GENERAL 
on more than one occasion in this 
House, and in another place, 
where an inquiry into the state of 
the finances of Ireland was gone 
into, the attention of gentlemen 
has been turned to the revenue 
of that country and the state of 
its resources ; since so much of 
what else it would have been my 
duty to offer to the consideration 
of the committee, has been anti- 
cipated by those discussions. In 
the statement which I have to 
bring before you, it will be seen, 
that however the pressure of the 
present moment may be felt by 
England, however great and un- 
exampled the demands on her 
may be, as represented by my 
right hon. friend the chancellor 
of the Exchequer of England on 
a former evening, I have, stand- 
ing here on the part of Ireland, a 
duty comparatively more arduous 
to discharge. Ireland has been 
called upon, in the last two ses- 
sions of Parliament, to furnish a 
supply, and consequent ways and 
means larger than have ever been 
made before. Taxes have been 
laid on to an extent which that 
country, I fear, was little prepar- 
ed to expect; and we have now 
to provide still greater supplies, 
and by imposts exceeding those 
of the preceding years, great as 
was the exigences of those times. 
How the present charge had been 
aggravated, my right hon. friend 
has sufficiently explained. The 
liquidation of the arrears of the 
late war, has, indeed, swelled that 
charge very considerably beyond 
the expenditure of any single 
year. It remains for me, how- 
ever, to perform my duty. I trust 
that Ireland will not be found un- 
equal to the difficulties of her si- 
HISTORY. (47 
tuation ; and if, in the extent and 
magnitude of her contribution to 
the general expenditure of the 
empire, the sacrifices she has 
been called upon to make are 
great, it must be remembered, 
that there are heavy burthens 
which have hitherto not been im- 
posed on her, though every other 
part of the United Kingdom cheer- 
fully endures them. Let us not 
forget, too, that great as the sa- 
crifices may be for which we are 
called on now, or which may be 
required hereafter, they are the 
price that Ireland pays for her 
peace and for her strength, for 
her security and for her glory. 
The right hon. gentleman pro- 
ceeded to state, that he should 
submit to the committee, as dis- 
tinctly as he could, the amount of 
the supply, and the ways and 
means which he proposed to meet 
it, as well as the provision for the 
interest of that loan, which, con- 
jointly with the British loan, had 
been contracted for in this coun- 
try, and of which the terms had 
already received all the sanction 
which, up to this time, they could 
have received. He should first 
state the estimated quota of con- 
tribution of the year 1815, at 
10,574,215. The interest and 
sinking fund on the present debt, 
6,098,149/. making the total sup- 
plies 16,672,364/. The state of the 
consolidated fund was, balance in 
the exchequer-on the 5th Ja- 
nuary 1815, 1,689,252/., remain« 
ing of the Irish loan of 1814, 
$22,500/.; remaining of the 
loan raised in England in 1814, 
3,852,383. making a total of 
5,864,165/. But from this he. 
had to deduct, first, the ar- 
rears of contribution for 1813, 
