STATE PAPERS. 



197 



pcnses of the empire. In order to 

 uscertain tte relative abilities of the 

 two nations, their respective ba- 

 lances of trade with the whole world 

 have been compared, and it appears 

 from thence that such balance in 

 favour of Great Britain amounts to 

 the sum of 14,800,000/. and that 

 such balance in favour of Ireland, 

 according to the returns laid before 

 this house, amount to the sum of 

 509,312/. ; taking therefore the ba- 

 lance of trade as a criterion of abi- 

 lity, the proportion would be as 29 

 to 1 . Inquiry likewise having been 

 made into the current cash in cir- 

 culation in both kingdoms, it ap- 

 pears that in the year 1777. the 

 current cash in Great Britain was 

 calculated at 43,000,950/. and it is 

 computed by persons the best in- 

 formed upon that subject in this 

 kingdom, that the current cash in 

 Ireland may now amount to be- 

 tween 3,000,000/. and 3,500,000/. ; 

 taking it therefore at the latter, the 

 proportion should be as 12 to 1 ; 

 considering it in another very essen- 

 tial point of view, the influx and 

 efflux of mone}^ into the respective 

 kingdoms, it appears that Great 

 Britain receives by remittances to 

 persons having property in the East 

 and West Indies, who reside in 

 Great Britain, 4,000,000/. sterling. 

 We do not know of any influx of 

 money into Ireland, save that of 

 509,312/. the balance of her trade ; 

 and it appears to us that she an- 

 nually remits to Great Britain, on 

 account of her debts, the sum of 

 720,000/. and on account of the pay 

 of 3,234 men, serving in Great Bri- 

 tain, the sum of 101,570/.: these 

 annual drains, together with the 

 remittances to absentees (probably 

 little short of 2,000,000/), vvc con- 

 sider to have occasioned the high 



rate of exchange with Great Britain 

 during the last twelvemonths, from 

 3 to 5 per cent above par, notwith- 

 standing that during that period 

 3,000,000/. have been borrowed in 

 Great Britain, and remitted to Ire- 

 land. We do not know of any fund 

 to resort to for raising the said de- 

 ficiency of 3,250,000/. save by tax- 

 ation, an addition to which cannot 

 in any considerable degree be sup- 

 ported ; and by resorting to her 

 landed property, the gross contents 

 of which being but 11,000,000 

 plantation acres, we cannot esti- 

 mate at more than the annual rent 

 of 5,500,000/. We observe the 

 large sums of money borrowed by 

 Ireland within these four years have 

 been for the most part I'aised in 

 Great Britain, owing to the total 

 disabilit}"^ of procuring them in Ire- 

 land. The facility of raising money 

 in Great Britain, and the diiSculty 

 found in raising any in Ireland, 

 clearly demonstrates the opulence 

 of the one nation and the poverty of 

 the other. Under such circun\- 

 stances it appears to us, that if this 

 kingdom should take upon herself 

 irrevocably the payment of two 

 seventeenths of such expenses, she 

 will not have means to perform her 

 engagement, unless by chargingher 

 landed property with 12*. or l'3s. in 

 the pound. It must end in the 

 draining from her her last guinea, 

 in totally annihilating her trade for 

 want of capital, in rendering the 

 taxes unproductive, and conse- 

 quently in finally putting her into 

 a state of bankruptcy. We think 

 ourselves called upon to protest 

 against a measure so ruinous to this 

 country, and to place the responsi- 

 bility for its consequences upon 

 such persons as have brought it 

 forward and supported it. 

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