Irish manufacture is £700,000; if England, as some contend, could supply this consumption at 50 per cent. less, the saving to the public would be £350,000 per annum, which is as much as the whole Irish capital employed in the trade, according to Mr. O'Brien's evidence. From the whole of the examination, it appears that the loss which the public sustain by paying an extra price for most of the cotton goods is infinitely more than what is gained by the manufacturers. And if their capital had not been forced into this trade by protecting duties, it would probably have taken a channel more favourable to the productions of the country and the habits of the people. Ireland might then have supplied England with more linen and grain, both of which she takes from her in preference to any other country of Europe, and she would have been supplied with cotton goods on much lower terms than she can now supply herself. It has been mentioned in the House that the high freight on so bulky an article as sheep's wool would prevent any supply being obtained from England to this country. The freight of cotton wool from Liverpool to Dublin is but 50s. per ton, not more than one per cent. on the value. PROPOSED COMPENSATION TO COTTON MANUFACTURERS. It has been stated in evidence that the sum of £200,000 has been expended in erecting Cotton Mills, Machinery, and Printing works in Ireland. To compensate the Proprietors, at the rate of one £100,000 50,000 50,000 Total compensation......... £200,000 To provide for which, suppose a duty, at the rate of 20 per cent., on Calicoes and Muslins should take place on the 1st of January next, and to continue for one year, it would on the Import of £1,500,000 produce... ...... From which deduct for the above compensation Would leave a balance of Revenue of ...... .... ..... 300,000 200,000 £100,000 Note.-There can be no doubt of more than the value of British Calicoes and Muslins being imported than what is stated above; for, state the population of Ireland at 4,000,000, and suppose only one-fourth consumers of these articles at the rate of 30s. each per annum, it would be equal to the above sum of £1,500,000. In order to show that Calicoes and Muslins could bear a duty of 20 per cent. on their Import into this country, the writer of this states, from his own knowledge, that he could buy in Manchester Calicoes adapted to the general consumption of this country at 17d. to 18d. per yard average at From which deduct Excise Duty £. 8. d. 1 54 0 British To which add difference of Currency Add for freight, &c. .... They would then cost in this country 0 0 2 To which add the present Duty of 1s. 4d. per yard 0 1 4 Reckon the cost when brought here, as 8. d. 1 41 ... 03/2 0 2 0 1 10 10 Add to this commission for sales, discount, and 10 per cent.... Difference between the proposed 20 per cent. and the present duty The writer of this now sells the same description of goods in this country at From which he deducts what he has allowed on English Goods as above, viz., 10 per cent....... Wholesale price of Irish Goods .... Wholesale price of English Goods, paying 20 per cent....... In favour of British Goods per yard VOL III. 1800. The Correspondence for the year 1799 has shown how assiduously the members of the Administration, both in England and Ireland, were exerting themselves to secure the success of a second attempt to carry the grand measure of a Union between the two countries, after the temporary delay to which they were obliged to submit. Little time was lost when the moment arrived for renewing their efforts. The Parliament of Ireland met on the 15th of January. Though, in the Speech delivered from the throne by Lord Cornwallis, there was no allusion to the Union, it was well known that the measure would be revived and urged with all the influence that Government possessed. In the debate which ensued upon the Address, Sir Lawrence Parsons, after a strong speech against a Union, moved an amendment to assure his Majesty that Ireland was already inseparably united with Great Britain; but that his Irish subjects were too sensible of the blessings which they enjoyed from the exertions of an independent resident Parliament, not to feel themselves bound, at all times, and particularly at that moment, to maintain it. This amendment, supported by Mr. Plunkett, the late Prime-Serjeant Fitzgerald, Mr. Grattan, Arthur Moore, Charles Bushe, and others, was rejected by a majority of 138 to 96. On the breaking up of the House, a riot took place in the streets, and some of the advocates of the Union were insulted by the populace. The Government was not backward in providing the means of repressing any seditious demonstrations which the opponents of Union might excite; and, on the 21st of January, the Commons, on the motion of Lord Castlereagh, voted that 10,000 men of the Irish Militia should be allowed to volunteer into the line, at a bounty of six or ten guineas per man: and it was afterwards determined that their place in Ireland should be supplied by English Militia regiments. On the 5th of February, a Message from the LordLieutenant, recommending a Union, was delivered to the House of Commons by Lord Castlereagh, who, after explaining the general principle of the measure, proposed eight articles as the foundations on which it might be established for the mutual benefit of the two countries. The first imported that, on the first day of January, 1801, and for ever after, Great Britain and Ireland should be united into one kingdom by the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; the second, that the succession to the imperial Crown of the said United Kingdom and of the dominions thereunto belonging, should continue limited and settled in the same manner as it was according to the Union between England and Scotland; the third, that the same United Kingdom should be united in one and the same Parliament; the fourth, |