enabling him to draw back the whole of the duty paid on foreign goods imported, for which either he could not find a market at home, or, from a better market elsewhere, he might be induced to export; and this regulation was made with a view completely to answer the purpose of the bonding and warehousing system which it was in contemplation to extend in this country in the course of the present session. With respect to the anties on home-made spirits in Ireland-a subject upon which there had been much of discussion, and much of erroneous apprehension gone forth-no alteration whatever was contemplated under the resolutions he had to propose; and he wished particularly this circumstance to be noted fully, and understood by the persons most concerned in that trade. It was a business of so much importance, that those concerned might rely no alteration was now intended, nor would any ever be attempted without due notice; and he felt it necessary to make this declaration, in order to prevent those speculations which men might be tempted to make on the article of spirits, and the different materials connected therewith, with a view to extraordinary rise, but equally probable of ruin to the speculator. The only alteration which could be considered in any degree material, was a rise upon the licenceduty upon the retailers of spirits in three principal towns, in addition to the other great towns already charged with extraordinary licences. There was a circumstance, however, highly important to the traders between Great Britain and Ireland, which would be adopted, and which would greatly disembarrass the business of commercial

men on both sides the channel, as well as materially simplefy and facilitate the collection of the duties. There existed a material difference in the particular denomination of many commercial articles in the trade between Great Britain and Ireland, in the books of rates of the respective countries; so that the article exported from one country under one name, was received in the other by a quite different appellation; a circumstance productive of much confusion and irregula rity; but such a regulation would be made in this instance, as completely to remedy the difficulty, and enable the Irish merchant to import many articles at a retailable duty, for which he then paid a duty ad valorem. Having explained his purpose thus far, Mr. Corry proceeded to move his first resolution.-After some objections from several Irish members, the resolutions were agreed to.

On the report of these resolutions on the following day, Mr. Sheridan objected to such a measure, in the first instance on account of the short time the house had to deliberate upon it; and he wished to know what pressure there was, at the present moment, which could make it necessary for parliament, all at once, to recede from the long established mode of raising these revenues? Could not the taxes be voted for another year, and insert a clause in the bill to enable parliament to amend or alter it in the present session? This would certainly be the most fair and candid mode of proceeding. If this were not done, he would certainly take another opportunity of opposing the measure.

The chancellor of the exchequer said, the principal object in making these taxes perpetual, was, that the

public credit of Ireland should rest on as solid a foundation as it did in England. He then re-stated the reasons why this measure had been so long delayed, and why it was necessary it should be speedily carried into effect. He was not aware that any objection would have been made to the principle of this measure. Perhaps the voting the taxes annually in Ireland was a wise measure: under the circumstances in which the parliament of that country stood, it might have been a necessary check in its hauds; but he saw no reason now for having the revenue continued on that footing. Its permanence was inseparable from the public credit of that part of the kingdom. The practice of Great Britain was now equally applicable to Ireland. Why should there be a difference between the two countries? Why should the revenue be permanent in the one, and only annual in the other? If any such thing was to be proposed as that of making the revenues of Great Britain annual, instead of permanent, the effect would soon be felt in the depreciation of our public funds. The resolutions were then agreed to, and a bill ordered to be brought in on the same. When, however, the order of the day, for the house going into a committee on the bill, was read, Mr. Corry rose to inform the house, that, in consequence of several objections made to the bill by a number of friends, both public and private, particularly from that part of the united kingdom which the bill went most materially to affect, as to the time of notice chiefly; and in consequence, also, of the arguments which had been used by some honourable members of that house, he should only propose to vote the old taxes for one

year, as usual. He then moved that the order for going into a committee on the Irish duty bill be discharged. It was withdrawn accordingly.

The house having resolved itself into a committee of ways and means on the 20th of June, Mr. Corry brought forward the Irish budget He stated that the business of Ireland had not, since the parliament of the two countries had been united, occupied any undue portion of the time of the house. He hoped that if, upon such an occasion as the present, he took up more of its time than he was accustomed, he should be excused. He should confine himself, however, strictly to the resolutions to which he wished particularly to call the attention of the committee. After a few more words, Mr. Corry proceeded to submit to the committee the points which he had to state.

The charges of Ireland, he continued, consisted of what she was to bear conjointly with England, and what she was to sustain separately, in consequence of her separate debt, and her separate undertaking before the union. The amount of the joint expenditure had been already stated. Those services consisted of the army, the navy, the ordnance, the vote of credit, the corn bounties, the American claims, and miscellaneous services; these amounted to 27,000,000l. Of this sum, the part which was to be borne by Ireland was, in British money, 3,187,000l., and in Irish, 3,450,000. He said, as the accounts were kept in Irish money, he should state the rest of the accounts in Irish currency. To this sum was to be added, the separate charges which Ireland was to bear, consisting of the interest, sinking fund, and

other

other charges of her debt, including annuities, and every species of charge, which amounted to 2,040,000l. The next head, or separate charge, was the compensation instalment, payable in Ireland, and he was happy to state that this would be the last application to parliament upon that subject-this amounted to 300,000l.; for inland navigation, 150,000l.; and for treasury bills payable in 1803, 386,000i. These sums made together about 2,870,000l.; and when added to the sum which Ireland was to bear as her proportion of the joint charge, would make 6,328,000l. To this was to be added 150,000l. as the proportion to the British civil list, which would make the whole of the charge to be borne by Ireland 6,478,000l. There was the sum of 700,000l. in treasury bills (which were nearly the same as exchequer bills in England) in the possession of the bank of Ireland, which did not circulate; which the bank of Ireland were disposed to renew, and which there was authority under an act of parliament to renew. He had now done with the charges. He came next to consider the means by which those charges were to be defrayed. The balance remaining in the exchequer of Ireland, which had some resemblance to the surplus of the consolidated fund in this country, amounted to above one million, from which, deducting the arrears of payments which were due and payable up to that day, there would remain a neat balance, applicable to the service of the year 1803, of 550,000l. The revenue of Ireland he would take at 3,000,000/ The lottery, the amount of which he would take from the produce of that of last year, 200,000l. These sums, added

to the proportion of the loan which was raised for Ireland, which amounted to 2,160,000l., would make the ways and means amount to 5,960,000l., which, deducted from the total charge of Ireland, would leave a balance to be provided for of 562,000l. In order to meet that sum, it was proposed that a loan should be raised in Ireland to the amount of 1,000,000l. If that sum should turn out to be more than the services of the year required, it would be transferred to the consolidated fund; at the same time it would produce that which he hoped would not be considered as an excessive sum in the exchequer of Ireland, in times of such emergency and possible danger. And he trusted, this measure of precaution would not be considered as a measure of improvident profusion.

It now remained for him to state the taxes which he should have the honour to propose. Before, however, he entered into that part of the subject, he hoped it would not be considered as irrelevant if he said a few words respecting the trade of Ireland. In the last session of parliament he had the unpleasant task of stating, that the balance of trade was against Ireland. He had not the satisfaction to state that of 1802 though much better than the former, to be such as the committee would wish. By the official papers before the house, the balance of imports and exports for the year 1802, would appear to be still against Ireland; but he had this consolation to offer to the committee, that the official va lues did by no means give a just account of the trade, or its resulting balance, either in that country or in this, in an account intended to exhibit a balance of trade by the

value of imports and exports. The true value of imports was that which was paid for the articles to foreign countries; and the true value of exports was that which was received for them from foreign countries.

In the account of the official value of imports, the articles were valued below the rate at which they might be sold on the wharf.at importation, including the charges of freight and insurance, &c. The true rate, in a national account of this nature, would be the price paid for the articles at the place where they were purchased. As to freight and insurance, there were great advantages in a country possessing like Great Britain her own shipping, and making her own insurance, and paying of course no part of those charges to foreigners; those charges, although they were to be paid by the consumer, were no part of the price paid away by the importing country for the articles purchased, and ought therefore not to be introduced into the account of the balance of trade.

In the account of official value of exports, the articles were valued at the first cost on the shipping wharf; and the value there taken being the measure of the duty to be paid on exportation, it is probably a close and scant, rather than an exces sive value; but when those exports were sold at a foreign market, the prices paid, and the returns made to the exporting country, include the further charges of those duties on export, of freight, of insurance, and of the merchant's profit, all of which centered in the exporting country, and constituted a part of the value gained by that country, and were of course to be included in a national account of the balance of trade.

The consequence of this was, that the official value in the case of imports was nearly 30 per cent. be. low the real value; but in the case of exports, the difference between the official and the real value, might be estimated at 60 per cent. Taking this into consideration, the trade of Ireland would stand with her exports exceeding her imports, although, judging from official value, the contrary might appear from some papers which had been presented to the house. Besides, in the imports, there was a considerable proportion of raw materials; from which they might draw this consolation, that the manufactures of the country would be proportionally benefited. He stated these subjects generally, because he hoped it would be a matter of satisfaction to gentlemen to hear them, and that it would afford some consolation to know, that if there were considerable drains upon that country, at least there was a prospect that they would not continue to the same amount. He would not, however, pledge himself that this effect would be produced this year, or in any specific time. He had last year made some favourable predictions respecting the trade of Ireland, though he did not state that the balance of trade would be such as he wished it to be. Those predictions, however, had turned out to be well-founded. With regard to the linen-trade he had observed, that the great advantages which were given in this country to foreign linen, the scarcity which was then but just over, and which certainly had, in some degree. prevented the sale of that article, had not so completely passed away that he could trust much to an increase in the export of that article; and it had not increased much; but he

had

had the satisfaction to state, that in the course of that current year the stock in Ireland had been almost cleared off, and he had no doubt but he should have more reason to rejoice at the state of that trade for 1803, than he had for 1802. But if in the article of linen there was not much subject for congratulation, there certainly was great ground for satisfaction in contemplating the trade in provisions and corn. With regard to provisions, the demand which was necessary at the commencement of a war, for the outfit of fleets, &c. must of itself be very great; but, independent of that, the exportation of that article, as well as of corn, had increased so as to turn the balance in favour of Ireland, in the way he had stated. In the last session he had estimated the export of provisions for the last year, at from 200 to 250,000l. increase above the former, and it proved to have that increase; whilst corn, which he had estimated at an increase of 400,000l., had exclusively of a dimunition of imports, which in the preceding year hadamounted to above 200,000l.increased to the real value of above 600,0001. of export.

In regard to the revenues of Ireland, Mr. Corry said, he had last year delivered it as his opinion that they would increase in comparison with the preceding year, and had stated the probable increase at 300,0001.; in fact, it had increased nine hundred and odd thousand pounds. In the present year, however, he was sorry that he could not hold out hopes of a similar increase. He could not even state that they would keep up to three millions and a half. He thought it more safe to take them at three millions, because certain articles

had, in the imports of last year, been excessive, which denoted a considerable stock now in the country, particularly sugar. The arrears of the assessed taxes had also been collected, amounting to 150,0001., and the collection of the current year would accordingly be comparatively less than that of the last by that sum.

It now remained for him to 'state the taxes and duties which he had to propose. His statements upon this head would be short, because they were not new in principle, or extravagant in amount. The first duty he had to propose was, an increase upon the imports in the customs and excise of 101. per cent. This duty could only attach upon articles of foreign produce; because, by the compact of union, they could not attach upon articles imported from this country. This he estimated at 140,000l.— The next proposition he had to make, was an increase of duty upon the exports. He thought it necessary to state, that it was not the sense of the union compact that the taxes of the two countries should be certainly not equal in amount, but not even common, or upon the same articles. The taxes were to be distinct and several, though dependent upon the power of parliament; but whenever it happened that it was consistent with the interest of Ireland that the taxes, particularly with regard to foreign trade, imposed in this, could be adopted in that country, it would always be advisable to adopt them, in order to go forward in the road of assimilating the two countries as much as possible. It was, therefore, with great satisfaction that he now found it would not be inconsistent with the interest of Ireland to adopt the tax which had been imposed