this situation, in which he was anxious to place the two countries. It was on that general basis, that he was solicitous of moving the proposition, which he held in his hand, to complete a system, which had been left unfinished and defective.

Mr. Pitt, after having fully passed in review the different benefits lately granted to Ireland by the British parliament, observed, that the concessions now proposed to be made to that kingdom, in order to put the two countries on a fair and equal footing, he should reduce to two heads:

First, The importation of the produce of our colonies in the West Indies and America through Ireland into Great Britain.

Second, A mutual exchange between the two countries of their respective productions and manufactures, upon equal

terms.

With regard to the first, he allowed it had the appearance of militating against the navigation laws, for which England had ever had the greatest partiality. But as she had already allowed Ireland to trade immediately and directly with the colonies, he could not see how the importing of the produce of those colonies circuitously through Ireland into Great Britain could injure the colonial trade of this country, which was a direct one, and therefore to be made at a less expence and risk, than that which was circuitous.

In return for these concessions on the part of Great Britain, he proposed, that Ireland should agree to the payment of a certain stipulated sum yearly out of the surplus of her hereditary revenue, towards defraying the general expences of the empire. He then concluded a very elaborate speech with moving the following general resolution: "That it was highly important "to the general interests of the empire, that the commercial "intercourse between Great Britain and Ireland should be final"ly adjusted and that Ireland should be admitted to a perma"nent and irrevocable participation of the commercial advan"tages of this country, when her parliament should perma"nently and irrevocably secure an aid out of the surplus of the "hereditary revenue of that kingdom, towards defraying the expence of protecting the general commerce of the empire in "time of peace."

Although the committee were not called upon that night to give any opinion upon the resolution, Lord North, Mr. Fox, and several of their friends spoke upon the subject, lest their silence might be interpreted into consent or approbation..... Whereas they much doubted, whether any system of intercourse were at that time necessary to be arranged between Great Britain and Ireland: and if so, whether the system, of which the

right honourable gentleman had given the outline, were such as policy, expediency, and good sense required to be adopted.

Mr. Fox entered more into the detail of the necessary effects of the resolutions, and concluded therefrom, that the whole tendency of the propositions appeared to him to go the length of appointing Ireland the sole guardian of the laws of naviga tion, and grand arbitress of all the commercial interests of the empire; a trust he felt no sort of inclination to part from out of our own hands, not even to delegate to Ireland, of whose generosity, loyalty, and gratitude, no man entertained a higher opinion.

A fortnight elapsed before the subject again made its appearance; during which time a report, prepared by a committee of the board of trade and plantations, was laid by the minister upon the table of the House of Commons, to assist its deliberations. This report was stated to be founded upon the declarations and opinions of some of the principal manufacturers and merchants in the kingdom, who had been examined by the above-mentioned committee, and its particular object was to prove the expediency of that part of the system, which related to the reduction of the duties payable upon the importation of Irish produce and manufactures into Great Britain, to what the same sort of articles were charged with in this country.

In the mean time the merchants and manufacturers, who had been examined before the committee, joined by great numbers of others from every part of the nation, met together for the purpose of taking the Irish propositions into their consideration. During the course of their proceedings it appeared, that the opinions of the former were in direct contradiction to the inferences, which had been drawn from their examination in the report laid before parliament. Whether this were occasioned by any change, which upon a fuller consideration had taken place in the minds of the merchants and manufacturers themselves, or whether the committee of the board of trade and plantations had strained and perverted their declarations, it is not easy to determine. However, the consequence was, that it threw a considerable degree of discredit upon the report itself, and seemed to point out the necessity there was for the House of Commons to examine the different commercial and manufacturing bodies concerned, at their own bar. This mode of proceeding gave the first check to the system in its progress through the house, whilst without doors it became more unpopular, in proportion as it became more thoroughly investigated; yet it must be allowed, that its unpopularity generally arose from different grounds.

During the months of March and April, and even until the middle of the month of May, the house was occupied in receiv

ing petitions, and hearing evidence of manufacturers and merchants of every description. The first of these petitions was from Liverpool: it was presented on the 3d of March by Mr. Gascoigne, and drew a considerable long speech from Mr. Pitt, to refute the conclusions drawn by the petitioners from their own premises. On the 16th of March Mr. Stanley presented a petition from Lancashire, signed by eighty thousand persons: sixty-four petitions in the whole were presented against the propositions, from which the opposition strongly urged, that the sense of the country was against them. On no subject had Mr. Pitt ever spoken with more warmth and zeal. On the 12th of May, 1785, Mr. Pitt brought forward, in consequence or under pretext of the new lights thrown upon the subject from the examinations, petitions, and reports, a new series of propositions or resolutions,† twenty in number, some of the ad

Mr. Jenkinson in argument in favour of the measure observed, that the number of petitions was no matter of triumph, for that in Lord North's administration fifty-one petitions had been presented in favour of Ireland.

The following was the form of the new resolutions or propositions, viz. I. That it is highly important to the interests of both countries, that the commerce between Great Britain and Ireland should be finally regulated on permanent and equitable principles, for the mutual benefit of both countries.

II. That a full participation of commercial advantages should be permanently secured to Ireland, whenever a provision, equally permanent and secure, shall be made by the parliament of that kingdom towards defraying, in propor tion to its growing prosperity, the necessary expences in time of peace, of protecting the trade and general interests of the empire.

III. That towards carrying into full effect so desirable a settlement, it is fit and proper that all articles, not the growth or manufacture of Great Britain or Ireland, "except those of the growth, produce, or manufacture, of any of the "countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope, to the Straits of Magellan," should be imported into each kingdom from the other reciprocally, under the same regulations, and at the same duties, (if subject to duties) to which they “would be” liable when imported directly from the country or place from whence the same may "have been imported into Great Britam or Ireland re"spectively, as the case may be ;" and that all duties originally paid on importa tion into either country respectively, except on arrack and foreign brandy, and on rum, and all other sorts of strong waters not imported from the British colonies in the West Indies, shall be fully drawn back on exportation to the other. "But, nevertheless, that the duties shall continue to be protected and guard"ed, as at present, by withholding the drawback, until a certificate from the "proper officers of the revenue in the kingdom, to which the export may be "made, shall be returned and compared with the entry outwards "

IV. That it is highly important to the general interests of the British empire, that the laws for regulating trade and navigation should be the same in Great Britain and Ireland; and, therefore, that it is essential towards carrying into effect the present settlement, that all laws which have been made, or shall be made in Great Britain, for securing exclusive privileges to the ships and mariners of Great Britain, Ireland, and the British colonies and plantations, and for regulating and restraining the trade of the British colonies and plantations, such laws imposing the same restraints, and "conferring the same be"nefits on the subjects of both kingdoms, should" be in force in Ireland, " by "laws to be passed by the parliament of that kingdom for the same time, "and" in the same manner as in Great Britain.

ditional being supplemental, others explanatory, and several entirely new. The chief objects of additional propositions

V. That it is farther essential to this settlement, that all goods and commodities of the growth, produce, or manufacture, of British or foreign colonies in America, or the West Indies, and the British or foreign settlements on the coast of Africa, imported into Ireland, should on importation be subject to the same duties and regulations" as the like goods are, or from time to time shall be subject to, upon importation into Great Britain; "or if prohi "bited from being imported into Great Britain, shall in like manner be prohi"bited from being imported into Ireland.”

VI. That in order to prevent illicit practices, injurious to the revenue and commerce of both kingdoms, it is expedient, that all goods, whether of the growth, produce, or manufacture of Great Britain or Ireland, or of any foreign country, which shall hereafter be imported into Great Britain from Ireland, or into Ireland from Great Britain, should be put, by laws to be passed in the parliament of the two kingdoms, under the same regulations with respect to bonds, cockets, and other instruments, to which the like goods, are now subject in passing from one port of Great Britain to another.

VII. That for the like purpose, it is also expedient, that when any goods, the growth, produce, or manufacture of the British West India islands, "or any other of the British colonies or plantations," shall be shipped from Ireland for Great Britain, they should be accompanied with such original certificates of the revenue offices of the said colonies as shall be required by the law on importation into Great Britain; and that when the whole quality included in one certificate shall not be shipped at any one time, the original certificate, properly indorsed as to quantity, should be sent with the first parcel; to iden tify the remainder, if shipped at any future period, new certificates should be granted by the principal officers of the ports in Ireland, extracted from a register of the original documents, specifying the quantities before shipped from thence, by what vessels, and to what ports.

VIII. That it is essential for carrying into effect the present settlement, that all goods exported from Ireland to the British colonies in the West Indies, or in America, "or to the British settlements on the coast of Africa," should from time to time be made liable to such duties and draw backs, and put under such regulations as may be necessary, in order that the same may not be exported with less incumbrance of duties or impositions than the like goods shall be burthened with when exported from Great Britain.

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IX. That it is essential to the general commercial interests of the empire, "that so long as the parliament of this kingdom shall think it advisable that "the commerce to the countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope shall be car"ried on solely by an exclusive company, having liberty to import into the port of London only, no goods of the growth, produce, or manufacture of any countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope should be importable into Ire"land from any foreign country, or from any settlement in the East Indies belonging to any such foreign country; and that no goods of the growth, pro"duce, or manufacture of the said countries should be allowed to be imported "into Ireland but through Great Britain; and it shall be lawful to export "such goods of the growth, produce, or manufacture of any of the countries "beyond the Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of Magellan from Great "Britain to Ireland, with the same duties retained thereon as are now retained "on their being exported to that kingdom; but that an account shall be kept "of the duties retained, and the net drawback on the said goods imported to "Ireland; and that the amount thereof shall be remitted by the receiver ge"neral of his majesty's customs in Great Britain to the proper officer of the "revenue in Ireland, to be placed to the account of his majesty's revenue "there, subject to the disposal of the parliament of that kingdom; and that "whenever the commerce to the said countries shall cease to be carried on by "an exclusive company in the goods of the produce of countries beyond the

were to provide, 1st. That whatever navigation laws the British parliament should thereafter find it necessary to enact for

Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of Magellan, the goods should be im"portable into Ireland from countries from which they may be importable to "Great Britain, and no other; and that no vessel should be cleared out from "Ireland for any part of the countries from the Cape of Good Hope to the "Straits of Magellan, but such as shall be freighted in Ireland by the said "exclusive company, and shall have sailed from the port of London; and that "the ships going from Great Britain to any of the said countries beyond the "Cape of Good Hope should not be restrained from touching at any of the "ports in Ireland, and taking on board there any of the goods of the growth, produce, or manufacture of Great Britain."

X. That no prohibition should exist in either country, against the importation, use, or sale of any article, the growth, or manufacture of the other; except such as either kingdom may judge expedient, from time to time, upon corn, meal, malt, flour, and biscuits;" and except such qualified prohibitions, "at present contained in any act of the British or Irish parliament as do not "absolutely prevent the importation of goods or manufactures, or materials "of manufactures, but only egulate the weight, the size, the packages, or "other particular circumstances, or prescribe the built or country, and di"mensions of the ships importing the same; and also, except on ammunition, "arms, gunpowder, and other utensils of war, importable only by virtue of "his majesty's licence;" and that the duty on the importation of every such article (if subject to duty in either country) should be precisely the same in the one country as in the other, except where an addition may be necessary in either country, in consequence of an internal duty on any such article of its own consumption," or in consequence of internal bounties in the country "where such article is grown, produced, or manufactured, and except such "duties as either kingdom may judge expedient, from time to time, upon "corn, meal, malt, flour, and biscuits."

XI. That in all cases where the duties on articles of the growth, produce, or manufacture of either country, are different on the importation into the other, it is expedient that they should be reduced, in the kingdom where they are the highest, to an "amount not exceeding" the amount "payable in the "other;" so that the same shall not be less than ten and a half per cent. upon "any article which was charged with a duty, on importation into Ireland, of "ten and a half per cent. or upwards, previous to the 17th day of May, 1782;" and that all such articles should be exportable from this kingdom, into which they shall be imported, as free from duty as the similar commodities or home manufactures of the same kingdom.

XII. That it is also proper, that in all cases where the articles of the consumption of either kingdom shall be charged with an internal duty on the manufacture, the said manufacture, when imported from the other, may be charged with a farther duty on importation, adequate to countervail the internal duty on the manufacture" as far as relates to the duties now charged "thereon," such farther duty to continue so long only as the internal consumption shall be charged with the duty or duties to balance which it shall be imposed; and that where there is a duty on the importation of the raw material of any manufacture in one kingdom, greater than the like duty on raw materials in the other, such manufacture may, on its importation "into the other "kingdom," be charged with such a countervailing duty as may be sufficient to subject the same, so imported, to "burdens adequate to those which" the manufacture composed of the like raw material is subject to, in consequence of duties on the importation of such material in the kingdom into which such manufacture is so imported; and the said manufacture, so imported, shall be entitled to such drawbacks or bounties on exportation, as may leave the same subject to no heavier burden than the home made manufacture.

YOL. III.