the adoption of this fyftem Ireland would of course be for ever excluded from the benefit of thofe protecting duties, which had been fo much the object of her predilection: and fecondly, that by thefe propofitions the exifting prohibition in Britain upon the raw material of her woollen manufacture was rendered perpetual, contrary to the general fpirit of the fyftem. Both thefe objections were ftated with great perfpicuity by Mr. Gardiner upon the day on which the fyftem was opened to the Irifh houfe of commons; but he did not lay great ftrefs upon the former, and declared himself willing to recede from the idea of protecting duties. That matter was not fo eafily yielded by the whole body of the reprefenta. tives of the Irish nation. His objections were taken up in two petitions that were prefented immediately previous to the debate of Friday, on the part of the Dublin chamber of commerce, and of the manufacturers of wool, worsted, filk and cotton goods of that city. The first of thefe petitioning bodies declared themfelves anxious for the establishment of fome fuch fyftem as that which was propofed, while the fecond demanded to be heard by their counsel relatively to the provisions of the fyftem. It was moved by Mr. Flood as an amendment to the fyftem, "that it was highly important to the gereral interest of the British empire to give due encouragement to the home industry of each kingdom, and that every article of the product, growth, or manufacture of each kingdom fhould have an effectual preference in the home market of each, referving to each other an effectual preference over all fimilar articles from other countries." Mr. Flood obferved, that in every country the home market was infinitely a more To place the fubject of the wool, len manufacture together with fome other articles in fimilar circum Stances ftances in a more ftriking light, it was moved by Mr. Griffith, that there be laid before the house a 1 ft of those commodities, the importation of which into Britain was prohibited, or their exportation from Britain into Ireland. As there was fome difficulty in bringing this paper before the houfe in compliance with parliamentary forms, Mr. Griffith directly stated what thofe articles were. Among the firft were included hats, foap, candles, flarch, and linen checks of more than ten yards in a piece. Among the latter he enumerated particularly live heep, worited, linen yarn, and every fpecies of commodity that was contructed from wool not yet manufactured. The fpirit of prohibition in this refpect, he obferved, went fo far, that a gentleman would not even be permitted to bring a mattrafs from England for his bed. In purfuance of the ideas he had ftated in the outlet, Mr. Gardiner moved as an amendment, that "no prohibition nor any duty whatfoever fhould hereafter fubfift upon the export of the primum of the ftaple manufacture of either king dom into the other." The amendment was feconded by fir Edward Newenham, and ftrenuoufly recommended to the adoption of the house by Mr. Corry, Mr. Hartley and Mr. Molyneux. Major Doyle reminded the house, that it had been the diftrefs of the woollen manufacturers that had brought forward the question of protecting duties, and that for their relief the various non-importation agreements had been formed. To render both of these remedies unneceffary was the avowed object of the prefent fyftem; and how did it operate? By making the poor, ftarving woollen-weaver worfe than he was before, and mak ing the linen weaver who had no complaints, in appearance better than he was before. And then it was expected that the woollen weaver was immediately to grow fat and con ent. We might indeed fend our woollens to England, and our coals to Newcastle, and that was called equality. If the refolution pafled in its prefent form, he added, it would be neceffary to follow it with a law to export 12680 manufacturers of woollen cloth, for whom there would be no longer any occafion; or, which might be a fhorter method, to import a certain portion of the plague from the Levant to rid the country of the complaints of thefe poor fellows. Mr. Griffith remarked, that if the exportation of wool from Great Eritain was prohibited, the propofitions however permitted to Ireland the law of retaliation: the plain English of which was this. Whenever Ireland fhall increafe her flocks, improve the quality of her wool, and reduce its price lower than it was in England, which could never be, fhe might then retort upon the feat of empire, and prevent them from enjoying any advantage from the low price and fuperior excellence of the Irifh wool. Mr. Griffith knew not how to combat fo abfurd an argument, but by inflancing one of a fimilar nature. An unfortunate fmuggler was taken in the fact of carrying tea on fhore from an Eaft India fhip in the harbour of Cork. He was immediately brought on board and put in irons. Shortly after feveral lords, privycounfellors and perfons of diftinction came on board in a beautiful barge, and began to fmuggle at a very great rate. The fmuggler, finding that no notice was taken of this by the custom-house officer, began to revile him in a very nervous style, ftyle, for having punished him a very poor man, for what he fuffered lords and privy-counfellors to do with impunity. "Pith, you fool," faid the officer, "get yourself made a lord, and then you may fmuggle as much as you pleafe." This advice, Mr. Griffith averred, was much more plaufible and ferious, and the execution of it much more feasible on the part of the fmuggler, than to fuppofe that the wool of Ireland could ever come in competition in quality and price with the wool of England. The amend ment of Mr. Gardiner was excepted to by fir Edward Crofton and Mr. Dennis Browne, from the confider ation that the province of Connaught, two feveral counties of which they reprefented, paid its rent in wool, and that the amendment would prove its total destruction. The houfe divided upon the queftion, ayes 33, noes 178. the features of the odious fhip money, or whatever other impolitions had been regarded as most oppreffive. The meafure was equally cenfured as unconftitutional, by. Mr. Griffith, Mr. Longfield and Mr. Molyneux. By Mr. Flood it was fet in a ftill farther light of objection. Every man knew the contant complaint of Ireland had been the drain occafioned by her abfentees, a drain equal, in comparifon to the rental of Ireland, with the taxes of Great Britain in comparifon to the property of Britain. Now fhould it be asked, will you agree to a measure to increase the number of abfentees, instead of decreafing them, the anfwer would furely be in the negative. But in truth they did increase them when they voted an augmentation of the army; and if they voted for the fupport of the navy, they must increate them again. Was it poffible for Ireland in her prefent fituation, giving with her right hand to the army, and with her left to the navy, and having this drain of abfentees, was it poffible for her to exift? It was replied by Mr. Mafon, to the objection of Mr. Flood, that he was mistaken in his reprefentation. The laft head of the propofitions that encountered the animadvertion of the house was that relative to the compenfation to be made by Ireland in the furplus of her hereditary revenue. This had originally been treated in terms of the feveret reprobation by Mr. Brownlow. It had been well for Mr. Orde that he was at prefent in a civilifed country: had he made fuch a propofition in a Polish diet, he would not have lived to carry back his answer. Mr. Brownlow however afterwards ac knowledged, that he had perhaps fpoken of the propofition under the influence of mifapprehenfion, and that he had faid fome things to the British minifter which he believed he should not have done in a cooler moment. At the fame time he faw no ground for altering his opinion. He did not like the mode of voting money to Great Britain unconditionally; it appeared to him to have all The money was not bound to be fent abroad. They might build frigates at home for the protection of their trade; they might fend it in beef, they might lay it out in gun-powder. They might direct every penny of it to be laid out in Ireland; for the whole furplus was to be at the difpofal of parliament. This part of the fyftem was voted without any material alteration. The whole plan of the propofed arrangement was cenfured by Mr. Montgomery, member for the county of Donegal, Mr. Arthur Browne and Mr. Parfons, the reprefentatives of rogative and the defpotifm of the crown. It was fufpecting the loyalty of that country and its intereft in the fafety of the empire; it was declaring that though the hereditary revenue fhould be more productive, the additional taxes might be incrcafed, but fhould never be repealed. In fine, he regarded the firit part of the arrangement as facrificing the trade of that country, the laft its honour and independence: he fhould therefore give to the whole his hearty negative. of Trinity College, Dublin and Mr. lofs on the other. He could not Flood. The benefits propofed to be enough condemn the folly and the conferred were unfubftantial andima- ruin of a treaty of equality. Conginary, not real and valuable. The fidering the different fituations of return in the mean time that was to each country, the wealth, he capibe made was fraught with the most tal of the one, the poverty, the important confequences to the fu- wretchedness of the other, this was ture profperity of Ireland. She was to fign the death-warrant of fome to appropriate the hereditary reve- of their best fources of their prosnue, and that for ever. And what perity. With refpect to the last was the gratitude fo confidently refolution, he confidered it as opclaimed from her? Had England prive, derogating from the indeever entered into a war on her ac- pendence of parliament, at the count? Had England everfupport- fame time that it fwelled the preed a fingle fhip for her defence, more than he would have done if Ireland had been funk to the bottom of the fea? But the perfon who was most pointed in his cenfure of the general outline of the fyftem was Mr. Molyneux. He wished to do justice to Mr. Orde's abilities in bringing forward the refolutions. Confidering his fituation and his connections with England, they were fuch as by no means difgraced him. But he would with confidence de clare that every Irifhman who fupported the meafure was guilty of facrificing the trade and the most important interefts of the kingdom. They had heard much of the gratitude and the obligations in which they were held to Great Britain. This was a language he fhould ever reprobate in that houfe. Mr. Molyneux was ready to put the merits of the whole queftion upon one fingle truth, which, if it could be contradicted, he would allow his objections to be ill founded. Suppofe Ireland was entirely independent of England: would not the minifter who fhould form a treaty of commerce with Great Britain on the foundation of these refolutions, deferve to be impeached for having facrificed the interests of Ireland, and to lofe his head? It was advantage on one fide, it was But the voice of general cenfure was fcarcely heard amidst the applaufe that was bestowed upon the outline of the plan from every fide of the houfe. Those who were most particularly explicit in their commendations were Mr. Dennis Daly, Mr. George Ogle, Mr. George Ponfonby, fir Lucius O'Brien, Mr. Huffey, Mr. Brooke, Mr. Forbes, and Mr. Griffith. All of thefe either acknowledged their entire acquiefcence in the whole fyftem, or exprefly declared that in a general view its benefits appeared to them greatly to outweigh the defects that might be imputed to it. It was remarked by Mr. Dennis Browne, that the beit eulogium he could make upon the propofitions would be to read them. But now that minifters had brought forward with great trouble justify to both nations. It gave to England what he had a right to expect, and perhaps it could not give her more. trouble and difficulty a beneficial The propofitions paffed the committee of the whole house on Friday, the eleventh of February; and on Saturday they were reported and followed up by an address to the fovereign, exprelive of their fervent gratitude, and the fanguine hope with which they looked forward to the complete execution of fo liberal an arrangement. On the division upon this addrefs the only perfons who appeared against it were Mr. Parfons of the college, and Mr. Montgomery, member for the county of Donegal. It was carried with equal unanimity though the house of lords, and on the Wednesday following a meffage was fent from the lords to the commons expreffing their agreement to the refolutions and their concurrence in the address. Through the whole courfe of the bufinefs it had been intimated by Mr. Orde, that the commerce of the Eaft Indies was to be brought before the house as a feparate confideration; and it was even understood, that a system relative to this marter had been digefted into twelve dittinct propofitions. Thefe propofitions were either withheld in confequence of fome revolution in the fentiments of minifters, or de. layed, and of confequence permitted to be fuperfeded, by the alterations that it was found neceffary to make in the fyftem during its progrefs through the English parliament. In the mean time the taxes, which were requifite in the execution of the arrangement, in order immediately to raife the heredi.ary revenue to a level with the demands, were not procrastinated. The efti mates |