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business in Ireland*, who was several times in danger of losing his life, because he refused to allow his workmen a greater price than they had at Manchester. He could not help observing, that the fears and apprehensions of the manufacturers were extremely far-fetched and ill-founded; nor did it appear to him that there was such grounds for them as ought to weigh with any reasonable man. They had declared themselves to be under great anxiety and uneasiness, lest the Irish, in consequence of this arrangement, should be able to draw over all their workmen, all their trade, and all their capitals, and thus undersell them in their own markets by at least 137. per cent. He desired the committee to attend to that single subject. The Irish cotton trade was to be imported into England, according to this plan, at 10%. and a half per cent. duty, and yet it was said, they were to undersell the English manufacturer 137. per cent. These two sums amounted to 237. and a half per cent. Besides this, England had hitherto imported into Ireland at a duty of 10%. and a half per cent. This, therefore, added to the other two sums, would amount to 347. per cent.; at which disadvantage, therefore, if the manufacturers who had stated this degree of danger to the House deserved any degree of credit, they had been hitherto dealing in Ireland, so as to have almost exclusively engrossed that market, and had increased and flourished to an extent hardly to be equalled by any other branch of trade known a thing perfectly beyond the reach of belief, and even unworthy of a single serious thought. In another branch of manufacture, he said, there was the same sort of exaggerated danger represented to the House, by a person who had given a very long and copious testimony at the bar, and that in the most collected and deliberate manner that it was possible for any man to do; [here he alluded to Mr. Wedgwood, the earthen-ware manufacturer, who gave in his testimony in writing to the clerk] and yet, from this gentleman the House could learn nothing more than that of his having wished to engross every market to which he had ever thought of sending his wares; and, although, by the by, he did * Major Brooke.

not well know how to send them to Ireland for fear of damage, by breaking and other losses, yet he was now determined at all hazards, and at all risks of credibility and consistency, to run into every extreme that the present prevalent agitation of men's minds could prompt them to, in order to find nothing in those propositions but certain destruction to him and his manufacture if they should pass into a law. He most earnestly entreated the House not to suffer themselves to be carried away with the idea that a poor country, merely because she enjoyed some comparative exemption from taxes, was therefore able to cope with a rich and powerful country; the fact, he was ready to contend, was by no means so: on the contrary, the smallest burthen on a poor country was to be considered, when compared with those of a rich one, by no means in a proportion to their several abilities; for if one country exceeded another in wealth, population, and established commerce, in a proportion of two to one, he was nearly convinced that that country would be able to bear near ten times the burthens that the other would be equal to. This argument he applied to Great Britain and Ireland, and illustrated it with an example from England and Scotland. There was no gentleman, he believed, who would contend, that the taxes which Scotland paid, when compared with those of England, bore any proportion to their mutual and relative resources of wealth and power; and yet he believed, that, although every man must admit, that the connection between them had been productive of great and manifest advantage to both, yet there were few would besitate to say, that one country had been more benefited by it than the other, and that the event of that consolidation of interest which took place between the two British kingdoms, had been such as ought not to make England averse from a repetition of the experiment.

Mr. Pitt now proceeded to open that part of the plan which was entirely and exclusively favourable to this country, and which was to be the gratuity given by Ireland for whatever benefit she was to derive from the arrangement and the compensation to England for any advantage she might give up. It

happened, he said, that as this compensation bore an exact proportion to the advantages to be gained by Ireland, so was it of necessary consequence exactly commensurate to the effect of the concessions made by England; while, at the same time that it thus balanced the favour conferred and received, it over and above secured an additional advantage to each party, by considerably promoting the collective strength, prosperity, and splendor of the empire at large. This compensation was the surplus of the hereditary revenue of Ireland, after deducting 654,000l. for the support of her own establishments, to be applied to the naval defence of the trade and commerce of each kingdom. In order to shew the House how certainly this compensation would bear a proportion to the benefit which Ireland was to reap from the new arrangements, he would state what the hereditary revenue was. It consisted of certain duties by custom on almost every species of goods imported; an excise upon some articles of the most general consumption: and a house-tax levied according to the number of hearths in each. The committee would see from hence, that this hereditary revenue would necessarily increase as soon as the new arrangement began to have effect, and in exact proportion to that effect, every article of which it was composed being so closely connected with commerce, wealth, and population. It was his idea, that the supply, whatever it might be, should be taken in provisions and stores, a mode which would be productive of equal benefit to both nations.

He should have, he said, on a future day, some remarks to make as to the regulation of patents, and the securing of copyright to their respective possessors. At present, however, he would detain the committee no further upon this part of the subject.

He then addressed the House in a most earnest manner, entreating them to consider and reflect how momentous the object before them was; that it tended to conciliate a difference between this and our sister kingdom, which, though now confined to secret repinings, to disgusts, to jealousies, and a war of interests

and of passions, might perhaps, in time, proceed to a length which he shuddered to think of, and could not venture to express ; that it tended to enrich one part of the empire without impoverishing the other, while it gave strength to both; that like mercy, the favourite attribute of heaven

"It is twice bless'd,

"It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes;"

that after the severe calamities under which this country had so long laboured, that after the heavy loss which she had sustained from the recent division of her dominions, there ought to be no object more impressive on the feelings of the House, than to endeavour to preserve from farther dismemberment and diminution, to unite and to connect what yet remained of our reduced and shattered empire, of which great Britain and Ireland were now the only considerable members, in the mutual bond of affection, of mutual kindness, and of reciprocity of interests. He called upon those gentlemen who had enjoyed a share at different periods in the government of Ireland, to declare, whether the time was not now passed when temporary expedients, when lenitives, calculated merely for the purpose of deadening the immediate sense of pain, without even approaching the seat of the distemper, could be administered with safety? Whether they could silence the demands which the Irish, with a loud united voice, were at this moment making, on the justice, the wisdom, and the humanity of the nation?

He apologized for having so long troubled the House upon a subject on which they had now been already for such a length of time engaged; declaring, that among all the objects of his political life, this was, in his opinion, the most important he had ever engaged in, nor did he imagine he should ever meet another that would call forth all his public feelings, and rouse every exertion of his heart, in so forcible a manner as the present had done. A question in which, he verily believed, was involved every prospect that still remained to this country, of again lifting up her head to that height and eminence which she once possessed

amongst nations; and of giving to her commerce, her public credit, and her resources, that spring and vivacity, which she felt at the conclusion of the war before last, which were now so obviously returning, and which, he trusted, she would never be found to want, as long as liberality, public spirit, and disinterestedness, held their place in that House. He concluded with moving the first proposition.

The question of adjournment, which was moved by Lord North, was negatived,

Ayes............ 155

Noes............ 281

and the original resolution was then agreed to.

February 27. 1786.

Debate on the Duke of Richmond's plan for fortifying the Dock-yards. Mr. PITT introduced the business:

He begged leave earnestly to submit to the most serious and deliberate attention of the House, a proposition which, in his humble opinion, it behoved them to adopt previously to their forming themselves into a committee of supply; in order that it might serve as a direction to that committee in what manner to regulate that kind of vote which naturally might be expected from them at the close of the debate. Little, indeed, was his astonishment excited, when he reflected with how prejudiced a comment great numbers of the public had chosen to describe the question for discussion; because, as much within as beyond the walls of parliament, its real nature had been concealed by an insidious colouring, to give a lasting force to which all arts were put in practice.

The system of fortification had been dragged forth to public view as deserving the severest censures which could be thrown on any measure of government; and there had been attempts to excite against it, the feelings, the passions, and even the most

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