlefs 
 I am to fuppofe that he computes i.ioo.oqo as the number 
 of males in the kingdom f. 
 
 That the number of inhabitants in Ireland in 1672, was 
 2.200.coo, may be evinced in the following manner : 
 
 * Mr. LafEan has mifapprehended Sir W. Petty’s account of the 
 number of people in Ireland. In Tate's edit. 1691 ; and in pag. 
 
 _17—and in ri5,. Sir William Petty again and-again delibe* 
 
 rately ftates the number of people as about i,too,ooo. Two 1 "hun¬ 
 dred families, which he gives in p. 7, coalcf never have amounted to 
 2,200,000, allowing 6 perfons- to each. 
 
 f The above detail from p. S of the Political Anatomy* is the mere- 
 blunder of Nahun Tate, the editor. He ought to' Have placed the 
 ftatements thus: 
 
 Gf the people - - * - - - - 1,100,000 
 
 There are Englijb - - - 200,000 
 
 Scots - - - 100,000' ' 
 
 Irijb - 8 00,000 
 
 •-.- 1,100,000 
 
 Of the people, 
 
 There are Tapifts- - - - 800,000 
 Non-papifts - 500,000 
 
 -1,100,006 
 
 It is- therefore unaccountable liow Mr. Laffan could- fuppofe' fo atU 4 
 writer as Sir IF. Petty to write fo contradi&orily. The blunder v*as' 
 Tate’s.: and Mr. LaSan was led out of the highway by his 1 'prepof- 
 feflions. 
 
 According 
 
C 9 ] 
 
 According to proofs made of the progreffive augmentation 
 of mankind from obfervations on the bills of mortality in 
 England, it appears, that notwithftanding the common 
 checks given to population by war, famine and peftilence, 
 the number of the people is doubled, in about 400 years. 
 
 Now according to Sir William Petty the number of in¬ 
 habitants in 167a was - - - 2.200.000 
 
 By the computation from the bills of mortality 
 the increafe in about 100 years is one fourth 550.000 
 
 The number at prefent fhould be about 2.750.000 
 
 • - But if we confider the great number of perfons killed in 
 Ireland in the civil war of 1688, the great emigration at 
 that time, and the numbers that emigrated afterwards in 
 confequence of the feverity of the penal laws and reftri&ions 
 of trade, we may conclude that the prefent number of inha¬ 
 bitants is about - - 2.475.000 
 
 From which deduft the number above labour, 
 viz. peers, gentry, clergy, &c. fuppofe - 200.000 
 
 Remain 1 - - 2.275.000 
 
 From which deduft children under feven years of ' 
 
 age, one fourth - - 568.750 
 
 Remains for agriculture, manufactures and com¬ 
 merce ... 1.706.250 
 
 Of which one-third are men - 568.750 
 
 —-one-third women - 568.750 
 
 - -- — one-third aged, and from 7 
 
 years to the age of puberty - 568.750 - 
 
 -1-706.250 
 
 Mr. Arthur Young, in his Tour through England, 
 computes, that about one-third of the people 
 is employed in agriculture; therefore deduCt 
 one-third for agriculture - - 568.750 
 
 Remains for commerce and manufacture 
 
[ 10 ] . 
 
 England and Wales contain about 30.000.000 of acres, 
 
 And by Mr. Chalmers EJiimate , page 176, which feems to. • 
 be extremely accurate, the number of inhabitants is 8.023.729: . 
 
 If the population of Ireland was equal to the population 
 of England and Wales, in proportion to the extent of the 
 refpective countries, the number of inhabitants in Ireland 
 .ought to be - - - 4.546.779 
 
 The prefent number of inhabitants is - 2.475.000 
 
 Ireland is deficient * - 2.071.779 
 
 The population cf England is one perfoii to 3| acres 
 
 The population of Ireland is about one perfori to 6|. acres! 
 
 It h2S been confidently afierted, and uhiverfally admit¬ 
 ted, that the wool of Ireland is not fufficient to clothe its 
 inhabitants. 
 
 This is a mi (lake; the wool of Ireland is amply fufficient 
 for the internal confumption of the kingdom. 
 
 Strange as it may appear at fifft view, ftill there are not 
 100.oco clothed yearly in Ireland with Britilh woollen dra- 
 
 The quantity of old drapery imported in the year 1783 
 was 371,871 yards, which is not 3 yards each for 100.OCO 
 men; and as there is no doubt but thofe that wear Engliih' 
 cloths make upon an average two coats a year, this quantity 
 of old drapery is not fufficient for ico.cco perfons. 
 
 The importation of newdrapery the fame year was 42O.415 
 yards, which is barely fufficient for one waiitcoat and a 
 
 ncrcaje would ibis den 
 
 ifirale, during a century! 
 
 
 what a nar-vtl!aui in 
 
t 
 
 ] 
 
 pair of breeches for 100.000 perfons.-In what manner 
 
 are the remaining 2.375.000 inhabitant’s clothed ? " Cer¬ 
 tainly with Irilh wool manufaftured in Irelana. • 
 
 In the year 1783 Ireland exported ;; .' 
 
 Of wool, - - 2663 Hones. 
 
 Woollen and bay yarn, - 67117 ditto’. 
 
 Flannel, ' - ' 114x6 yards!' 
 
 Prize, - ' - 784 ditto.' 
 
 Old drapery, - - ' 46589 ditto.' 
 
 The latter chiefly, if not entirely, made of Irilh wool. 
 
 - This exportation, together with the Spanilh' wool necef- 
 fary for fuperfine cloths, will amply fupply the ioo.coo per¬ 
 fons drelfed with Englifh old drapery, and leave a redun¬ 
 dancy. ' 1 
 
 Yards. 
 
 Ireland exported the fame year new drapery - ‘538.061 
 And imported as above - - 420.415 
 
 S,he had a redundancy more than neceflary for her 
 
 confumption of - ' - 117.646 
 
 Therefore ,thofe perfons who aflert that Ireland has not a 
 fufliciency of wool for her own confumption, are deceived, 
 or have an intention to miflead the nation in regard to her 
 internal refources. 
 
 It is difficult to form an opinion of the quantity of flieep 
 in the,kingdom, In fuch an enquiry'we can proceed only 
 on conjecture from the number of inhabitants and the quan¬ 
 tity of wool neceflary for-the clothing of each perfon. I 
 Ihall hazard an eftimate from the belt authority I can pro¬ 
 cure, but leave the reader to form' his own judgment. - 
 I have.been informed by an eminent woollen manufafturer 
 that a ftone of4/ool is neceflary to clothe an Irilh labourer 
 of the common fize with coat, waiftcoat, breeches, hat, and 
 two pair of Itockings. The fame perfon allures me that the 
 b 2 " wool 
 
[ 12 1 
 
 wool of Ireland averages at 4 lb. a fleece, which is a pound 
 a fleece lefs than Mr. Young makes it in his Tour through 
 Ireland. I fiiall fuppofe from the above, that if one perfon 
 with another confumes 7 lb. of wool in the year, the num¬ 
 ber of Iheep in the kingdom at 4 lb. a fleece will amount to 
 4-33 i-3 5 0- 
 
 In. the information I applied for, I forgot to include the 
 great coat generally worn by the common people, and if we 
 add this to the compliment of wool confumed, we may con¬ 
 clude that the quantity neceflary for each perfon is 8 lb. of 
 wool, which I believe is nearer to truth ; then the number 
 of Iheep in the kingdom will amount to 4.950.000, or about 
 5.000.000. 
 
 In ftating the relative fituation of Great Britain and Ire¬ 
 land, the firft confideration to be made is the intereft of 
 money in the refpeclive kingdoms, and the effects which the 
 difference of their rates of intereft have on commerce, Clip¬ 
 ping, and manufactures. 
 
 The legal rate of intereft in Great Britain is 5 per cent, 
 but any fum of money can be produced at 4 per cent. 
 
 The legal rate of intereft in Ireland is 6 per cent, and 
 money is difficult to be procured at that rate. 
 
 A merchant who Ihips off an adventure for a foreign 
 market expedls the intereft of his money, and at leaft ten 
 Ihillings profit for every twenty {hillings intereft he pays, on 
 account of the hazard he runs. A Britifh merchant who 
 rates the intereft of his flock at 4 per cent, muft make 6 per 
 cent, profit, that is 4 per cent, for the intereft of his flock, 
 and 2 per cent, for his hazard. An Irifh merchant, not to 
 be a lofer, muft fell at the rate of 9 per cent, that is, 6 per 
 cent, for the intereft of his flock, and 3 per cent, for his ha¬ 
 zard. Now it neceffarily follows, that a Ikitifh (hip and an 
 Irifh (hip going to the fame port with the fame commodities, 
 bought at the fame price, the Britifh merchant underfells 
 the 
 
[ 13 1 
 
 the Irifli 3 per cent, and of courfe, as the Irifh merchant will 
 have no fale for his goods until the Britilh cargo is dil'poled 
 of, the Britilh merchant has the greater profit, although the 
 Irilhman fells for 3 per cent.' more, as he is a longer time 
 paying his high rate of intereft before he has a return for 
 his adventure. 
 
 This is the true reafon why Irifh merchants have been but 
 fafiors for Irifh commodities by dealing fo much on com- 
 miffion,_and fo little at their own rifk. 
 
 Sir ‘Jojhua Child, a writer equally eminent for his practical 
 and theoretic knowledge of trade, in his Difcourfe on'Money 
 and Trade , aflerts that 1 per cent, in intereft is equal to 2 
 per cent, in duties paid inwards and outwards, for this rea¬ 
 fon :_Intereft of money runs through the price of the com¬ 
 
 modity from the time the money is taken up until the return 
 of the adventure of the money is repaid; it runs through 
 the price of the Ihip, her, wear and tear, feamens wages and 
 provifions; it runs through all crofs accidents of contrary 
 winds and ftoppage in ports. Duties and cuftoms are only 
 paid at importation and exportation, and merchants can de¬ 
 fend themfelves in an eafy manner againft the rigour of du¬ 
 ties, but there is no fence againft the intereft of money. 
 Hence it may be concluded that the Dutch who pay but 3 
 per cent, intereft of money, have an advantage of 2 per cent, 
 over the Britilh merchant who pays 4 per cent, intereft, and 
 the Britilh merchant who pays 4 per cent, has an advantage 
 of 4 per cent, over the Irifh merchant who pays 6 per cent, 
 intereft. 
 
 Whilft the intereft of money continues higher in Ireland 
 than in Great Britain, it will be impoffible that llores and 
 magazines of colonial or other foreign produce can be efta- 
 blilhed in Ireland to fupply the wants of Great Britain. To 
 be great and general traders there muft be great ftock and low 
 intereft. Greatnefs of ftock is a confequence of low intereft 
 
[ H 3 
 
 and proper commercial regulations. What makes Holland 
 the general depot of trade, and (except what part of the car¬ 
 rying trade is confined to particular countries by particular 
 laws), the carriers of Europe ? The low rate of intereft. 
 
 Yet with all the difadvantages Ireland labours under in 
 refpedt to the high rate of intereft of money, it would be a 
 dangerous experiment to attempt to lowerit in the prefent 
 diftrefled circumftances of the country. It is proper that 
 the legiflature fhould fet-bounds to extortion and ufury, by 
 telling them, 11 Thus far {halt thou gp, but no farther.” 
 But thefe bounds Iho.uld be fet rather above than on that level 
 which the value of money will make for itfelf. The ex¬ 
 traordinary neceffities of a precarious fecurity will naturally 
 require a greater premium for the. rifk than, a fubftantial 
 mortgage, and it is .impolitic.as .well as inhuman to deny 
 temporary aids to fuch neceffiries. 
 
 Money may be confidered not only as the meafure of every 
 other commodity, but likewife as a commodity in itfelf. 
 Intereft is the price of that commodity : it'neceflarily fol¬ 
 lows that when there is a plenty of the commodity at market, 
 the price will fall, but to affize the price where the value 
 ought to bear a proportion to the plenty of the commodity 
 at market, has been a principle long exploded from the fyf- 
 tem of commercial regulations. 
 
 In every country a judgment may be formed of the plenty 
 and fcarcity of money by the price, that is, the intereft it 
 bears. The penalty of a law may reduce the price or intereft 
 of money a little below that value, but not much, becaufe 
 no Jaw can compel me to part with a commodity below its 
 value, for if a law {hould attempt this, I would keep up my 
 money,- and no money hoarded up can add to the wealth or 
 commerce of a Hate. The penalty of fuch-a law is a clog 
 upon commerce, as it prevents the circulation of money. 
 
 That the intereft of money rifes and falls according to 
 the 
 
[ I* ] 
 
 the quantity of money in circulation may be evinced from 
 the prefent ftate of that circulation in Great Britain, where 
 the legiflature fet the price at 5 per cent, which I may call 
 their price of money at par. ' The great influx of money, 
 from her extended commerce, has reduced intereft to 4 per 
 cent, and I have heard in London that it is procured at 
 times at per cent. Thus the plenty of money in circula¬ 
 tion in Great Britain has reduced the price 1 to il per cent. 
 
 I have digrefled thus far to point out the delicacy that 
 fliould be observed, and the ill confequences that may enfure 
 from any attempt to reduce the intereft of money in the pre¬ 
 fent diftretTed circuniftances of ireland, as it may be aliened 
 that it ivcu’id be eaiy to obviate the difadvantages we labour 
 under in refpedt to the high rate of intereft by reducing it to 
 the fame level with Gre'.t Britain. 
 
 After having thus pointed out the relative fituation of 
 Great Britain and Ireland in refpeft to commerce in general, 
 1 lhall next examine their relative fituation as to Ihipping. 
 
 I lhall fiippofe that a Britifh merchant and an Irifh mer¬ 
 chant build a Ihip each that cofts ioool- I lhall ftate the 
 feamens wages, provifions and repairs, at 300I. a year. Now 
 let us examine what effedt intereft of money will have on 
 each of thefe fhips according to the rates they refpeaively 
 
 pay- ' 
 
 The Britifh merchant confiders the value of his ioool. at 4 
 per cent. - - - £• 4° 0 0 
 
 300I. feamens wages, provifions, &c. - 12 o o 
 
 Which amount to per annum, - £. 52 6 o 
 
 The-Irilh merchant confiders the value of his ■ 
 
 ioool. at 6 per cent. - - - £• ■ 60 o o 
 
 30QI. feamens wages^ provifions, &c. 18 o o 
 
 Per annum, 
 
[is 3' 
 
 As the (hips will wear out in a few years, each merchant 
 muft propofe to gain the price of his (hip in (fuppofe) 
 twelve years, with compound inlereft, according to the rates 
 they respectively pay. 
 
 The Britifti merchant muft make every year to 
 repay the price of his (hip in twelve years, £.106 II li 
 The Irifh merchant muft make every year to 
 
 repay the price of his (hip in twelve years, £.119 5 6i 
 
 The Britifli (hip, wages, provifions, EsV. (land 
 
 
 
 each year in 
 
 - - £■ 52 
 
 O 
 
 O 
 
 To repay the price of the (hip in 
 
 twelve years. 
 
 
 
 at compound intereft 
 
 - 106 5 ir 
 
 
 £•58 
 
 5 
 
 
 The Irifh (hip, wages, provifions, <5c. (land 
 
 
 
 each year in 
 
 - - £• 78 
 
 e 
 
 © 
 
 To repay the price of the (hip. 
 
 utfupra, - 119 
 
 5 
 
 6f 
 
 
 £■>97 
 
 5 
 
 6f 
 
 Thus the Britifli merchant can freight his (hip at an an¬ 
 nual expence of 158I. 5s. i|d. when the annual coft to the 
 Iriflr merchant is 197I. 5s. 6|d. 
 
 Take it in another light. If the two (hips were conftantly 
 freighted at the fame price, fo as to enable the IriQi mer¬ 
 chant to clear his (hip in twelve years, the Britifli (hip would 
 clear itfelf in eight years. 
 
 Or fuppofe the Britifli and Iri(h merchant paid the fame 
 fum of money yearly intereft, the Britifli merchant would be 
 enabled to build a (hip of 300 tons, and the IriQi merchant 
 but a (hip of 200 tons. 
 
 The advantages which Great Britain enjoys in this refpe£t 
 are fo obvious from the above calculation, that there is no 
 doubt but the trade of Ireland muft be chiefly carried on by 
 Britilh 
 
C 17 ] 
 
 Britilh (hipping. Left any doubt Ihould remain, I (hal! prove 
 from fails thejuftnefs of thefe calculations, by ftating the 
 tonnage of Britilh, Irifh and foreign (hipping employed in 
 
 the Irifh carrying trade in the years 1723 and 1772_If I 
 
 had recourfe to the proper offices, I would (late the tonnage 
 Of the year 1784. I have taken thefe returns from Lex 
 Mercatoria, Irijh Edit. 1773, page 575. I cite my authority 
 to prove I proceed upon the bed information in my power 
 to procurer 
 
 STATE of the TONNAGE of Britifh, Irifh and Foreign 
 Shipping employed in the Irilh Carrying Trade in 1723; 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Britilh, * 115.687 
 
 Irifh, - 42-136 
 
 Foreign, - 16.163 
 
 173-986 
 
 STATE of the TONNAGE of Britilh, Irifh and Foreign 
 Shipping, employed in the Irifh Carrying Trade in 1772;. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Britifhj - 
 
 - ' - 236.654 
 
 Irilh, 
 
 33-3'2 
 
 Foreign, - - 
 
 - ‘16.628 
 
 
 286-594 
 
 Mr. Gregory King * eftimated the tonnage of England, 
 in the year j688, as a profit to the kingdom of about 4I. 5ss 
 a ton. I (hall calculate the tonnage of the (hipping em¬ 
 ployed in the Irilh carrying trade at 3I. a ton, which is il. 
 5s. a ton lefs than Mr. King’s calculation. 
 
 * Chalmer’s Eftimate, p. 40.—Mr. Laffan might have here remarked 
 the great increafe of the Irilh carrying trade in fifty years, notwitbftand- 
 ing conftant complaints of the contrary. 
 
 c Tbs 
 
[ i8 1 
 
 The freight of the Irifh-trade in the year 1772,for 286.594 
 tons, at 3I. p®F ton, amounted to - - £.859.782 
 
 Of which Great Britain received £.709.962 
 
 -^Ireland. - - 99-936 
 
 -Foreigners - - 49.884 
 
 £• 859.782 
 
 But my chief reafon for introducing this ftatempnt of the 
 tonnage of fhips employed in the Irifh carrying trade, is .to 
 point out that the tonnage of Britilh (hips employed in this 
 trade was more than doubled in lefs than fifty years ; and 
 though the Irifh. trade required above 110.000 tons 
 more in 1772 than in 1723, yet in that period of time Irifh 
 tonnage decreafed nearly one-fourth; and it appears that in 
 1723 about, two-thirds of the Irifh carrying trade was en¬ 
 joyed by Great Britain, which increafed to about feven-eighths 
 in 1772. 
 
 From the above ftate of the Irifh carrying trade will it 
 bear a queftion, whether it would be more beneficial to Ire¬ 
 land to be included.in the Britifh act of- navigation, or by 
 purfuing the policy of Great Britain confine her carrying 
 trade to her own Clipping *? 
 
 We may now judge with what propriety a noble writer 
 (when pointing out the danger that may enfue to Great 
 Britain from including Ireland in the navigation aft) adopts, 
 for a motto. 
 
 * How a commerce requiring 186,594. tons of dripping,. can be car-. 
 tied on by 33,- or even 4.0,000 tons, Mr. Laffan ought-to have.(hewn ; 
 and where the'number of (hips neceflary to fill the void could be readily 
 had, if there were capital to buy-or build them. Whether the people of 
 Britain would fiibmit to the exclufion fuggefled by Mr. Laffan:—Whe¬ 
 ther they would not infill, in juft return, to exclude the. Irifh (hipping, 
 from the banks of Newfoundland—from the colony, trade, and from the . 
 prtfeSien of the Britijh flag every where, are weighty confideratiqns. 
 
[ i9 3 
 
 --—- —Noil Hojl'em inimitaqiie Gaflra 
 
 Argivum, vejlrae fpcs uritis. 
 
 The 12 C. II. c. 18. is the original adt of navigation and 
 included Irilh {hipping. It was confirmed by the Iriflvfia- 
 tute of 14 & 15'C. II. c. 9. Subfequenf Errglffh ftatutes 
 flruck out Ireland. The Britifh navigation a£t is too ftrait 
 laced f. It is unfavourable t6 foreign commerce. The 13th 
 regulation annexed to the Irifh ftatute of 14 & 15 C. II. c. g. 
 ffiews, that the Irilh legiflat'u're had fiftnfe idea OF making 
 Ireland a depot of foreign produce C J.- It-fays, Inafhiucll 
 “ as the natural fituation ! of thi&'realrh fenders'itTufficientfy 
 “ convenient for the ftoririg and laying up'of commodities 
 “ and merchandise brought in with intent fo be afterwards 
 “ carried out again for Tti'pply offoreigh markets, By wdficli 
 « fnlich benefit and advantage may arife to his 'Majefiy aU'd 
 “ people ;• the lord deputy, therefore* or other chief gover- 
 rirnof or governors' and privy council of this realm for the 
 “ time being, lhall and may (as they in their judgment Ihall 
 “ fee meet arid find- moll advantageous and beneficial to his 
 “ Majefty arid this kingdom) appoint one certain port iri 
 “eabh province of this realm to'which all meichants; ftran- 
 “ger's arid their fadtors, fending his or their goods with in¬ 
 dent and to the end arid'pUrpofe afore'fiid, may, upoii 5 
 “ reafonable compofition or agreement to be agreed ori By 
 “ diredtion of the faid lord deputy, or other chief governor 
 “ or governors’ arid' privy council as aforefaid, arid payment 
 “ thereof fnade uiitb the' cblle&or or collectors of thofe 
 “ ports, in lieu of all cuftorhs arid fubfidies due and payable 
 “ by this prefent adt, there larid .arid lay up the fame iri his 
 
 Tie people of Britainwiil not part’with' the a£l of nil 
 with their exiftence j becaufe their exifierice depends 01 
 execution of it. 
 
 t Nothing but the vaft capitals of Holland and Brit 
 d depot if foreign commerce. 
 
 gatiori,-' hut' 
 the (trifled 
 
 Majefty’s 
 
C 20 3 
 
 « Majefty’s warehoufes, at the cuftom-houfe, or fuch other 
 “ warehoufes and places, and no other, as {hall be provided 
 f‘ for that end and purpofe by the collector, cuftomer and 
 “ fearc’ner of thofe ports, under whofe joint cuftody the fame 
 C! are to remain until they be {hipped out again, which {hall 
 be done again without payment of any duties outwards, 
 “ or any thing more than a reafonable rate for warehoufe 
 ct room ; but if any merchant, fa&or or other, bringing in 
 “ or laying up his or their goods by way of compolition, 
 “ {hall not export, but otherwife difpofe of the fame, every 
 “ fuch merchant, factor or other {hall, before he or they 
 “ receive his or their goods from the warehoufe or place 
 f‘ where they are laid up, pay unto the collector not only 
 ‘ e as much as with his or their compofition monies {hall 
 compleat the whole cuftoms and fubfidies of fuch goods, 
 “ but likewife intereft at the rate of id. per cent, for fo long 
 “ a time as the payment of the full duties of thofe goods had 
 been forborne.” . ' ■ 
 
 The 53d regulation, annexed to the fame a£t, compelling- 
 aliens to pay double cuftom, is impolitic. It certainly ought 
 to be inforced to prohibit a crofs carrying trade, but our ports 
 {hould be open to all foreigners, not only to import the 
 produce of their own country, but likewife to take our pro¬ 
 duce in return. 
 
 I {hall now examine the relative fituation of Great Britain 
 and Ireland as to manufactures, and fee what effedt the dif¬ 
 ferent rates of intereft have on Britifh and Irifh manufadlures 
 when taken from the loom and ready for file. 
 
 I will fuppofe that 50I. a year will keep a loom well em¬ 
 ployed. It is of no confequence whether this fum is too 
 much or too little, as the proportion will be the fame, let 
 the fum be what it will. To employ twenty looms in Ire¬ 
 land, at 5c!. a loom, will require xocol. the intereft of 
 which 
 
[ 21 ] 
 
 which is Sol. per annum. A Britilh manufacturer, who 
 pays 6ol. yearly intereft of money, at 4 per cent, procures 
 for that intereft 1500I. and can employ thirty looms; and 
 as he at the fame expence employs one-third more looms 
 than an Irilh manufacturer, of courfe he has one-third more 
 profit on his manufacture, or can underfell the Irifti manu¬ 
 fadlurer in the fame proportion in his own or any foreign 
 market, and engrofs the trade to himfelf. 
 
 If a manufadlurer did not imagine that he- could pay off 
 the principal debt in ten years by the profits of his induftry, 
 and at the fame time fupport his family, he would not take 
 up money at intereft. If then the Irifti manufadlurer (ball 
 be enabled to fupport his family, anJ pay off the principal in 
 ten years, a Britilh manufadlurer fhall maintain his family 
 and pay off the fame principal in about feven years. 
 
 It has been objedted on the part of Great Britain that the 
 low rents, light taxes and cheapnefs of labour in Ireland, 
 muft give advantages to the Irifh manufadlurer, and enable 
 him to underfell at foreign markets Britilh inanufadlures, 
 which are fubjedt to high rents, heavy taxes, and dear labour. 
 
 If thefe objedtions are not fufHciently confuted by the 
 foregoing remarks on the different rates of intereft, I fhall 
 anfwer, trade and manufadlures thrive in proportion to the 
 population of a country. Holland is the molt populous 
 country in Europe. Land there pays an exceffive rent, and 
 the annual taxes on land are nearly equal to the annual rent. 
 Every article of food and raiment pay an exceflive high ex- 
 cife, yet notwithftanding the dearnefs of land and the heavy 
 excife laid on every thing they confume,manufaclures.flou- 
 rifh, and there is to be found in Holland every fort of manu- 
 fadlure. England and France are the next moft populous 
 countries, and it is unne'ceffary to mention how much ma¬ 
 nufadlures thrive amongft them. Spain, Portugal, Sweden, 
 Denmark and Ruflia are the leaft populous countries of Eu¬ 
 rope. Land and labour is cheap in thefe countries, yet they 
 
[ 22 ] 
 
 are fuppliai with manufactures by thofe populous! countries 
 inhere rent is heavy, labour dear, and taxes high. The Dean 
 sf Gloncejler, in his Political and Commercial Trails, has pro¬ 
 ved that a poor country cannot Hand a competition with a 
 rich country in cheapnefs of manufactures, although poffeff- 
 ed of equal advantages; therefore to burden the infant ma¬ 
 nufactures of a poor country with the fame excife which is 
 taid on a wealthy, weli-eftablifhed manufacture, would be- 
 attended with the fame confequence as to the frog in the fa¬ 
 ble, which, afpiring to fwell itfelf to the lize of the ox, burft 
 is the attempt, or if I may be allowed to borrow a Scotch 
 expreflkm from that great luminary of the law, Lord Manf- 
 iield, it would be fathing the kid in the milk which Providence 
 fistplicdfir its naurijhment. 
 
 A noble writer *, in his Olficraations on the preficnt State of 
 Poland, recommends to Great Britain to <c fear the efFedt of 
 conceflions difficult to forefee.” Fas eft eth hoste doccri. 
 It is incumbent therefore on Ireland to guard again!! the ef¬ 
 fects of conceflions that are obvious. Great Britain, long 
 enured'to habits of profperous induftry, will ever retain that 
 fuperiority in trade which fhe enjoys at prefenr, even fuppo- 
 Sng that Ireland was equally induftrious, and there is every 
 reafon to think that the will fhortly outftrip It eland in the 
 linen manufafture- 
 
 From the printed report of the committee of the Irilh 
 Houfe of Commons on the State of Irilh manufudlures, it 
 appears that Great Britain’s yearly confumption of linen is 
 63.COO.COO yards : 
 
 Of which her own manufadlure fapplies 
 
 And of Irilh linen hut - 
 
 Lord Sheffield. 
 
 England, 
 
[ 2 3 3 
 
 England, I may fay, compelled Ireland- to-enter into a : 
 cempafl; in 1699, by which the linen trade was to be prefer- 
 ved to Ireland*. Great Britain broke this compaCL la- 
 1743 Ihe included low r priced Irifh linen in-the bounties de- 
 figned to promote her own manufa&ure. This was a fpe- 
 cious benefit to Ireland,.but delufiye, Mr. Hamill’s eftimate 
 of the charges on a pack of Irifh linen- imported into Lon¬ 
 don, which he laid before the Irifh committee, amount to 
 141.8s. 3d. per cent, therefore Britilh linens have an advan¬ 
 tage of 14I. 8s: 3d. per cent, over.Irifh linens fhipped from 
 a Britilh-port. 
 
 The rapid encreafe of the Britilh linen manufacture, will 
 appear from acomparative view of Britilh and Irifh linen ex¬ 
 ported on bounty in the years 1743 and-1773 from Britiih 
 ports; 
 
 In the year 1743. 
 
 Yards. 
 
 Britilh linen exported on bounty - - 52.779 
 
 Irifh linen exported on bounty - - 40.907 
 
 In the year 1773. 
 
 Britifh linen exported on bounty - 5.235.266 
 
 Irifh linen exported on bounty - - 2.832.246 
 
 Thus may be feen the progreffive improvement of the Bri- 
 tifh linen manufacture from the year 1743 to 1773, and that 
 the charges incident to an Irifh pack of linen exported from 
 
 * This ampaSl (astheabfurd meafures of 1699 are called ) did not 
 ftipulate that the people of Britain would fupprefs their own Urea ma- - 
 mi faff uve, much lefs that they, would give a bounty-on the- export- o£- 
 Irijb linen from Britain. To admit 15,000,000 of yards of Irifli li- 
 
 of no final! importance, which 
 difcufiign. 
 
 atiy brought-. inta - 
 
 a Britilh 
 
[ *4 ] 
 
 a Brltifh port operate as a protecting duty for Britifh linen; 
 exclufive of the advantage of theBritilh manufacturer in the 
 different rates of intereft of money. 
 
 The value of linen yarn exported to Great Britain in 1782 
 was 169.126!.; and as, from the report of the Irilh com¬ 
 mittee, labour and linen yarn are nearly of equal value in this 
 manufacture, the Irifh manufacturers have loft by this ex¬ 
 portation - - £.169.126 
 
 In the year 1698, being the year before the exportation 
 of Irifli woollen drapery was prohibited, the value of Eng- 
 li£h old drapery imported was - £. 8838 3 9 
 
 And of new drapery, - - 1774 10 10 
 
 In the year 1783, being a few years after the prohibition 
 was withdrawn, the value of Britifh old drapery imported 
 was - - - £.260.310 1 o 
 
 And of new drapery - - 52.551 17 6 
 
 In 1782 the value of wool, worfted and bay yarn ex¬ 
 ported amounted to - - £. 127.214 
 
 Of which. Wool, - - £. 1482 
 
 • -Woollen yarn, - 805 
 
 -Worfted yarn, * 124.927 
 
 £. 127.214 
 
 The Norwich manufacturers afferted, before the com¬ 
 mittee of the Britiftl privy council, that labour is about 85 
 per cent, in the manufacture of worfted fluffs. The York- 
 fhire manufacturers faid, that in thefliort wool-manufactures 
 the proportion was as 2 labour to l material, and in the long 
 wool manufactures as 5 labour to 1 material. The quantity 
 of worfted yarn exported in 1782 being fo large a proportion 
 of the export of the whole, 1 am within bounds by averaging 
 the wool, worfted and bay yarn imported that year at 4 la- 
 hour 
 
[ 2 5 .1 
 
 bour to i material; therefore the profit to the Britifh manu¬ 
 facturer on the value exported - '- £. 127.214 
 
 multiplied by - - 4 
 
 is - £.508.856 
 
 Which with profit on linen yarn before men¬ 
 tioned - - - - 169.126 
 
 And of courfe a lofs to Irifh manufacturers .. . - 
 
 of* - - - £-677.982 
 
 Sic Vos non Vobis Vellera fertis Oves. 
 
 Ireland, by confining her confumption of Weft India pro¬ 
 duce to the Britifh Iflands, has been a lofer in the year end¬ 
 ing the 25th March, 1783, in the article of fugar 
 alone, - £.92.940 18 o. 
 
 The quantity of candy, loaf and raw fugars that year im¬ 
 ported was 142.986 cwt. and the Dean of Gloucejier , in his 
 Reflexions, fays, that we could procure fugar thirteen fhil- 
 lings per cwt. cheaper from Portugal than from the Britifh 
 colonies.—Portugal would take manufactures in return. 
 
 Although the Weft India trade is open, and we can im¬ 
 port fugars direCtly from the iflands, yet it appears that 
 142.986 cwt. was that year imported, of which 109.116 cwt. 
 came to us circuitoufly through Great Britain. There was 
 of rum imported the fame year from the Weft Indies 297.038 
 gallons, and 129.950 gallons from Great Britain. Of cot¬ 
 ton wool 1092 cwt. from the Weft Indies, and 2705 cwt. from 
 Great Britain. A convincing proof of the juftnefs of the 
 foregoing calculations, and that the great capital and low 
 rate of intereft will fecure to Great Britain the carrying 
 trade, and make her the depot of colonial produce. 
 
 * Mr. Laffan does not conGder that manufa&ures can only be carried, 
 can procure materials of manufacture from every quarter of the globe. 
 
 d Mr. 
 
E 26 1 
 
 Mr. Chalmers', in his EJlimate, makes the medium balance 
 of trade for three years, ending 1772, £■ 74.5.210 d year in 
 favour of Great Britain againft Ireland *. The noble writer 
 heretofore alluded to, in his Ohfervations on the American 
 States, makes the medium balance of trade, from the year 
 1770 to the year 17S0, ,£.484.871. 6s. 6jd. a year in favour 
 of Great Britain againft Ireland ; but in his Ohfervations on the 
 frefent State of Ireland , he finds out that the Britifh cuftom- 
 houfe returns of the valuation of Irifh imports are extremely 
 defective, and that the Irifh cuftom-houfe returns are more 
 regular and juft. It is to be hoped that if the party to which 
 he is attached refume their employments, he will be appointed 
 infpecior-general of the imports and exports (an office for 
 which, from his laborious compilations, he feemswell quali¬ 
 fied). From the great difference between the returns of the 
 Britifh and Irifh cuftom-houfes, it is manifeft that there is a 
 leading principle in each kingdom to make the balance of trade 
 appear in its own favour. The vanity of merchants in puffing 
 their confequence by large entries where no duty is paid, is well 
 known, and points out the neceffity of forne regulation to en¬ 
 force juft entries by forfeitures, and prevent thereby falfe no¬ 
 tions of the balance of trade. The imports of Britifh manufac¬ 
 tures may be depended upon, as from the duties paid, it may 
 he fafely afferted that the quantity returned is actually im¬ 
 ported. It is highly probable that there is more imported 
 than in the cuftom-houfe returns, but there cannot be lefs, 
 hecaufe no perfon will pay duty for more than he imports. 
 The export of Irifh manufactures being free from duty, gives 
 room for the iudulgence of that vanity which is prejudicial 
 to the frate, as it gives falfe notions of the balance of trade. 
 Irifh linen being exempt from duty in Britifh ports gives an 
 opportunity to the Britifh merchant to indulge the fame va- 
 
 * This balance has been growing daily lefs. Cnee 1771. 
 
 pity 5 
 
C 2 7 ] 
 
 hity ; and the cuftom-houfe officers in fuch a cafe are in¬ 
 different about the extent of an entry if their accuftomed fees 
 are paid. Hence Ireland may conclude to a certainty the 
 value of her imports, but the value of her exports are very 
 problematical. 
 
 Let us take the balance either for or againft Ireland from 
 the Britifh or Irifh returns, or fay the imports and exports 
 are nearly equal. Take it any way, Hill there are items of 
 great importance which have not been included in either of 
 the returns, and make a large balance againft Ireland. 
 
 The yearly drains of Ireland for the eftates of abfentees 
 are moderately eftimated at - £.1.200.000 o O 
 
 In the general ftate of the national 
 account, ending March, 1784, 
 
 , £■ I ^545 5 s - 5id. * s entered as 
 the four fliillings in the pound on 
 employments and penfions of ab¬ 
 fentees, they therefore receive 66.181 I 9 
 
 The freight of Britifh (hipping be¬ 
 fore-mentioned - - 709.9(52 o o 
 
 £.1.976.143 1 9 
 
 To this fhould be added the yearly remittances for intereft 
 of money, mortgages, education of youth, infuranceof&ips, 
 houfes and lives, carriage horfes, &c. with the penfions 
 from which there is no dedu&ion of poundage, of all which 
 I can form no eftimate for want of proper materials, and 
 then a jufter view may be had of the . balance of trade be¬ 
 tween the two. kingdoms *. 
 
 Mr. Hume , in his EJfay on the Balance of Trade, affects, 
 that “ the flow of money ought to be kept rather more than 
 
 * This vail current of coin runs with rapid flow (if we may ufe the 
 eloquent language of Alderman Falkener of facetious memory) from 
 the Hood and boiveh of / r’Jbmen. 
 
 d 2 full 
 
[ 23 ] 
 
 full by fmall but conftant augmentations.” How then carl 
 Ireland fupport her neceflary circulation when fubjeft to fuch 
 drains* ? To what account are the fums of money annu-* 
 ally remitted for offices and penfions to be charged, if com¬ 
 mercial regulations with Great Britain are adopted ? Are 
 they to be charged to Great Britain as part payment of the 
 furplus of the hereditary revenue, or are they Hill to remain 
 a burden on the fhoulders of Ireland ? No Irifliman wilhes 
 to tie up the hands of Majefty from rewarding real or 
 even fuppofed good fervices, but let the civil lift of Great 
 Britain gratify the wants or deferts of thofe whofe fervices 
 have been in Great Britain, and Irifhmen will not object to 
 extending the royal bounty here to thofe whofe real or fup¬ 
 pofed good fervices were exerted for Ireland, and let each 
 fupply their own poor and needy. 
 
 The marine, the revenue, the wholefale merchant and the 
 retailer reap feme profit ftom the importation of manufac¬ 
 tures, but the exportation of money is a total lofs to a Hate. 
 How much Great Britain profits in her revenue and manu¬ 
 factures from thefe annual remittances of Ireland does not 
 come within the limits I'have preferibed for myfelf in this 
 publication, but will be fully attended to in a hiftory of the 
 trade, finances and refources of Ireland, which 1 have an in¬ 
 tention of publilhing, if I can add fome neceffary materials 
 
 * This drain equally exirted in Dean Swift's days. The whole cafh 
 of Ireland, according to him, was only£.joo,ooo', and yet £.1,000,000 
 were annually fent to England. This very logical deduBion did not ef- 
 cape the remark of Mr. Hume. Cn the other hand, Dr. Adam Smith 
 has julily obferved, that the wealth of a country may rapidly increafe, 
 though the* apparent balance of trade be again!! it. He gives the ex¬ 
 ample of the colonies, which now form the American ftates. He m'g'nt 
 have added Ireland. She has more than doubled her people in a century .- 
 ihe has more than quadrupled the quantity of their labour and produBs, 
 which form the real wealth of every people. Augment your inbabilanti 
 and their indu/lrj, fays Mr. Hume, and you need not trouble yourfelves 
 about the nominal balance of trade. 
 
 to 
 
t *9 1 
 
 to thofe I have collected, and can fpare time from ftudies 
 more perfonally interefting*. 
 
 The provifion trade is a great article of commerce, but 
 deftruftive to Ireland: it mull neceilarily be purfued until 
 there is an encreafe of population. The quantity of black 
 cattle will not decreafe until the fame ground that feeds them 
 {hall be occupied by men. The profits of the provifion trade 
 cannot be afcertained by the quantity {hipped, but by the 
 price, becaufe the redundancy muft be exported, let the price 
 be what it may. The pork trade is indeed beneficial, as it 
 affifts the poor cottager at little or no expence to pay the rent 
 of his miferable cabin and acre of land. 
 
 Although we can procure bar-iron oh the fame terms with 
 Great Britain from the Eaft country, yet on an average of 
 three years importation, ending the 25th March, 1783, we 
 imported each year, 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 From the Eaft country, ... 98.488 
 
 And from Great Britain, - - 74-73° 
 
 notwithftanding the additional expence of a fecond freight, 
 with other incidental charges, and that the duty on bar-iron 
 from Great Britain is 3s. 6d. a ton more than from the Eaft 
 country. 
 
 In the equalization duty on iron and iron wares in 1778, 
 the duty was calculated as if all the iron manufactured in 
 Great Britain was imported. By the evidence given to the 
 
 * Mr. Laffan is conjured not to make the documents of his hiftory 
 bend to his hypothefis, but to draw his inferences from his data : let him 
 eliablith the JaCl firft, and then draw a fair conclufion. Mr. Laffan will 
 not furely forget to ftate in his proofed hifiory. That the value of the 
 
 1785, 3,500,000. And then, he will naturally give vent to his pa¬ 
 ternal feelings What an aftonilhing increafe, and how prodigioufly 
 Ireland muft have profpered, in the mean time, though her good pa¬ 
 triots have been continually complaining of her decline !! 
 
 committee 
 
i 3 ° ] 
 
 Committee of the Britifh Houfe of Lords, there are about 
 55.000 tons of iron imported, and 30.000 tons annually maife 
 in Great Britain; and as a rapid progrefs is making in her 
 manufaSure of bar-iron the importation of courfe will de- 
 creafe. Ireland makes no bar-iron. The true mode of 
 equalizing the duty, as the trade Hands at prefent, is to lay 
 an excife on all bar-iron made in Great Britain equal to the 
 dury paid on all iron imported ; or if Great Britain willies 
 to protect her bar-iron manufacture, to rate the duty on iron 
 imported upon all iron confumed. For example, I {hall, to 
 avoid fractions, fuppofe that (he imports 60.000 tons, and 
 manufactures 30.00® tons, the grofs amount of the duty paid 
 on 6o.ccotons imported Ihould be rated as paid on t(ie 90.000 
 tons confumed, then two-thirds of the duty now adtually paid 
 in Great Britain would be the proper equalization duty for 
 bar-iron exported by Ireland to the BritiOr colonies. 
 
 The prefent duty on a ton of bar-iron imported in Great 
 Britain is - - - - £.2 16 1 
 
 To make this lri£h money - 048 
 
 £•3' 0 9 
 
 But as one-third of the bar-iron exported 
 from Great Britain is made there fubject to no 
 excife, deduft one-third of the above duty, 103 
 
 The true equalization duty for Ireland is 206 
 And as the duty in 1778 was fettled at 2I. 10s. per ton, 
 ■we pay at prefent os. Cd. per ten more than the true equa¬ 
 lization, although there was an additional duty of 7s. 7d. 
 per ton laid on iron imported into Great Britain ftnee this 
 calculation of 2I. 10s. was framed and palled into a law. 
 
 Doubts having arifen on what average to eftimate the 
 trade of bar-iron when manufactured into iron-wares, it 
 would, be prefumptuous to form any calculation on the true 
 equalizing duty; when tlr&fe doubts are removed, and the 
 average 
 
C 31 3 
 
 average properly afcertiined, the duty on exportation fhould 
 be fettled oh the above principle. 
 
 But there is a Ihorter and eafier way to make this affair 
 fatisfaiflory to the manufacturers of both kingdoms, which 
 is to grant a drawback of all duties on exportation. 
 
 If Lord Sheffield, in His Observations on the American States, 
 is rightly informed, the quantity of iron made in Great 
 Britain exceeds the quantity imported. His Lordfhip favs, 
 p. 18, that the imports are near 50,600 tons, arid that 
 there is from 50 to 60,000 toiis of pig; and from 15 to 
 20,000 tons of bar-iron made in Great Britain; and there 
 is every reafon to think the noble writer was well founded 
 ih this ailertion, for, in his Observations on the prefc'nt State 
 of Ireland, he fays, page 2X2,'“ The improvements in mak- 
 “ ing good bar-iron with pit-coaI, ! the great aid given to 
 “ labour, and the expe'nces fayed by the improved ftearh- 
 M engines, afford a reafonable hope that in time, if no ex- 
 i; frkordiriary checks fhould intervene, enough will be 
 “ made in Britain to fupply thefe kingdoms ih that rteceffary 
 “ article.” And as a corroboration of tfifs well-founded 
 hope he remarks, in a note, that 500 tons of coals are 
 daily confumed by one company in Shropfhire in this ma¬ 
 lt will not, I prefume, be confidercd an unneceffary di- 
 greflion to mention here, from Dr. Boate’s Natural Hi/lory 
 of Ireland, the iron forges at work in Ireland in the reign of 
 Charles I. every one of which is now in ruins, or I fhould 
 rather fay, not a veftige of them remains. 
 
 Several iron works in Munfter, by the Earl of Cork. 
 
 In the counties of Rofcommon and Leitrim, and near 
 Mountrath, in the Queen’s county, by Sir Charles Coote. 
 
 At Ballin'akil, in the Queen’s county, by the Earl of 
 Londonderry. 
 
 At Mountmelick, by Sir Adam Loftus. 
 
 ' la 
 
^ 3 * 3 
 
 In Fermanagh, by Sir John Dunbar. 
 
 In the fame county, by the fide of Lough-Earn, by Sir 
 Leonard Blenerhaflet. 
 
 In Thomond, by fome London merchants. 
 
 Befides feveral others on the coafts of Ulfter and Mun- 
 fter, in which Englifh ore was ufed ; and likewife feveral 
 hloomeries, hammer works, and calling works;, of the 
 latter, one was working by Sir Chriftopher Wandfworth, 
 in the barony of Idough, for calling ordnance, pots, fmall 
 round furnaces, c ic. ; and in digging out the iron ore, they 
 difcovered the vein of coals at prefent well known by the 
 name of Kilkenny Coal. 
 
 I Ihall give a few more inftances of the relative fituation 
 of Great Britain and Ireland as to commerce, and leave 
 the reader to judge on what grounds Lord Sheffield aiTerted, 
 that Ireland will become the depot of colonial and foreign 
 produce *. 
 
 In the year, ending 25th March, 1783, Ireland imported 
 3.459.861 lb. of tobacco, of which 2.415.1371b. were im¬ 
 ported from Great Britain. 
 
 In the fame year {he imported 60.079 lb. of indigo, of 
 which 47.898 lb. came circuitoufly through Great Britain. 
 
 Of raw and thrown filk Ihe imported each year, on an 
 average of three years, ending 25th March, 1783,114.7991b. 
 of which 111.9441b. came circuitoufly through Great Bri- 
 
 There is fomething very unaccountable in the difficulties 
 thrown in the way of Ireland as to a proper explanation 
 of the Methuen treaty made in the year 1703. It is a nar- 
 
 * Loan Sheffield is a 'well-known party-writer, who borrows 
 what he diffeminates from Silas Dean, and others ; and who confe- 
 qnently fills his voluminous pamphlets with miflalemnts of fafls and 
 with ccitraJiSicus to his own reafonings. The true anfwer to fuch 
 a politician is Sbiffield verfus Sbtffidd, as Mr. Laffan’s friends at the 
 Middle Temple would fay. 
 
 rowncfs 
 
C 33 ] 
 
 • rownefs of principle In a Britifh minifter not to have this mat¬ 
 ter properly adjufted. The Irilh crown is infeparably an¬ 
 nexed to the ctown of Great Britain, and of courfe Ireland 
 is a part of the empire. No foreign power, on forming 
 treaties, is fuppofed to know what particular difabilities any 
 part of the Britifh empire is fubjedt to, when fuch treaties 
 are figned. If Briftol, Liverpool, or any other Britifh 
 port, was laid under an interdict of trade by the Britifh 
 parliament before this treaty was made; and that interdict 
 afterwards removed, can it be fuppofed that Portugal would 
 refufe taking goods from fuch port on account of the inter- 
 di£t ? Ireland lay under futh an interdidl at the time, and 
 when that interdidl was removed, fhe was intitled to the 
 benefit of the treaty. That file did not enjoy it, was owing 
 tb internal regulations of the empire; of which no foreign 
 power can judge. If this treaty, made in the year 1703, 
 was originally defigned for England alone, was there any 
 cbjedtion made by the court of Lifbon to Scotland’s partici¬ 
 pation of the treaty ? Certainly there was not. 
 
 It is ridiculous to afTert, that at the time this treaty was 
 made, Portugal objedted to the admiffion of Irifli woollens. 
 Portugal never made any objection to receiving Irifh 
 woollens, whilft the interdidt lafted, and that they were a 
 contraband trade from this kingdom; and when the interdict 
 was removed, and the duties on all wines imported were 
 laid on, confonant to the fpirit of that treaty, it was de¬ 
 clared in the Irifh Houfe of Commons to be done in confe¬ 
 rence of a declaration of the Portuguese ambafiador, that 
 if the duties on all wines of the growth of Portugal were 
 not lower by one-third than the duties on French wine.% 
 Ireland could not be permitted to enjoy the benefit of the 
 treaty. 
 
 In July, 1729, the Englifh fadlory at Lifbon publifhed a 
 e memorial 
 
C 34 ] 
 
 * memorial on the balance of trade between Great Britain, 
 and Portugal. In the eftimate the imports and exports of, 
 Ireland to and from Portugal are included as part, of the 
 imports and exports of the empire. Ireland will rife or fall 
 with Great Britain. The friends of Great Britain are the 
 friends of Ireland; the enemies of Great Britain, the ene-. 
 mies of Ireland. In the infraction of treaties of the empire 
 Ireland is deeply interefted. Her blood and treafure are. 
 expended, and her trade equally expofed to the ravages of. 
 thofe wars in which the empire is engaged. She is therefore 
 as well intitled to the common benefits refulting to the 
 empire from treaties, as fire is liable to the difadvantages of 
 an unfuccefsful war. 
 
 It is a fixed and certain rule in the law if nations, that 
 treaties include all the ftates of the contrafting powers as 
 to their fubjects and commerce, unlefs limited by exprefs 
 flipulations to particular places or certain perfons, or with 
 exemptions precifely defined. 
 
 Are there any exprefs flipulations to particular places 
 or perfons, or are there any exemptions in the Methuen 
 treaty ? It was made by Queen Anne; her ftyle was not 
 then Queen of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, but 
 Queen of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, and 
 the treaty was made for all her fubjects. Internal regula¬ 
 tions of the empire prevented fome of her fubjects from 
 enjoying for a time the benefit of it. Portugal knew 
 nothing of thefe internal regulations, but as foon as the 
 difabilities caufed by thefe regulations were removed, every 
 fubject of the empire was entitled to the benefits of the 
 treaty, becaufe it was figned by the refpe£live powers 
 without any exemption of places or perfons. 
 
 In thefe circumftances Ireland has reafon to complain 
 
 Lex Mercatoria, p. 530. 
 
[ 35 ] 
 
 of the inattention (to call it by no worfe a name) of the 
 Britilh minifter in the Portugal bufinefs * The proper 
 conftruftion of treaties is fo well known that Portugal 
 would raife no difficulty, if fne did not perceive it pleafing 
 to the Britilh miniftry. Portugal knew or feemed to know 
 nothing of Britilh reftriclions on Irifh trade, whilft fuch 
 reltriclions were enforced, as fhe freely admitted our wool¬ 
 len manufadture when fmuggled out of Ireland, but the 
 harrow policy of a few Britilh merchants in the Lilbon 
 faftory have caufed a new conftruction of treaties, and the 
 conftruction by the law of nations and general ufage mull: be 
 laid afide for their advantage. 
 
 It is not furprifing that Ireland Ihould be unacquainted 
 with the conftrufiion of treaties, being fo long debarred 
 front their common benefits; but it is indeed furprifing that 
 Ihe a died with fuch ill policy as to endanger the little trade 
 that remained with Portugal by laying (I may fay) prohibi¬ 
 tory duties on Portugal wines. The balance of trade with 
 Portugal was conliderably more than 8000I. a year in favour 
 of Ireland, and a profpecl of an increafing balance; thus 
 circumftanced we Ihould not irritate her. Our interefi: calls 
 upon us to conciliate by withdrawing thefe duties. A war 
 of prohibitions with Portugal will certainly hurt, but can¬ 
 not ferve us. Much may be done by negotiation, when 
 the Britilh minifter is convinced we know what we are 
 .entitled to. 
 
 1* It is an undoubted fail, that not only the prefent but the farmer 
 minifters did every thing in their power ta have this matter properly'ad- 
 jujled. For, it is the interefi of every minifter to preferve, or procure 
 quiet in his time. But, the Britilh government cannot diftate to'any 
 foreign power. And while the Iriftt do not heartily concur, by impofing 
 proper duties in favour of the Portugal wines, they cannot expe£t much 
 benefit from the foolilh treaty of 1703. 
 
 If the Irifh find it now fo difficult to procure an adjuftment of this 
 perplexing bufinefs, what embarraftments would they not encounter if 
 they were as independent as the American States ? 
 
 The 
 
[ 36 ] 
 
 The flrange conduct: of the Britifh minifler in this bufir 
 nefs will make it neceffary for Ireland, in any commercial 
 regulations entered into with Great Britain, to have the 
 fpirit of foreign treaties more clearly defined, and fuch defi¬ 
 nition Ihould be the bafts or fundamental principle of the 
 regulations, I was never more furprized than at an ex- 
 preffion of the late Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Iriflq 
 Houfe of Commons, when the Propofitions were agitated. 
 He laid, with a degree of exultation, that if the commercial 
 regulations were adopted, Ireland would be enabled to fhip 
 off her manufactures to Britifh ports, and from thence fhe 
 
 could export them as Britifh manufaftures.-What ! 
 
 muff Ireland be under the neceffity of making Great Britain 
 the entrepot of her manufactures *. I believe this gentle¬ 
 man’s commercial knowledge is great, and his attachment 
 to the intereft of Ireland equally great, that he did all the 
 good in his power to his country, though probably not as 
 much as he wifhed. But that a man of fo great knowledge of 
 trade did not perceive that making Great Britain the entrepot 
 of Irifh manufadtures, would give an advantage.-to Britifh 
 manufacturers of the fecond freight and port, and other 
 incidental charges, is aftonifhing. What the amount of the 
 
 * But, for the capital of England the manufaaure of Irifh linens would 
 never have been carried to its prefent greatne'fs. At the fame time that 
 the Britifh merchant advances money to the Irilh manufacturers on tits 
 goods cenjigned, he can give a reafcnable profit, and afterwards fend the 
 Irish linens and other fabrics to diltant countries, where long credits 
 are neceffary. Britain is not only the greateft but the belt market for 
 
 ..urelt and the readied. Aqd the trade of both are advantageous to 
 each other. Were the expoits from Ii eland to Britain Ihut up only for 
 a month this circumftance alone would Itop the whole circulation of 
 Ireland. And Mr. Laffan would do well to confider, that the Jiopfage 
 cf^ circulation is the mod fatal accident that can happen to a manufac¬ 
 turing country j becaufe it includes every evil of the fcarcity of money. 
 
 freight 
 
C 37 3 
 
 freight and charges is, may be partly judged by the eftimate 
 of expences heretofore alluded to on a pack of linen, and 
 fo far would operate as a protecting duty in favour of Britilh 
 manufactures. 
 
 It is worthy of confideration, whether there fliould not be 
 forpe fpecific protection to the trade of Ireland in time of 
 war, if commercial regulations with Great Britain are 
 adopted. Waterford will not recover in half a century the 
 damage the fuftained by privateers laft war. I have been 
 informed by a perfon of credit there, that the merchants 
 offered to man and vidtual a frigate, at that time captured 
 from the French, if the admiralty would ftation her on the 
 coaft for the protection of their trade; but this reafonable 
 requeft was denied, and their trade was fo harraffed; it be¬ 
 came a common faying among the falters,'that they were 
 curing provifions for the French. 
 
 It is not the intereft of Ireland to purfue any direct trade 
 with the Eaft Indies. Individuals have acquired immenfe 
 wealth there, but the manufacturing kingdom, whofe com¬ 
 merce to the Eaft is moft extenfive, receives the greateft 
 prejudice, the.imports from Afia being chiefly manufactures 
 and articles of luxury, the exports three-fourths bullion. 
 Great Britain lofes above *£.1,-100,000 yearly by her con¬ 
 nections with the Eaft, exclufive of the damage her manu¬ 
 facturers fuftain by the confumption of chintzes, nankeens, 
 muflins, calhcoes, and the other beautiful manufactures of 
 Afia, which, though partly prohibited to be worn in Great 
 
 * Chalmer’s Eftimate, p. 55.— In pige 
 following pafiage, which Mr. LaiFan feen 
 «« But, whether we ought to confider this 
 de'pend on the eflential circumltancs, whe 
 
 merchandizes of the Eaft> or by exporting 
 grangers, we draw back with interefl wl 
 —This reafoniog applies to every other co> 
 
 57 of this trafl there is the ' 
 ms not to have attended to : 
 balance as abfolutely loft mutt 
 ether we confume at home the 
 them for the confumption of 
 hat we had only advanced '' 
 >untry and every other trade. 
 
 Britain, 
 
[ 38 ] 
 
 Britain, yet even exported from thence, lefTen the con- 
 fumption of the manufactures of Manchefter, Paifley, and 
 Spitalfields. Teas, drugs, fpices, china, and raw materials, 
 are all we want; thefe can be procured in return for our own 
 manufactures, which will flourifh in proportion to the extent 
 of a prohibition on the wearing of Afiatic manufactures. 
 
 I will not attempt to form any eftimate of the capital of 
 Ireland in agriculture, manufactures and the commerce ne- 
 celTary to promote them; but I muft fuppofe, from, the con¬ 
 current opinion of all perfons, that it is fufficient for thele 
 purpofes. Ireland fhould firft try to enrich herfelf by her 
 internal trade; therefore to divert any part of her fmall 
 capital, fo ufefully employed internally, her manufaiStures 
 muft languifh in proportion to the quantity of her flock 
 thus withdrawn. Spain has been depopulated and brought 
 to the verge of ruin, by withdrawing her capital from do- 
 mefticinduftry, and making herSouth-fea trade the principal 
 fource of her wealth, which fhould be but as an acceflary 
 to thofe internal refources (he fo eminently poflefled and fo 
 fatally negle&ed. 
 
 The fame argument; will anfiver for thofe wild notions of 
 a Greenland fifhery. Where is the neceffity to explore the 
 icy regions of the North, when our own coafts prefent them- 
 felves as inexhauftible fources of wealth ? 
 
 Adminiftration not having been coerced to reduce the 
 national expences to its income, it was prudent to equalize 
 the revenue to its expenditures. The ill policy of Great 
 Britain in accumulating an enormous debt is_ a fufficient 
 warning for Ireland to avoid that rock on which her After 
 may poffibly fplit. Some of the taxes laid on laft feffions 
 for this purpofe were proper, fome imprudent, and others 
 oppreffive. The additional ftamp on newfpapers, and new 
 modelling the tax on advertifements, cannot he productive, 
 were not defigned to be productive, but were Jlatnpcd with 
 oppreffion. 
 
[ 39 1 
 
 oppreffion. Some damnable doctrines of aflaffinatidns were, 
 belched forth from the prefs, but the laws were fufficient to 
 chaftife the offenders. It is tyranny to opprefs the inno¬ 
 cent on account of the gilt of a few. Inftitutions of the 
 moft beneficial nature are liable to be abufed. The circu¬ 
 lation of intelligence and advertifements, neceffary. to pro¬ 
 mote the fale of infant manufactures is obftrufted., They 
 are unproductive taxes on commerce, and ought to be dif-. 
 continued. 
 
 In thefe enquiries, I have pointed out in a manner here¬ 
 tofore unattended.to, the relative fituation of. Great Britain 
 and Ireland, not with a view to impede a commercial union, 
 which I think is expedient , but to put matters in fuch a light- 
 that the contracting parties may meet each other, on fair 
 terms of reciprocity, which can be the only bafts of a 1 aft'-' 
 ing treaty. A confolidation of commercial iritereft's between 
 Great Britain and Ireland is a confummation devoutly to be- 
 wifhed. A consolidation of constitutions Ireland 
 will not suffer. It is to be apprehended that the late 
 commercial propofitions will not anfvver the purpofe. I 
 confine myfelf to the commercial part of the Propofitions, 
 as I fuppofe, from the vigorous defence in the laft feffions 
 of parliament, no farther attempts will be made on the le-. 
 giflative rights of Ireland. 
 
 If the prefent minifter of Great Britain had experience 
 equal to his patriotifm, he would be capable of executing 
 great projects *; but as it is a ftrong marked trait of his-cha- 
 racter 
 
 * Mr. Laffan does not advert, that a man may be born a minifter, as 
 men are born poets and generals • or, that fucha man of five and twen-. 
 ty, who exerts great diligence with unwearied attention to affairs, may, 
 poflefs more of the neceflary qualities of a minifter, than the,man. of five 
 and thirty with equal genius, who fpends his nights at the gaming-ta r 
 blej or more experience than the man of forty-five, who with lefs - ge¬ 
 nius enjoys his joke without caring for the Jlate . . Mr. Laffan bught to., 
 have felt, that a comprehenfive mind feldom entertains litte jealoufies of 
 
I 40 3 
 
 racier that he adopts plans beneficial to the (late, and denied 
 the inventors the merit due to them, he holds out too great 
 a difcouragement to men of genius to exert their abilities iri 
 the fervice of their country. The plan of fuch a minifter 
 will be but a rough draft, a mere (ketch that may preferit 
 the outlines of a great defign. Such was the rough unfi- 
 ni(hed plan of the late propofitions. It will require the uni¬ 
 ted efforts of commiffioners appointed by Great Britain and 
 Ireland to lick this cub into formf. Regulations which 
 (hould be attended to minutely in the refpective arrides of 
 
 real talents. And the recent appointment of Mr. Eden evinces, «< that 
 there are not too great difcouragements held out to men of genius to 
 exert their abilities in the fervice of their country.” 
 
 ■f Let us fuppofe Mr. Laffan’s commiilioners affembled : let us fupe 
 pofe that their commilfions appeared, when they were produced, to be 
 derived from two independent countries, whofe inhabitants were of courie 
 aliens to each other : and let us fuppofe that the Britilh commiilioners 
 opened the treaty by faying The two Crowns were once united, and 
 the inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland were then fellow-fubjeSs 
 to each other:—but though this is no longer fo we are dill defirous to 
 
 liberal equity, mutual advantage, and common prote&ion : as fellowc 
 
f 41 3 
 
 commerce cannot be arranged by parliaments fitting in dif¬ 
 ferent kingdoms. An age would not compleat the work. 
 Commiffioners ballotted for by parliament to conduit this 
 treaty would be refponfible to the nation for impolitic or im¬ 
 prudent conceffions. The refponfibility of a Britifli fecre- 
 tary to a lord lieutenant is a mere ignis fatuus. Purfue this 
 Will o’ the Wifp, it difappears and is loft for ever in St. 
 George’s channel. Appointing commiffioners after the re¬ 
 gulations are adopted by parliament is flurring over the bu- 
 finefs in a flovenly manner, and ending where it Ihould 
 begin. In the courfe of enquiries made by commiffioners 
 appointed to conduft this treaty, feveral matters will pre- 
 fent themfelves which may throw a new light on the whole 
 fyftem, and they may ftrike out a proper mode for mutually 
 adopting future regulations without interfering with thele- 
 giflative rights of either kingdom *. 
 
 But wherefore (hall this treaty recur to the duties paid in 
 May 1782 ? Why Ihould it not be eftablifhed upon the duties 
 at prefent exifting ? Muft the fmall proteftion given to the 
 Irilh breweries, fo eflential to agriculture, be difcontinued ? 
 
 * It is not eafy to difcover what new light could be thrown by 
 commiflioners on a fubjeft, which has been fo fully difculfed by the 
 ableft men in both kingdoms. The bufinefs mult be at lad contidered 
 and ratified, by the two Parliaments, which would give rife to the fame 
 debates, and probably end exaftly where they began. In the appoint¬ 
 ment of commifiioners'is implied, that the whole arrangements are to be 
 opened afrelh. It may be faid, without reflefting on any other people, 
 “ that the people of Great Britain are a generous people, and will never 
 retraft what they have fairly conceded, without the molt urgent reafon. 
 
 tion anew, the Britilh people would certainly infill to have a fpecific 
 equivalent for each particular grant of privilege in trade or prote&ion 
 to (hipping both in peace and war. The people of Britain will never 
 admit the people of Ireland to every advantage of their commerce, 
 without a pofitive agreement, that the navigation laws of Ireland fliall 
 always keep pace with the navigation laws of Britain. 
 
 Muft 
 
[ 4^ 3 
 
 Muft the trifling ftrip of flannel, in which a part of our in¬ 
 fant cotton manufacture is fwathed, be thrown away ? Great 
 Britain will not-infift upon it unlefs the finds Ireland is incli¬ 
 ned to relinquilh itf. 
 
 In the Bill introduced by Mr. Orde laft feffions, there are 
 ftrong marks of hurry and inattention. In one feftion it is 
 enacted, by an Irifh Parliament, that Irifh fliips fhall be 
 hereafter Britifli. If there was another fettion enafting, 
 that Irifh Clips fhall be liketvife Spanifh, then an Irifh Ihip, 
 by hoiftihg her Spanilh colours, could burft the boom placed 
 from the Straights of Magellan to the Cape of Good Hope, 
 and by traverfing the South-Sea make her voyage home round 
 the globe freighted with Eaft-India commodities, purchafed 
 with filver from the mines of Potofi. That Great Britain 
 or Spain may.make laws that Irifh fhipslhould beconfidered 
 as Britifh or Spanifli there is no doubt, hut it is a hew mode 
 of conveyancing for a donee to grant to himfelf. If in a fi- 
 milar fitualion the citizens of Dublin, in their corporate c'a- 
 pacity,paffed an act'that all the freemen of Dublin were from 
 thenceforward livery-men of London, it would be laughed at 
 in London as an Irilh-blunder. 
 
 'A* fimilarity'of conftitutioii and the fame language muft 
 caufe a with in the bread of every Briton and irifliman to ri-' 
 vet their affections as firm as poffibie. The intereft of Ireland 
 requires it- The profperity of Great Britain in a great mea- 
 fure depends upon it. The Britifh empire tottered becaufe 
 the' foundation was. too Imall for fo great a fuperftrudture,. 
 and it was preferred from ruin by the late critical peace. It 
 
 f The people of Britain begin to fufpect, that the Irifh, like the 
 Americans, prels for a commercial treaty, in erder to gain fome com¬ 
 mercial advantage, without any equivalent, and without having any 
 equivalent to give. The people of Britain begin to feel, that the Iriih, 
 in t'ntir pamphlets and orations, write and fpeak like fuperiors more than 
 
[ 43 ]. 
 
 is probable if it was ftill more lightened at top it would be 
 the firmer. Such as it is, no alliance, no federal union with 
 any other powers could be framed fo beneficial to both as a 
 federal union between Great Britain am}. Ireland. Provi¬ 
 dence placed them by the fide of each other for their mutual 
 fupport, and every fubject of the two kingdoms muft fliud- 
 der at any idea of a reparation, efpecially an Irilhman, whofe 
 infant ftate calls for the afliftance of fuch a friend*. There 
 are Cromwells and Catilines in every country. Men of 
 defperate fortunes wifli for a change. But to fuppofe the 
 great body of the nation wifhes to difl'olve her conneSiort 
 with Great Britain is aftonithing ; yet we find inftnuations 
 have been thrown out in the Houfe of Commons.by fervants 
 of the crown, of a wifli of this kind being foflered fomewhere. 
 That adminiftration muft be weak indeed which can give 
 Credit to fuch reports, and ftill weaker to propagate them. 
 If they wifli to foment jealoufies in the kingdom, and make 
 this reign like that of Charles II. a reign of fidtitious 
 plots, they Ihould firft confider how it may affedt the empire. 
 
 The affairs of Ireland have for fome time engaged the at¬ 
 tention of Europe; the Irifli debates have been read every 
 where with avidity, and thofe perfons have little regard for 
 
 * All this is eafily fin'd; yet no min, woman, or child, in Gieat Bri¬ 
 tain need JbuJ.tir at'the idea of a final reparation from Ireland. The 
 conneftion of peaceable and indnllrious Ireland is a good to be defired ; 
 but idle and difeontented Ireland forms an embarraffinent, which may 
 be relinquiihed without much lamentation. The diftreffis and diffrac¬ 
 tions of Ireland, during tile American war, were the weaknefs, not the 
 ftrength of Great Britain. When a limb can by no poffibility be re¬ 
 tained, it is amputated. It was once faid, that Great Britain could not 
 
 Great Britain is ftill one of the greateft of nations One of the greateft- 
 
 to-morrow, whatever fituarion Ireland might be in. For, the refources 
 of Britain flow all from fountains within her own circumference. One 
 of the refources, which, amidft her future druggies the may eafiiy ufe, 
 is formally to renounce connsftions, of whatever kind, which (hall he 
 'found tqo embarraffing, or too expenfive to her. Dangers are already 
 half conquered when you look them full in the face. 
 
 Great 
 
[ 44 ] 
 
 Great Britain who throw out infinuations that Ireland is 
 Ioofe in her attachment to her fitter; Great Britain may be 
 involved in frefh difficultes by fuch infinuations. What fo¬ 
 reign power will form alliances with a disjointed empire. 
 The riots in Dublin were unjuftifiable, but not of fuificient 
 confequence to be introduced in a fpeech from the throne 
 feemingly congratulating the kingdom on the reftoration of 
 peace. What can any foreigner fay who reads a proclama¬ 
 tion in the Dublin Gazette, offering a reward to apprehend 
 perfons for forcibly carrying away a young lady, deferibing 
 the houfe and town in the county of Cork in which Ihe is 
 jiilldetained? He will naturally afic. Is Ireland in fuch a 
 flate of rebellious diforder that government cannot enforce 
 a due execution of the laws, but is under a neceffity to offer 
 rewards for reftoring this young perfon to her friends, and ap¬ 
 prehending her ravifhers ? Or has Ireland an adminiftration 
 of non-effectives ? 
 
 Suppofing for an inftant that Ireland was totally uncon¬ 
 nected with Great Britain, and looking out for alliances. 
 Of all the alliances Ihe could make, that with France would 
 be moft prejudicial to her intereft. Ireland is now attempts 
 ing to encreafe her manufactures, France will not receive in¬ 
 to her ports the manufactures of any country. She receives 
 our provifions, but it is the intereft of Ireland to encreafe her 
 population by an increafe of manufactures, and add to her 
 wealth, by flocking her lands with men and decreafing her 
 export of provifions. As intereft is the grand main-fpring 
 of all alliances, every kingdom will look to that which is 
 moft beneficial. Ireland can gain great and folid advantages 
 by a connection with Great Britain. By a connection with 
 France, {he has no market for her manufa£tures, and rilks 
 the lofs of what {he has already acquired. Thus' circum- 
 ftanced, Ireland {hould look with a jealous eye on the perfon 
 who afferts that French money had found its way into the 
 kingdom to promote a civil war, {hould call upon him to 
 
[ AS 1 
 
 make his aflertion good, by pointing out the traitors, and if 
 he did not prove the charge, fhould tell him he was not a 
 proper hereditary counfellor for a nation thus traduced. 
 
 And Ireland fhould call upon her parliament to revife and 
 amend the Iri£h ftatute (ftil! in force) of the to C. I. c. 21. 
 fefT. 3. the preamble of which is “ Whereas it hath pleafed 
 “ our late moft gracious fovereign King James of blefled me- 
 ct mory, as alfo the King’s moft excellent Majefty that now 
 “ is, out of their princely wifdoms, and of their mere grace 
 “ and favour, to confer upon feveral able, worthy and well- 
 “ deferving perfons inhabiting or dwelling in England, and 
 sc elfewhere out of this kingdom, titles of honour, amongft: 
 “ the nobility of this kingdom of Ireland, whereby they do 
 “ enjoy place and precedency according to thofe titles re- 
 ec fpeflively; fo it cannot be denied but that in a juft way 
 “ of retribution they ought to contribute to all public char- 
 cc ges and payments taxed by a parliament in this kingdom, 
 “ from whence the titles of their honours are derived, and 
 “ whereunto others of their rank here refident are liable.’' 
 Then it enafts that all fuch abfentees fhall be liable to all 
 public charges and taxes of that or any future parliament *. 
 
 This patriotic adt amended may reftore to Ireland fome 
 of her non-refident nobility. Others will be more cautious 
 of afpiring to titles in a kingdom to which they are ftran- 
 
 * The people of Great Britain are not the leaft interefted in fuch a 
 meafure. By an abfentee tax Ireland would only raife up enemies to 
 herfelf, without reftoring any of her non-refident nobility. Some of 
 the non-refident nobility would be very properly punilhed for oppofing 
 late arrangements, which had for their chief end the real interefts 
 and tranquillity of both. With the example of the American refugees 
 wandering before their eyes, it is marvellous that the non-refident no¬ 
 bility do not throw their whole weight into the fcale of peace 
 and UNION ; when they recollefl too, that a century has not yetelapfed 
 fince the eftates of the non-refident nobility were forfeited by an Irilh 
 Parliament, claiming feparate rights, till they were reftored by the 
 bravery and wealth of Great Britain, 
 
 gers, 
 
[ 46 3 
 
 gers, or againft the interest of which they are prejudiced. It 
 will prevent the danger of an inundation of Englifh-Irifh 
 peers pouring into the kingdom, and overturning any mea- 
 fures agitated in the Houfe of Lords for the benefit of Ire¬ 
 land. We may find that when one of our nobility takes up 
 his pen on the relative fituaticn of Great Britain and Ire¬ 
 land, if he is not situated by a laudable partiality for this 
 country, he will at ieaft adopt this motto, 
 
 Tns Tj/rittfque mihi mtilo Aifcrimine agetur. 
 
 I have endeavoured to point out the relative fituation ol" 
 Great Britain and Ireland as to population, commerce and 
 manufactures: to fhew how deficient we are in population, 
 in proportion to the extent of the two kingdoms, and to 
 prove that the difference in their refpedtive rates of intereft 
 muft ever deprefs Ireland in any attempt at a competition 
 with Great Britain. The juftnefs of the calculations have 
 been evinced by the llate of the linen and carrying trade at 
 different periods. The proportion of raw materials and 
 other articles of commerce which have been imported cir- 
 cuitoufly through Great Britain with the additional expences 
 of a fecend freight and other incidental charges, is a proof 
 that although ive can import thefe articles from the foun¬ 
 tain-head, her wealth will make her the depot of colonial 
 and foreign produce. I have adduced the authority of the 
 experienced Sir Jofnua Child, to fhew the effects of intereft 
 of money on duties and cuftoms, and it neceflarily follows 
 that tiie fame duties in Britifh and Irifh’ ports on the ma¬ 
 nufactures of each other give an advantage of 4 per cent, 
 to the Britifh manufacturers. When thefe matters, with 
 the proper conftruction of treaties, are taken into detail, 
 Ireland may then, and not till then,, eftabiilh a commercial 
 fyftem with Great Britain, of which reciprocity of benefits 
 will be the bafts.