84] 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



annum, on the importation of 

 articles, most of them ef prime 

 necessity, none of which were 

 h'able to any internal duty in 

 Great Britain. It would scarcely 

 be contended by the warmest ad- 

 vocate for what was called vigor- 

 ous taxation, that if the financial 

 system of the two countries were 

 to be in other respects assimilated, 

 the Irish people were still to be 

 subjected to duties such as these ; 

 to preserve them as protecting 

 duties would be in his mind the 

 most puerile economy ; since it was 

 no other than to compel every 

 consumer in Ireland to pay more 

 than the article of his consump- 

 tion was worth, or than he ought 

 to pay for it. 



i Here then there would be a loss 

 of near 300,000/. per annum in 

 our customs, which the new system 

 of finance must supply. But there 

 was much more. The property- 

 tax payable on the interest of the 

 Irish debt received in this country, 

 would surely be considered appli- 

 cable to the Irish supply, and ought 

 to be carried to the account of that 

 country which provided with such 

 difficulty for its charge. The same 

 result would arise respecting the 

 property of Irish absentees ; at 

 least in equity he was sure it ought, 

 and the deduction on these two 

 last-mentioned grounds be at least 

 half a million from the general re- 

 sources of the empire. On this he 

 only estimated the remittances to 

 absentees at two millions, which 

 was the amount presumed in the 

 year 1804, when a committee of 

 -the House of Comnaons inquired 



into the state of the exchanges 

 between Great Britain and Ireland 

 — at the same time he had little 

 doubt that the proportion of absen- 

 tees was greatly increased. The 

 number who had followed the seat 

 of legislation and of government 

 was necessarily great, and he was 

 sorry to say, that many who had 

 not the same excuse, daily added 

 to those who drew the sole sources 

 of their support from the country 

 which they deserted. The two 

 heads which he adverted to would 

 altogether diminish the general 

 supply of Great Britain by the 

 amount of/ half a million, while 

 the duties on articles of consump- 

 tion imported into Ireland, and the 

 produce of your hearth and other 

 duties, which he was prepared to 

 contend you could not, if you intro- 

 duced, or rather attempted to in- 

 troduce the taxes paid in Great 

 Britain, any longer retain, would 

 shew you that one million per 

 annum of this expected revenue 

 which was to flow into the im- 

 perial treasury, was not in fact any 

 addition or increase to the general 

 resources of the state. 



The right hon. gentleman then 

 made various observations to show 

 the difficulties under which Ireland 

 laboured in extending her propor- 

 tion of the supplies to govern- 

 ment, and the great exertions she 

 had already made; and he con- 

 cluded with movin-g the first reso- 

 lution, relative to the additional 

 duties on spirits. A desultory 

 debate followed, after which all 

 the resolutions were agreed to. 



CHAPTER 



