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19th till four o'clock in the morning upon these heads of a bill; and on the 20th Mr. Gardner was ordered to attend his excellency the lord lieutenant with the said heads of a bill, and desire the same might be transmitted into Great Britain in due form. Thus after the severest contest, with the full and unequivocal approbation of government, the general support of the patriots, and the unanimous accord of the British legislature in a similar indulgence to the Roman Catholics of England, were these heads of a bill carried through the Irish House of Commons by the small majority of nine. Upon the third reading of this bill in the House of Lords, the contents with their proxies were 36, and the not contents were 12. On the 14th of August the lord lieutenant put an end to the session. After having complimented both houses upon their long and faithful attendance, he assured the commons, that their grants should be faithfully applied, and that it should be his endeavour, that the welfare and security of the people might amply compensate for those charges, which the exigency of public affairs had unavoidably occasioned.* He then addressed himself to both houses, and said, he flattered himself that the regulations, which had taken place that session, would prove essentially serviceable to that valuable branch of commerce, the fisheries of Ireland. It was with pleasure, that he saw an act passed for establishing a militia, which by enabling his majesty, when he should think proper, to call forth that part of the national strength, might inaterially contribute to the protection and defence of the kingdom. The law for relieving the Roman Catholics from some of those disabilities, under which they had hitherto laboured, would, he hoped, attain the desirable end of promoting and establishing good will and mutual confidence among his majesty's subjects, and by rendering them more united at home, make them more formidable to their enemies abroad. He congratulated with them on the late extension of the trade and commerce of that kingdom; it was a circumstance peculiarly fortunate to them, that an event which promised such advantages to Ireland should have taken place during his administration. While they justly enjoyed the approbation and gratitude of their country, for having promoted so many useful laws, he was persuaded, they would not forget what was due to the paternal care of an affectionate sovereign, and the kind disposition of Great Britain towards that country; they would cultivate jointly, as in sound policy they were inseparable, the true interests of both kingdoms.

We have seen, that the alarming distresses of Ireland had roused the British House of Commons to afford them some commercial relief. When the bills to this effect were to be read a second time, several members for trading towns violently opposed them, and the table of the house of commons was covered with petitions against any extension of commercial 9 Journ. Com. p. 520.

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advantages to Ireland, by which the trade of Great Britain should be in any manner affected. So violent indeed were the towns of Liverpool, Manchester, and Glasgow, that they menaced to be no longer loyal, if these bills should pass: and Lord Middleton observed in the debate, "that these towns "were experienced in rebellion so abundantly, that the transition "would be an object of easy accomplishment, and the world "would entertain little surprise, if they threw aside their new"fangled opinion.” Lord North was of opinion, that as the expectations of the Irish were raised from what the house had already done, it would be unwise to protract the business to another session. The gentlemen, who opposed the bill, seemed all to agree in one point, that somewhat ought to be done for their relief, though they differed about the nature and extent of what ought to be done. He saw no reason, however, why the present bill should not pass, since the house might, notwithstanding, appoint a committee to enquire into the state of the trade, that from their report a plan might be formed and adopted. He did not see the mighty difficulty, that was said to exist, in calculating the difference necessarily to arise in the annual imports, by the effect of the bill before the house. It would create small difference, comparatively speaking, in the revenue, since the diminution in the imports of one place would give an additional increase to those of another, as the difference of duty on the enumerated articles was very trifling. He held it as the duty of Britain to give Ireland a degree, at least, of recompence for the exertions she had made, were we not inclined by policy, to give her relief from the restrictions she laboured under; and he hoped the house would agree on the present bill, as a test of their intention and inclination to befriend her in future more substantially.*. Mr. Burke answered the arguments of the honourable gentleman who opposed the bill. The bills before the house, he said, were no more than restorations of what the wisdom of a British parliament had, on a former occasion, thought proper to invest Ireland with. In the 12th of Charles II. the navigation bills passed, extending to Ireland as well as England. A kind of left-handed policy had, however, deprived her of the freedom she enjoyed under that act, and she had ever since remained under the most cruel, oppressive, and unnatural restriction. Deprived of every incentive to industry, and shut out from every passage to wealth, she had inwardly lamented, but she had never complained of her condition. She had gone the most forward lengths in serving the interest and defending the rights of Great Britain. She had assisted in conquests, from which she was to gain no advantage, and emptied her treasury, and desolated her land, to prove her

In all the affairs of Ireland Mr. Burke has ever evinced the most accurate historical knowledge, the most unbiassed judgment, and the most constitutional spirit of any member in either parliament. The historian cannot therefore dispense with favouring the reader with the historical views from that masterly hand as they occur.

attachment and loyalty to the government of this country. Such had been her conduct, and her reward had been restriction and bondage of the most cruel nature. He did not mean, by describing her situation, to engage the humanity of the house in her favour. The people of Ireland would not accept favours flowing from the humanity of the house. They called for justice, not for pity. They requested Britain to be wise, not to be generous; to provide for her own good, and secure her own interest; sensible that wisdom and prudence would dictate, that to accomplish these, a contrary conduct towards them was necessary. The honourable gentlemen, who opposed the bill, had drawn into collection the arguments and reasons they maintained to exist against all the bills, meaning, no doubt, thereby to prejudice the house the more by their aggregate effect. Though he detested this inequitable mode of proceeding, he would not evade the combat even on that ground; nor wish to engage the house in favour of the bills, if he could not, in the fullest manner, answer every objection they had brought to every part. The honourable gentleman, who had moved the amendment, wished to reconcile the people of Ireland to delay, by pledging the honour of parliament, that something effectual should be done in their favour next session. He knew the temper of the Irish too well, to believe, that they would sit down satisfied with such an assertion.

They would conclude within themselves, depending on experience for their guide, that the promise of something to be done next session, would alone produce the repetition of a promise for the session following; and promise, repetition, and promise, from session to session, would be the only benefit they would receive. He did not conclude, that the denial of what even justice demanded of us in their favour, would produce rebellion and disturbance in that country; their loyalty and zeal were superior to complaints; they might despair, but they would not resist. Other places experienced in rebellion, had determined, it seems, to enter or not to enter into it, according as these bills were determined; but Ireland regarded more the welfare of the empire at large, than the interest of itself in particular. They were patient and loyal, and therefore, he supposed, they were crushed; for it was the policy of the present day to forego the excellent and noble maxims of the Romans, parcere subjectis et debellare superbos, for the infamous proverb of British growth, "proud to the humble, and humble to the proud." He then went into a particular detail of the arguments of the honourable genmen relating to commercial advantage. The annual revenue of the two kingdoms had been exultingly, but most inequitably drawn into comparison, to prove that Ireland paid no proportion of tax. It was not the number of inhabitants, that constituted the different specific in the article of taxation between two countries; but the distinction of internal opulence and external advantage. Compare the two countries by that line, and it will be found that Ireland is taxed in a quadruple proportion more

than England. The internal wealth, and external advantage of trade and commerce, is forty times greater in England than in Ireland. There is, therefore, no ratio of proportion preserved in the mode of taxing the latter. She is taxed, without enjoying the means of payment. She is debarred the use of shoes and stockings, and yet she is made to pay for them. Restricted from trading, she enjoys no opportunity of acquiring wealth to discharge the taxes imposed upon her. Enlarge her means of payment, and in proportion to her ability enlarge her taxes. An equality of commercial advantage could not be established between the two countries. The opulence of the one is a barrier insuperable by the other. The great disproportion of capital effectually destroys the possibility of an equality. The one can extend her mart of trade through every different channel of the universe; the other, restrained in her ability, cannot prosecute the same track; and as the ability of the proceeding increases in the same proportion, in the progress of one as well as the other, the same proportion of advantage will still remain. The Irish will be able to follow the English at equal distance, in every stage, both in the outset and in the continuance; but they never will be able to accelerate their motion in order to overtake them. The lowness of labour is a nugatory argument; for until the instant that the price of labour is equal, the superiority of manufacture will remain with the English. The price of labour rises with the growth of manufacture, and is highest when the manufacture is best. The experience of every day tells us, that where the price of labour is highest, the manufacturer is able to sell his commodity at the lowest price. The difference of duty of the imported enumerated articles, is so abundantly overbalanced by the other advantages enjoyed by this country, that without it there could not be the smallest degree of competition in manufacture. Not one, however, of the enumerated articles is less taxed in Ireland than in England, except those already permitted to her. For though the petitions on the table are most, if not all, tending to express their fears of the consequences of granting a free exportation of sail cloth and iron to the Irish; it is a fact, that they already enjoy a free exportation of these articles: and particularly he would remark of manufactured iron and steel, as he did on a similar occasion of sail cloth, that the petition served to shew the foundation on which they all were laid, namely, merely conjecture. They had not felt from the reality what they dreaded from the idea; for an act existed at this time permitting the free exportation of manufactured iron; which, however, had not been prosecuted, because of the advantages enjoyed by the English. The only article imported under that act into England, was a quantity of cork screws, which, though it might be an evidence of their luxury in living, was but a feeble proof of their excellence of manufacture. But, indeed, every other instance, as well as this, served to prove how erroneously they had formed their opi

nions on the subject. Some years ago, when a bill was brought in for the free importation of woollen yarn into England, petitions were received from every different part of the country, complaining of the injury it would create; but now that they had experienced its effects, they felt and acknowledged its beneficial tendency. It was absurd to think that a participation of manufacture would be detrimental to this country. Had we not seen the woollen manufacture planted in different parts of this country; and had we not also seen that the competitions had served to advance both? He concluded with lamenting, that in one instance he should be directed by his conscience to take a part against his constituents. It had been his invariable aim to protect their rights and interests, and to act at all times as became the senator and representative of the people. In this instance he had dared to act contrary to the wishes, but not, he was sensible, to the interests of his constituents.* He differed in opinion from them on the noblest principle, namely, from his being in the right; and if, from his conduct in this business, he should be deprived of his seat in that honourable house, it would stand on record an example to future representatives of the commons of England, that one man, at least, had dared to oppose his constituents, when his judgment assured him they were in the wrong.

The national distresses of Ireland were too alarming to the British empire to permit the legislature of either country to sleep over them. During the recess of the Irish parliament, we find that of Great Britain as frequently and as earnestly employed upon its interests, as if that kingdom had been within the jurisdiction of its legislative powers. On the 16th of December, 1778, Lord Nugent described the inhabitants of his native country as suffering every species of misery and distress human nature was capable of bearing; a people, nine-tenths of whom laboured for four-pence a day, whose food in summer was potatoes and butter-milk, and in winter potatoes and water; he gave notice, that in consequence of what passed the last session, it was intended to propose to take off some of the restrictions of the trade of Ireland. He said, the people of Ireland expected some relief: that kingdom was oppressed and ruined; they would emigrate to America; they would carry the woollen and linen manufacture thither; they would soon rival those of this country in short our restrictions would transfer the trade and manufactures of Ireland to America.

Among the other hardships suffered by the people in general, the landed part of them had their share. There was now an uninterrupted embargo, which still existed, on the exportation of the only staple commodities they had, beef and butter; the lands were fallen one third in value; the graziers were become bankrupts, the full proof of which he experienced himself; for though he possessed a very considerable property, situated in † 10 Eng. Debates, p. 176.

The Electors of Bristol.

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