GENERAL HISTORY 



[61 



defrayed indiscriminately by equal 

 taxes, to be imposed on the same 

 -articles in each country j and that 

 from time to time, as circum- 

 . stances may require, such taxes 

 ■should be imposed and apj)lied 

 'accordingly, subject only to such 

 exemptions and abatements in 

 Ireland and Scotland, as circum- 

 stances may appear to demand. 

 " 3. That it is the opinicm of 

 . this committee, that such legisla- 

 tive measures should be adopted, 

 as may be necessary to carry into 

 further effect the purposes of the 

 said acts of union, by consoli- 

 dating the public revenues of 

 Great Britain and Ireland into 

 one fund, and applying the same 

 to the general services of the 

 united kingdom." 



Mr. Bankes said, that he could 

 not be very friendly to a proposi- 

 tion, the ultimate effect of whicli 

 ; must be to throw almost the 

 whole burden of the lute war on 

 Great Britain 3 and alluded to 

 the various predictions he had 

 made of the inevitable defalca- 

 tions which would arise in the 

 Irish revenue. The remedy pro- 

 posed was most extraordinary, 

 'and pei'haps the only one that 

 could be resorted to ; but let it 

 be underbtf)od, that for some 

 years to come, Ireland must de- 

 pend solely on loans for the whole 

 expenses of the peace establish- 

 ment. 



Several other members entered 

 into the discussion ; and upon the 

 whole, a very vm favourable view 

 was given of the financial state of 

 Ireland, in which taxation was 

 said to have been carried to its 

 ne plus ultra. In conclusion, the 

 resolutions were agreed to. 

 A bill for the consolidation of 



the public revenue ha^ing been 

 brought into the House of Com- 

 mons on June 10th, the House 

 went into a conunittcc upon it. 



.Sir H. Parnell objected to the 

 provision which created two new 

 lords of the treasury, whose 

 places were mere sinecures. Ano- 

 ther officer Avas to be ajjpointed 

 by the name of the vice-treasurer, 

 who was to be allowed to sit in 

 parliament, though the object of 

 his appointment was, that there 

 shoidd always l)c a treabury officer 

 residing in Ireland, authorized to 

 issue money. 



The Chanccllvr of the Exihcqucr 

 defended these apirointments, and 

 spoke of the salary to be allotted 

 to the vice-treasurer, which he 

 thought could not be less than 

 3,50Ql. a year. 



After some observations on this 

 and other appointments of the 

 bill, it passed through the com- 

 mittee. 



The committee having been re- 

 sumed on the 14th, Sir Jolni New- 

 port asked, if the ministci's per- 

 sisted in the intention of creating, 

 in addition to the i)lace of Irish 

 vice-treasurer, that of a deputy 

 vice-treasurer. Being answeied 

 in the affirmative, he said, tliis 

 was creating a sinccuie of 3,5001. 

 a year , and dcclaicd it one of the 

 most shameless jobs that ever 

 came before parliament. 



The Chancellor of the Exchequer 

 reminded the hon. baronet, that 

 in consequence of the present 

 measure, out of six parliament 

 oflices, three only were ictaincd. 

 I\lr. ronsnnhij spoke with great 

 se\ eiity against tlie apiiointments, 

 and moved, that the5umof2,OOOl. 

 be substitaitcd instead of 3, .'5001. 

 as the salary of the vice-treasurer. 



After 



