STATE PAPERS. 



201 



commissioners been appointed, as 

 was done upon llie union with 

 Scotland. Had the minister applied 

 his attention to that very necessary 

 inquiry, of ascertaining the relative 

 ability of the two nations, he would 

 have compared the balance which 

 Great Britain has in her favour, 

 from her trade with all the world, 

 amoTinting to 14,800,000/. with 

 that of Ireland u])on the whole of 

 her trade, amounting to 509,312/. 

 bearing a proportion to each other 

 of about 29 to 1 : — he would have 

 examined into the amount of reve- 

 nue, out of which the said propor- 

 tions must naturally be paid, name- 

 ly, the produce of the permanent 

 taxes of each nation, which he 

 would have found to have produced 

 in Great Britain, in the year end- 

 ing the 5th of January, 1799j the 

 sum of 26,000,000/. and the per- 

 manent taxes in Ireland in the cor- 

 responding year did not exceed 

 2,000,000/. bearing a proportion to 

 each other, of about 13 to 1. He 

 would have been informed that the 

 only influx of money into Ireland 

 which can be discovered, is the said 

 balance of her trade of 500,000/. 

 and that she remits to Great Britain 

 annually 724,753/. a sum exceeding 

 by upwards of 2 1 5,000/. the amount 

 of such balance. That the remit- 

 tances of her absentees (as stated by 

 Mr. Pitt) amount to 1,000,000/. 

 but are computed really to amount 

 to double that sum, and must ne- 

 cessarily greatly increase should an 

 union take place, such drains ex- 

 hausting in a great degree the re- 

 sources of this kingdom, and adding 

 to the opulence of (jrcat Britain. 

 The facility with which large sums 

 of money have lately been raised in 

 Great Britain, compared with the 

 unsuccessful attempt to raise so small 



a sum in thiskingdom as one million 

 and a half, would have afforded to 

 him the strongest proof of the opu- 

 lence of the one and the poverty of 

 the other. From the Irish minister's 

 own statement he has computed 

 that the sum for which this kingdom 

 shall be called upon annually in time 

 of war, as her contribution, will 

 amount to 4,492,680/. but has not 

 attempted to point out the means 

 by which she can raise so enormous 

 a sum. When the minister shall 

 find the circumstances of Ireland 

 are such as have been herein stated, 

 and shall recollect that this new pro- 

 ject has been suggested by him and 

 forced upon this nation, he will feel 

 the immense responsibility which 

 falls upon him for the disastrous 

 consequences which it mayproduce, 

 not only upon this kingdom, but 

 upon the whole empire, he will be 

 alarmed at the discontents which an 

 imposition of taxes beyond the abi- 

 lities of the people to pay must pro- 

 duce, and the fatal consequences 

 that they may occasion. 



8 thly . Becau se the transfer of ou r 

 legislature to another kingdom will 

 deprive us of the only security we 

 have for the enjoyment of our liber- 

 ties, and being against the sense of 

 the people, amounts to a gross breach 

 of trust; and we consider the substi- 

 tute for our constitution, namely, 

 the return of the proposed number 

 of persons to the united parliament 

 as delusive, amounting, indeed, to 

 an acknowledgement of the neces- 

 sity of representation, but in no sort 

 supplying it, inasmuch as the 32 

 peers and the 100 commoners will 

 be merged in the vast disproportion 

 of British members, who will in 

 fact be the legislators for Ireland ; 

 and when we consider that all the 

 establishments of the two separate 



