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STATE PAPERS. 



199 



her taxes, will be as distinct as they 

 are at present from those of Great 

 Britain ; even their intercourse of 

 trade must be carried on as between 

 two separate nations, through the 

 medium of revenue officers. Such 

 distinctnesses of interest prove, that 

 they require separate parliaments, 

 resident in each kingdom, to attend 

 to them ; that such union is only 

 nominal, and that it does not effect 

 that complete and entire union re- 

 commended by his majesty, but 

 shews, that, from the circumstances 

 of the two nations, the same is to- 

 tally impracticable. 



Sdly, Because the adjustment of 

 the numbers of the Irish members 

 to be added to the two houses of the 

 imperial parliament has been deter- 

 mined upon without any official do- 

 cuments or other authentic informa- 

 tion having been laid before par- 

 liament. That upon the union with 

 Scotland, such proportion was ad- 

 justed by the commissionersappoint- 

 ed for England and Scotland, upon 

 an examination of their respective 

 claims, who h aving thereupon agreed 

 that the number of commoners to be 

 added to the English commons, con- 

 sisting of 513, should be 45 on the 

 part of Scotland, and the number 

 of English peers being then 185, 

 they calculated that 16 bore the 

 same proportion to that number, 

 which 45 bore to the English house 

 of commons, and therefore deter- 

 mined upon that number of peers : 

 this calculation justified the pro- 

 priety of such adjustment, and we 

 cannot conceive upon what princi- 

 ple the number of Irish peers was 

 reduced to 32, when, according to 

 the proportion aforesaid, it ought 

 to have been 53. We must consi- 

 der such conduct as unjust in its 

 principle, and wantonly casting a 



stigma upon the Irish peerage, by 

 depriving 2 1 of their body of their 

 just right of sitting in the united 

 parliament. 



4thly, Because, that, however 

 proper it may have been for the 

 two parliaments to mark out the 

 great outlines for forming an union 

 between the two nations, we think, 

 that from their situation in different 

 kingdoms, and the impracticability 

 of communication between them 

 they were ill suited to the adjust- 

 ment of matters which require de- 

 tail. That the mode of proceeding 

 adopted by the great loi'd Somers, 

 upon the union with Scotland, of 

 appointing commissioners on the be- 

 half of each nation, is proved by 

 experience to have been well adapt- 

 ed to that purpose. That such com- 

 missioners, having the means of pro- 

 curing information, and communi- 

 cating with each other, were there- 

 by enabled to settle with propriety, 

 and to the satisfaction of both na- 

 tions, such matters as should be 

 necessary to be adjusted between 

 them. That, instead of adopting 

 that wise and rational mode of pro- 

 ceeding, the adjustment of the num- 

 bers to be added to the imperial 

 parliament has been established in 

 pursuance of the mandate of the 

 British minister, without laying be- 

 fore parliament any official document 

 what soe ver,or taking any step to pro- 

 cure information concerning the re- 

 spective claims of the two nations. 



5thly, Because, by the original 

 distribution of power between the 

 two houses of parliament, it has 

 been established as a leading and 

 fundamental principle of the consti- 

 tution, that the commons should 

 hold the purse of the nation, with- 

 out the interference of the peerage; 

 notwithstanding which^and that the 



