In the foregoing list, where two Congregations are under the care of one Minister, they are placed to one number; reckoned

separately, the Congregations amount to 198, in three of which there are two Ministers in each. The number of vacancies are at this period unusually great, owing to the unfortunate circumstances of last summer. If all were filled up, the number of officiating Ministers would be 186; and there are seven superannuated Clergymen to whom, on account of their age and infirmities, the Synod grants a full portion of the Royal Donation. For the perfect accuracy in every item of the Stipend list I do not vouch, but of its general correctness I am well satisfied, and if there be errors they will consist in rating the stipend above rather than below what the Ministers actually receive. But in no instance can the error amount to more than a very few pounds.

ROBERT BLACK.

PLAN FOR STRENGTHENING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD OF ULSTER,

for rendering the Ministers of the Synod more independent of popular caprices and the arts of factious members of their Congregation, for enabling them to apply more diligently to their Ministerial Duties, and for inducing young Men in a decent station to devote themselves to the Ministry in the Presbyterian Church of Ireland.

It is proposed:

That a King's Commissioner shall sit in the Meetings of the General Synod of Ulster in the same manner as in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

The Commissioner to be a Presbyterian. That the proceedings in the Synod, Presbyteries, and Sessions, shall be governed by the regulations heretofore established, or hereafter to be adopted by the General Synod, according to the usages of that body.

That, before a Minister shall be appointed to the pastoral charge of any Congregation, he must be approved of by

Government, in order to his being entitled to a share of the Royal Bounty.

That the Congregations in the Synod of Ulster shall be divided into three classes.

The first class, containing about fifteen Ministers in the cities and large towns, to receive from one to two hundred pounds per annum.

The second class, containing about seventy Ministers in the more populous Congregations, to receive eighty pounds per

annum.

The third class, containing about one hundred Ministers, to receive sixty pounds per annum.

These quotas to be paid by an agent chosen by the Synod subject to the approbation of Government, giving satisfactory security, having fixed fees, and liable to be removed for negligence or misconduct.

That, when a Minister shall be suspended or deposed, according to the discipline and regulations of the Synod, his title to the Royal Bounty shall cease.

To effect the above distribution will require an addition to the Bounty at present enjoyed by the Synod of about £8,500 per The distribution to be nearly thus:

annum.

Royal Bounty as it now stands on the Irish Esta

blishment in round numbers......

Proposed addition

£5,900

8,500

£14,400

Deduct for sundry charges at the Treasury, Agent's fees, at £2 per cent., Salary to the Synod's Clerk, £30 per annum, amounting in all to about £850.......

Remains nett to be distributed....

To the first class, 15 Ministers, about £2,000

850

13,550

But as there are always vacancies between the death or removal of one Minister and the appointment of his successor, instead of a deficit there will ever be a surplus in the hands of the Agent, which surplus, after paying any incidental expences attending the meeting of the Synod, it is proposed should be annually added to the Fund for Supporting the Clergymen's Widows and Orphans.

That the Synod should be invested with the necessary powers for managing the above Fund, the capital of which amounts at present to £13,500, and affords, together with an Annual Subscription from the Ministers, a small Annuity to their Widows and Orphans of £15.

That a College be established in the Province of Ulster accessible to Presbyterian Students, and including a certain proportion of Presbyterian Trustees and Professors, particularly in Divinity and Moral Philosophy. The Crown to appoint Visitors, with powers similar to those exercised in the College of Dublin.

February 5, 1799.

IV.—TRADE, COMMERCE, REVENUE, &c.

QUANTITY OF BEER, ALE, AND SPIRITS, MADE IN IRELAND.

Mr. Beresford to Lord Castlereagh.

November 5, 1799.

My dear Lord-In the hurry in which I drew up the statement which I lately sent you of the quantity of Beer, and Ale, and Spirits, brewed and distilled in Ireland in the last eight years, I find that I was guilty of a great mistake, for I computed that for every barrel of Malt brewed there was a produce of two barrels of Beer, which I estimated one-third at £1 108. and two-thirds at £1 38., not adverting that the two barrels of Beer produced for one barrel of Malt contained only 32 gallons each, and that the price of £1 10s. and £1 38. for Beer and Ale was on the brewer's barrel containing 42 gallons. I have much overstated the numbers of barrels of Beer and Ale produced, and of course the value. I must, therefore, request you to accept the present computations in the place of the former.

Upon reflection I also think that I estimated the Spirits too high. I think 78. 6d. to be about the present price. I think also that 58. was a good price for them during the whole of the first four years and for two of the last four, and 68. 8d. for the third, and 78. 6d. for the four years of the second period. I have therefore, in the present valuation, estimated the first four years at 58. a gallon, and the last four years at 68. in round numbers.

On these principles I shall proceed in the present statements. I showed you, in my former paper, that the number of barrels of Malt which paid duty in the first period of four years to 1795, were, 4,935,299, and that the number used in distilling