14. Refolved, that it appears to this committee to be expedient that the duty hereafter to be paid upon all glass and glafs-ware of the manufacture of the European dominion of the French King, imported into this kingdom, fhall be at the rate of 121. per centum ad valorem.

15. Refolved, 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 fufficient to countervail the internal duty actually paid on beer brewed in Ireland.

Upon these refolutions Mr. Ogilvie fpoke as follows, viz. ,,I am extremely fenfible how much I ftand in need of the kind indulgence of the House, in attempting to enter upon the confideration of a fubject of fo extenfive a nature as the prefent treaty; and can affure them, that the difficulty attending fo arduous an undertaking would have been more than fufficient to deter me from the attempt, if the great importance of the queftion did not demand the most serious examination, and feem to call on every man who has turned h's thoughts to commercial fubjects, to lay his fentiments on the prefent occafion before the Houfe.

At the fame time, that I feel this neceffity, I muft beg leave to premife that it is not my intention to enter at large into the fubject, as a political arrangement between two mighty empires, nor to examine what may be its probable operation on either state in the great scale of Europe: neither is it my object to enquire into the effects it may produce on the trade and manufactures, the revenues and finances of Great Britain: I feel myfelf very unequal to the former inveftigation; and as to the latter, fince the prefent treaty has been framed by the Britifh cabinet, and cannot be carried into execution but by the approbation of the British parlia

ment

ment, if in the event the treaty fhall be carried into effect by that approbation, I conceive that we are bound to conclude, that it will upon the whole fecure confiderable advantages to all thofe great interefts, however it may appear to us to entail confiderable difadvantages on fome of them in certain particulars-and that the balance of benefit is effec tually fecured to that kingdom.

Under that conviction, I fhall proceed to take a view of the treaty as it may affect the interefts of Ireland, confidered exclufively and without any reference to thofe of Great Britain: And am free to declare on this ground, and under the above qualification, that on the most fair and impartial examination. I have been able to give it, the present treaty with France, as fimply affecting the trade and commerce of Ireland, meets with my approbation. Nay, I will even go further and declare, that abstracted from the idea of a common interest between Great Britain and Ireland, the prefent treaty may be highly dangerous, and even injurious to Great Britain, and yet highly advantageous to Ireland. Whoever for a moment adverts to the great difference in the fituation of the two kingdoms, will readily fee the justice of this obfervation : Great Britain, at the zenith of her greatnefs, and fummit of manufacturing excellence, had every thing to apprehend from overturning the whole fyftem that has raised her to her prefent envied fituation. If the experiment fails, fhe is ruined. Nay, if it fucceeds to her utmost wishes, she will still run a greater risk than prudence would poffibly justify, where fo much depended on the uncertainty of the event. This may at first appear a paradox, but a flight degree of confideration will explain my meaning. If the French trade proves advantageous, it will divert the British manufactures from the other markets of Europe, which they now enjoy, to this new channel. And the more advantageous the French trade proves, the more will the Ruffian, the German, the Spanish, and the Portuguese markets be neglected. If, when the British maVOL. II. nufactures

I

nufactures and capital have got confiderably engaged in the French trade, war fhould break out between the two kingdoms, and fuch a circumftance is by no means improbable, what fhort of ruin to the British manufactures and to the ftate would be the confequence? And if the balance of trade fhould be greatly against France, as foon as she has got poffeffion of the machinery used in the British manufactures, a war would be the cheapest way for her to extricate herself from fuch a fituation. But Ireland, in the infancy of her progrefs, has little to lofe and a great deal to gain; any change almost from the present state would be an advantage; and fhe may safely venture an experiment where the risk is trifling, and the profpect of advantage confiderable. Great Britain cannot forget that the American war gave independence to the Irish legiflature; I fincerely hope that no future calamity to the ftate may give an extenfion to her trade and her manufactures.

I fhall now proceed, to give fome reafons for the opinion I have advanced, that the present treaty will be advantageous to the trade of Ireland; and fhall confider its effects first on the imports, and then on the exports. As I mean hereafter to take a particular view of the tariff, I shall at present obferve that befides the four great articles of wine, brandy, vinegar and oil, every man who is acquainted with the ftate of the French manufactures must know, that a great variety of articles will be imported from that kingdom into Ireland. But as thofe will almost entirely confift of the finer manufactures and luxuries, which are at prefent fupplied from Great Britain, the difadvantage refulting from this importa tion will affect the British manufacturer much more than the Irifh; and as far as it fhall go, will be a lofs to that kingdom; for in the fpecies of manufactures in which Ireland has hitherto refifted the competition with Great Britain, she will have little to apprehend from France, except in one inftance that I fhall mention hereafter; and in the finest branches France

mu

muft underfell Great Britain before she can fend hers into this kingdom; which competition will be a partial advantage to Ireland, by lowering the price to the confumer. For as to its increasing the quantity of imports, I fhould think there is not much to be apprehended, as the imports must ever be bound and regulated by the ability of the confumers, and if that increases, the increased import will not be an additional injury. The lofs in this branch will be entirely, I apprehend, to Britain, and is one part of the purchase she pays for her treaty. And I fhall beg leave to congratulate the Houfe on the first instance of her giving up a monopoly. I wish for her fake that the facrifice had been made to an old and faithful relation, rather than to a new and untried friend.

In turning to the exports, the firft object that naturally presents itself is the linen manufacture.-And here I am hap py to declare, from the authority of fome of the most intelligent men in the trade, that they confider the duty, as the right honourable gentleman has affured us it is now fettled, fufficient to protect the home market against all competition from the Flemish and French low priced goods, while the fine linens of this kingdom will find their way into France under that duty.—And though fine linens are not at this day in general ufe in France, it is impoffible, from the friendly intercourfe and clofe connexion that is likely to follow from this treaty, but that the fine linens of Ireland must grow into fashion with the refined nation of France; and whenever it does, fuch is the fuperior excellence and intrinfic merit of this manufacture, that it will undoubtedly stand its ground against all competition. Diapers and damasks are in the fame fituation; they have been but lately introduced, but are in great requeft among the most fashionable ranks, and as foon as they are more generally known they cannot fail of finding a certain and advantageous market in France: -And though cambricks will certainly fuffer, I confider this partial inconvenience more than compenfated by the benefit that will arife to the other branches of the trade.

I 2

There

There is another extenfive branch of exports, that I am almoft afhamed to mention within these walls, that will derive no inconfiderable advantage from the intercourse with France; and though wretched indeed muft the policy of that nation be, that confiders the export of raw materials as an advantage, yet, as it has been fo ftated from the other fide of the Houte in the late commercial negociations with Britain, when it was seriously proposed to secure and continue this advantage to Ireland for ever, I am founded in saying that as far as it is an advantage, that advantage will be increafed by the facility we fhall derive from the treaty in fending our wool, worsted, yarn, and linen yarn, our raw hides and tallow, to our new French friends. But, if this treaty takes place, I hope we fhall fee a more enlightened fyftem brought forward, and that Ireland shall not continue to be the only manufacturing state in Europe, that does not guard fo valuable materials of manufacture by a duty on the export; and in recommending a duty, I do not mean a prohibiting duty, but fuch a regulated duty as should give a decifive preference to the Irish manufactures in the articles of Irish produce.

Having thus, made fome general obfervations as they occur on the first view, I fhall proceed to ftate the further advantage that the present treaty offers to Ireland, by flightly touching on the feparate articles of the tariff, and briefly ftating the advantages and likewise the disadvantages, likely to arife from each article, as they appear to me.

The first thing that naturally ftrikes the flightest observer on this part of the treaty, is, that the first four articles contain exclufive benefits to the four great ftaple commodities of France, wine, brandy, vinegar and oil, without any adequate compenfation on the part of Great Britain, for except these four, every other article of the treaty reciprocates, and I am utterly at a lofs to account for the conduct of the able nego

ciator