cities and boroughs of England, unless any other provision shall be made in that respect by act of parliament: That, when his majesty shall declare his pleasure for holding the first or any subsequent parliament of the united kingdom, a proclamation shall issue, under the great seal of the united kingdom, to cause the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, who are to serve in the parliament thereof on the part of Ireland, to be returned in such manner as by an act of the present session of the Irish parliament shall be provided; and that the lords and commons of Great-Britain shall, with the lords and commons so returned for Ireland, constitute the two houses of the parliament of the united kingdom: That, if his majesty, on or before the 1st day of January, 1801, on which day the union is to take place, shall declare, under the great seal of Britain, that it is expedient that the lords and commons of the present parliament of Great-Britain should be the members of the respective houses of the first parliament of the united kingdom on the part of GreatBritain, the said lords and commons shall accordingly be the members of that first parliament, with the lords and commons summoned and returned on the part of Ireland; and such parliament may continue to sit so long as the present parliament of Great-Britain may now by law continue to sit, if not sooner dissolved; provided always, that, until an act shall have passed in the parliament of the united kingdom, providing in what cases persons holding offices or places of profit under the crown in Ireland shall be incapable of being members of the house of commons of the parliament of the united kingdom, no greater number of members than twenty, holding such offices or places, shall be capable of sitting in the said house of commons; and, if such a number of members shall be returned to serve in that house as to make the whole number of its members holding such offices or places more than twenty, then the seats or places of such members as shall have last accepted such offices shall be vacated, at the option of such members, so as to reduce the number to twenty; and no person holding any such office or place shall be capable of being elected or of sitting in the said house, while there are twenty persons in it holding such offices or places; and every one of the lords of parliament of the united kingdom, and every member of the house of commons, shall, until the parliament shall otherwise provide, take the oaths, and make and subscribe the declaration, and take and subscribe the oath now by law enjoined to be taken, made, and subscribed by the lords and commons of the parliament of Great-Britain : That the lords of parliament on the part of Ireland, in the house of lords of the united kingdom, shall have the same privileges 2 L 2 privileges of parliament which shall belong to the lords of parliament on the part of Great-Britain; that all lords spiritual of Ireland shall have rank and precedency immediately after those of Great-Britain of the same rank and degree, and shall enjoy all privileges as fully as the British lords spiritual do now or may hereafter enjoy the same (the right and privilege of sitting in the house of lords, and the privileges depending thereon, and particularly the right of sitting on the trial of peers, excepted); that the persons holding any temporal peerages of Ireland, existing at the time of the union, shall have precedency next after all the persons holding peerages of the like orders and degrees in Great-Britain, subsisting at that time; that all peerages of Ireland created after the union shall have rank and precedency with the peerages of the united kingdom, so created, according to the dates of their creations; that all peerages both of GreatBritain and Ireland, now subsisting or hereafter to be created, shall in all other respects be considered as peerages of the united kingdom; and that the peers of Ireland shall, as peers of the united kingdom, be sued and tried as peers, except as aforesaid, and shall enjoy all privileges of peers, except the right and privilege of sitting in the house of lords and on the trial of peers. That it be the fifth article of union, that the churches of England and Ireland, as now by law established, be united into one church, to be called THE UNITED CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND; that the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of the said united church, shall remain in full force for ever, as the same are now by law established for the church of England; that the continuance and preservation of the said church shall be deemed an essential and fundamental part of the union; and that in like manner the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of the church of Scotland, shall remain and be preserved as the same are now established by law. That it be the sixth article of union, that his majesty's subjects of Great-Britain and Ireland shall, from and after the 1st day of January, 1801, be entitled to the same privileges, and be on the same footing, as to encouragements and bounties on the like articles, being the growth, produce, or manufacture of either country respectively, and generally in respect of trade and navigation in all ports and places in the united kingdom and its dependencies; and that, in all treaties made with any foreign power, his majesty's subjects of Ireland shall have the same privileges, and be on the same footing, as those of Great-Britain: That, from the same day, all prohibitions and bounties on the export of articles, the growth, produce, or manufacture of of either country, to the other, shall cease, and the said articles shall be exported from one country to the other without duty or bounty on such export: That all articles, the growth, produce, or manufacture of either country (not herein after enumerated as subject to specific duties), shall thenceforth be imported into each country from the other, free from duty, other than such countervailing duties as are specified in a schedule lately adjusted *, or such as shall hereafter be imposed by the parliament of the united kingdom; and that, for twenty years from the union, the articles enumerated in another schedule shall be subject, on importation into each country from the other, to the duties specified in that instrument ; and the woollen manufactures, known by the names of old and new drapery, shall pay, on importation into each country from the other, the duties now payable on importation into Ireland; salt and hops, on importation into Ireland from Great-Britain, duties not exceeding those which are now paid on importation into Ireland; and coals, on importation into Ireland from GreatBritain, shall be liable to burthens not exceeding those to which they are now subject: That calicoes and muslins shall, on their importation into either country from the other, be subject to the duties now payable on the same on the importation thereof from GreatBritain into Ireland, until the 5th day of January, 1808; and, from and after that day, the said duties shall be annually reduced, by equal proportions as near as may be in each year, so as to stand at ten per centum from and after the 5th day of January, 1816, until the 5th day of January, 1821; and that cotton yarn and cotton twist shall, on their importation into either country from the other, be subject to the duties now payable upon the same on the importation thereof from GreatBritain into Ireland, until the 5th day of January, 1808; and, * In this schedule, the highest customs, on importation into Britain from Ireland, are, for twenty hundred weight of cordage to be used as standing rigging, 41. 10s. 3d.-for other cordage, 41. 4s. 4d.--for a hundred weight of refined sugar, 17. 19s. 1d., &c.-for a pound of silk and ribands of silk mixed with gold or silver, 6s. 8d.: the highest duties of excise are, 21. 3s. 6d. for a hundred weight of flint, enamel, stained, paste, or phial glass-21. 2s. &c. for other sorts of glass-the same sum for a barrel of sweets or made wines--19s. 2d. for a hogshead of cider12s. 10d. for a thousand pan or ridge tiles-12s. 8d. for a barrel of vinegar-10s, 6d. for a hundred weight of pasteboard; and 10s. for a bushel of salt. On importation into Ireland from Britain, the highest countervailing duties are, 21. 2s. 4d., &c. for a hundred weight of refined sugar -10s. for pasteboard-an equal sum for a pair of dice-and also for a barrel of sweets. Wrought brass, copper, and iron, cabinet ware, carriages, glass, pottery, leather, paper stained, haberdashery, hats, &c. are to be subject to a duty of 10 per cent. on the true value. 213 from from and after the said day, the said duties shall be annually reduced by equal proportions as near as may be in each year, so that all duties shall cease on the said articles from and after the 5th day of January, 1816: That any articles of the growth, produce, or manufacture of either country, which are or may be subject to internal duty, or to duty on the materials of which they are composed, may be made subject, on their importation into each country. from the other, to such countervailing duty as shall appear to be just and reasonable in respect of such internal duty or duties on the materials; and that for the said purposes the articles specified in the former schedule shall be subject to the duties set forth therein, liable to be taken off, diminished, or increased, in the manner herein specified; and that, upon the export of the said articles from each country to the other, a drawback shall be given equal in amount to the countervail. ing duty payable on such articles on the import thereof into the same country from the other; and that in like manner it shall be competent to the united parliament to impose any new or additional countervailing duties, or to take off or diminish existing countervailing duties, as it may appear to be just and reasonable, in respect of any future or additional internal duty on any article of the growth, produce, or manufacture of either country, or of any new or additional duty on any materials of which such article may be composed, or of any abatement of duty on the same; and that when any such new or additional countervailing duty shall be imposed on the import of any article into either country from the other, an equal drawback shall be given on the export of every such article from the same country to the other: That all articles, the growth, produce, or manufacture of either country, when exported through the other, shall in all cases be exported subject to the same charges as if they had been exported directly from the country of which they were the growth, produce, or manufacture: That all duty charged on the import of foreign or colonial goods into either country shall, on their export to the other, be either drawn back, or the amount (if any be retained) shall be placed to the credit of the country to which they shall be so exported, so long as the expenditure of the united kingdom shall be defrayed by proportional contributions; provided always, that nothing herein shall extend to take away any duty, bounty, or prohibition, which exist with respect to corn, meal, malt, flour, or biscuit; but that all duties, bounties, or prohibitions, on the said articles, may be regulated, varied, or repealed, from time to time, as the united parliament shall deem expedient. That it be the seventh article of union, that the charge arising arising from the payment of the interest, and the sinking fund for the reduction of the principal, of the debt incurred in either kingdom before the union, shall continue to be separately defrayed by Great-Britain and Ireland, except as herein after provided: That, for the space of twenty years after the union, the contribution towards the expenditure of the united kingdom in each year, shall be defrayed in the proportion of fifteen parts for Great-Britain and two parts for Ireland: and that, at the expiration of the said term, the future expenditure (other than the interest and charges of the debt to which either country shall be separately liable) shall be defrayed in such proportion as the parliament shall deem reasonable on a comparison of the real value of the exports and imports of the respective countries, upon an average of the three years next preceding the period of revision; or on a comparison of the value of the quantities of the following articles consumed within the respective countries, upon a similar average, viz. beer, spirits, sugar, wine, tea, tobacco, and malt; or ac cording to the aggregate proportion resulting from both these considerations; or on a comparison of the amount of income in each country, estimated from the produce for the same period of a general tax, if such shall have been imposed on the same descriptions of income in both countries; and that the parliament shall afterwards proceed in like manner to revise and fix the said proportions according to the same rules, or any of them, at periods not more distant than twenty years, nor less than seven years from each other; unless, previous to any such period, the parliament shall have declared, as herein after provided, that the general expenditure shall be defrayed indiscriminately, by equal taxes imposed on the like articles in both countries: that, for defraying the expenditure according to the rules above laid down, the revenues of Ireland shall constitute a consolidated fund, which shall be charged, in the first instance, with the interest of the debt of Ireland, and with the sinking fund applicable to the reduction of the said debt, and, secondly, shall be appropriated towards defraying the proportion of the expenditure of the united kingdom, to which Ireland may be liable in each year: that the proportion of contribution to which GreatBritain and Ireland will be liable, shall be raised by such taxes in each country, as the parliament shall deem fit; provided always, that, in regulating the taxes in each country, no article in Ireland shall be made liable to any new or additional duty, by which the whole amount of duty payable thereon would exceed the amount which will be thereafter payable in England on the like article: that, if at the end of any year a surplus shall accrue from the revenues of ireland, 214 |