GENERAL HISTORY. [81 



tion of ihe assessed taxes ; this muted it would produce 100,000/. 



augmentation was on the whole of The alteration in the postage 



their amount estimated at 25 per duties, which had been agreed to 



cent. It did not, however, operate by the legislature, he calculated to 



generally as a duty of 25 per cent, produce 15,000/. and a regulation 



because persons in the lower ranks of the excise duty on leatlier, 



of life, and who might be sup- which was estimated at only 5,000/. 



posed unable to bear it, did not The whole amount of these duties 



come within its scope to that ex- would be 610,000/. being 15,000/. 



tent. Its principle produce was more than the charges created by 



expected from the rich; taking, the loans. The recapitulation was 



therefore^ the whole tax, he csti- as follows : — 



Customs with Excise on Tobacco £. 265,000 



Malt, 3*. per barrel 115,000 



Spirits, 6c^. per gallon 110,000 



Assessed Taxes, increase of 25 per cent, and 



upwards 100,000 



Postage, alteration in duties 15,000 



Leather 5,000 



£.610,000 



He had laid before practical 

 persons, conversant in calculations, 

 several of these proposed duties, 

 and they had estimated their pro- 

 duce at a much greater amount 

 than he had taken them at. — 

 Having thus stated to the com- 

 mittee the taxes intended to be 

 raised, it would not be amiss to 

 compare the general state of Ire- 

 land at the present day, with that 

 of former years. Those, he be- 

 lieved, who were acquainted with 

 ihe state of Ireland, and the nature 

 of her resources, and who consi- 

 dered the calls which had been 

 made upon her since the Union, 

 could not suppose it possible for 

 that country to have made greater 

 sacrifices than she had done, dur- 

 ing the period which had elapsed. 

 Still, however, she had increased 

 in prosperity, as might be perceiv- 

 ed by a cursory view of the docu- 

 ments which he held in his hand. 



Vol. LV. 



In 1802, the year immediately sub- 

 sequent to the Union, the nett pro- 

 duce of the revenues of Ireland 

 (the customs and excise being 

 taken together) was 2,169,466/. 

 In 1 810, the customs alone amount- 

 ed to 2,508,918/.; being 300,000/. 

 more than the amount of the 

 customs and excise in 1802. In 



1811, the nett produce of the cus- 

 toms amounted to 1,555,663/.; in 



1812, to 1,838,653/.; and in 1813, 

 to 2,157,591/. ; being as much as 

 the whole amount of the customs 

 and excise in 1802. The whole 

 statement produced this result, that 

 the nett revenue of Ireland, which in 

 1802 was 2,441,385/., had increas- 

 ed greatly, taking the average of 

 the four last years, of which the 

 year 1811 was remarkable for the 

 number of defalcations. — Thevear 

 1810 produced 4,335,016/.; 1811, 

 3,678,714/.; 1812, 4,241,035/.; 



1813, 4,975,000/. Here was an 



