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to the British nation, let them be governed by the spirit of concord, and with fidelity to the connection; but when the mover of the bill asks me to surrender those powers, I am astonished at him. I have neither ears, nor eyes, nor functions to make such a sacrifice. What! that free trade, for which we exerted every nerve in 1779; that free constitution, for which we pledged life and fortune in 1782! Our lives are at the service of the empire; but our liberties! no....we received them from our Father, which is in Heaven, and we will hand them down to our children. But if gentlemen can entertain a doubt of the mischief of these propositions, are they convinced of their safety? the safety of giving up the government of your trade? No! the mischief is prominent, but the advantage is of a most enigmatical nature. Have gentlemen considered the subject, have they traced over the map of the countries, the power or freedom of trading with whom they are to surrender for ever? Have they traced the map of Asia, Africa, and America? Do they know the French, Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish settlements? Do they know the neutral powers of those countries, their produce, aptitudes, and dispositions? Have they considered the state of North America? its present state, future growth, and every opportunity in the endless succession of time attending that nurse of commerce and asylum of mankind? Are they now competent to declare on the part of themselves and all their posterity, that a free trade to those regions will never-in the influx of time be of any service to the kingdom of Ireland? If they have information on this subject, it must be by a communication with God, for they have none with man: it must be inspiration, for it cannot be knowledge. In such circumstances to subscribe this agreement, without knowledge, without even the affectation of knowledge, when Great Britain with all her experience and every means of information from East Indies, West Indies, America, and with the official knowledge at her feet, has taken six months to deliberate, and has now produced twenty resolutions with an history to each, amounting to a code of empire, not a system of commerce: I say in such circumstances for Ireland to subscribe this agreement, would be infatuation, an infatuation to which the nation could not be a party, but would appear to be concluded, indeed huddled with all her posterity into a fallacious arrangement, by the influence of the crown, without the deliberation of parliament, or the consent of the people! This would appear the more inexcusable, because we are not driven to it; adjustment is not indispensible; the great points have been carried! An inferior question about the home market has been started, and a commercial fever artificially raised, but while the great points remain undisturbed, the nations cannot be committed; the manufacturers applied for

protecting duties, and have failed; the minister offered a system of reciprocity, and succeeded in Ireland, but has failed in England; he makes you another offer inconsistent with the former, which offer the English do not support, and the Irish deprecate. We can go on, we have a growing prosperity, and as yet an exemption from intolerable taxes; we can from time to time regulate our own commerce, cherish our manufactures, keep down our taxes, and bring on our people, and brood over the growing prosperity of young Ireland. In the mean time we will guard our free trade and free constitution as our only real resources; they were the struggles of great virtue, the result of much perseverance, and our broad base of public action! We should recollect that this house may now, with peculiar propriety, interpose, because you did with great zeal and success, on this very subject of trade, bring on the people, and you did with great prudence and moderation, on another occasion, check a certain description of the people. Thus mediating between extremes, you will preserve this island long, and preserve her with a certain degree of renown. Thus faithful to the constitution of the country, you will command and insure her tranquillity, for our best authority with the people is, protection afforded against the ministers of the crown. It is not public clamour, but public injury, that should alarm you; your high ground of expostulation with your fellow subjects has been your services; the free trade you have given the merchant, and the free constitution you have given the island! Make your third great effort, preserve them, and with them preserve unaltered your own calm sense of public right, the dignity of the parliament, the majesty of the people, and the powers of the island! Keep them unsullied, uncovenanted, uncircumscribed, and unstipendiary! These paths are the paths to glory; and let me add, these ways are the ways of peace: so shall the prosperity of your country, though without a tongue to thank you, yet laden with the blessings of constitution and of commerce, bear attestation to your services, and wait on your progress with invo➡ luntary praise!

No. LXXVII.

THE RESOLUTIONS OF THE IRISH HOUSE OF COMMONS RELATING TO THE TREATY OF NAVIGATION AND COMMERCE WITH THE FRENCH KING....P. 160.

1. RESOLVED, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that all articles of the growth, produce, or manufac

ture of the European dominions of the French King, which are not specified in the sixth article of the treaty of navigation and commerce between his Britannic Majesty and the most Christian King, signed at Versailles the 26th of September, 1786, shall be imported into this kingdom on payment of duties as low as any, which shall be payable on the importation of the like articles from any other European nation.

2. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty to be paid on wines imported directly from France into Ireland shall be no higher than those duties which they now pay.

3. Resolved, That it appears to this committee, that the duty hereafter to be paid upon beer, the produce or manufacture of the European dominions of the French King, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 30l. per centum ad valorem.

4. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid for all cabinet work and turnery, and for all instruments of music, being of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French King, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 101. per centum ad valorem.

5. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid for all articles composed of iron or steel separately or mixed, or worked or mounted with other substances, such articles being of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French King, and not exceeding in their value 50s. British, or 54s. 2d. Irish currency, by the hundred weight, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 51. per centum ad valorem.

6. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid for all articles composed of iron or steel separately or mixed, or worked or mounted with other substances, and exceeding in their value 50s. British, or 54s. 2d. Irish currency, by the hundred weight; and for all buttons, buckles, knives or scissars, and for all other articles of hardware or cutlery, and for all articles composed of copper and brass separately or mixed, or worked or mounted with other substances, such articles being of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French King, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 10l. per centum ad valorem.

7. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid upon all sorts of cottons and woollens, whether knit or woven, including hosiery, the product or manufacture of the European dominions of the French King, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 121. per centum ad valorem.

8. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid upon all linens made of flax or hemp, of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French King, imported into this kingdom, shall be no higher than the duty which linens, the manufacture of Holland, imported into this kingdom, now pay.

9. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid for cambrics and lawns, being of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French king, imported into this kingdom, shall be for every demi piece of cambric, and for every demi piece of lawn, not exceeding seven yards and three quarters of a yard English measure in length, and not being above the value of 50s. British, or 54s. 2d. Irish currency, respectively 5s. 5d. and so in proportion for any greater length; and that the duty for any cambric imported in demi pieces exceeding seven-eighths of a yard English measure in breadth, and for any lawn imported in pieces, exceeding one yard and a quarter English measure in breadth, and being above the value of 50s. British, or 54s. 2d. Irish currency, respectively, shall be 10l. per centum ad valo

rem.

10. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid upon all saddlery, of the manufacture of the European dominons of the French king, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 15l. per centum ad valorem.

11. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid upon gauzes of all sorts of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French king, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 15%. per centum ad valorem.

12. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid upon the importation into this kingdom of millinery made up of muslin, lawn, cambric or gauze of any kind, or of any other article specified in the sixth article of the said treaty of navigation and commerce, of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French king, shall be at the rate of 12. per centum ad valorem; and that if any article not so specified, and which may be legally imported into this kingdom, shall be used in such millinery, such articles shall pay duties as if separately imported into this kingdom.

13. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid upon all porcelains, earthen-ware and pottery of the manufacture of the European

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dominions of the French king, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 121. per centum ad valorem.

14. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid upon all glass and glassware of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French king, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 121. per centum ad valorem.

15. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that beer being of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French king, imported into this kingdom, shall pay, over and above the duty to be paid on the importation thereof, a further duty sufficient to countervail the internal duty actually paid on beer brewed in Ireland.

No. LXXVIII.

MR. GRATTAN'S SPEECH UPON TITHES.....P. 171.

MR. GRATTAN..... The people in the south have griev ances, and one of their principal grievances is tithe; do not take it on my authority, go into a committee. It has been said in defence of clerical exactions, that though sometimes exorbitant, they have never been illegal. I deny it; and will produce proof at your bar, that exactions in some of the disturbed parts have been not exorbitant only, but illegal likewise. I will prove that, in many instances, tithe has been demanded, and paid for turf; that tithe of turf has been assessed at one or two shillings a house like hearth-money; and in addition to hearth-money, with this difference, that in the case of hearth-money, there is an exemption for the poor of a certain description; but here it is the poor of the poorest order, that is the most resistless people, who pay. I will prove to you, that men have been excommunicated by a most illegal sentence, for refusing to pay tithe of turf. I have two decrees in my hand from the Vicarial Court of Cloyne; the first excommunicating one man, the second excommunicating four men most illegally, most arbitrarily, for refusing to pay tithe of turf: nor has tithe of turf, without pretence of law or custom been a practice only; but in some part of the south, it has been a formed exaction with its own distinct and facetious appellation, the familiar denomination of

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