Delphi Complete Works of Richard Brinsley Sheridan

by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

  These would be the happy fruits of a plan, whose boasted object was to cement the union of the two countries, and connect them by bonds of eternal amity and reciprocal affection!

  After enlarging on this, Mr. Sheridan concluded with pressing to the attention of the House the Propositions as they then stood, completely changed in spirit, principle and regulation, and begging them to consider them in their true light, as new Proposals from the British Parliament, those made by the Irish Parliament being in fact rejected; and to decide whether they were such as human reason could suppose the Irish Parliament, weighing what they are to renounce, and what they are to acquire, could accept, if fair time was given them to argue and deliberate; or if by surprise and management, they were hurried through that Parliament, at a season of thin attendance and relaxed attention, whether the most fatal misunderstandings might not be apprehended, from the country’s afterwards discovering the delusion which had been practised upon them, and the arts and fallacies, which had obtained the irrevocable surrender of their dearest rights. The Resolution in debate was declared to be the essence of this new system: negative that and the plan fell to the ground; if it passed that day, a deep wound would instantly be given to the confidence of Ireland in Great Britain; if adopted rashly by the Irish Parliament, the decisive blow would be struck, and affection and good faith between the two countries be banished for ever.

  AN AUTHENTIC COPY OF THE TWENTY RESOLUTIONS

  ON THE IRISH COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE, AS THEY PASSED THE BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS ON THE 30TH OF MAY; AND WERE SENT UP TO THE HOUSE OF LORDS. TAKEN FROM THE VOTES OF THE ENGLISH HOUSE OF COMMONS.

  I.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that it is highly important to the general interests of the British Empire, that the intercourse and commerce between Great Britain and Ireland, should be finally regulated on permanent and equitable principles, for the mutual benefit of both countries.

  II.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that it is consistent with the essential interests of the manufactures, revenue, commerce and navigation of Great Britain, that a full participation of commercial advantages should be permanently secured to Ireland, whenever a provision equally permanent and secure shall be made by the Parliament of that Kingdom, towards desraying, in proportion to its growing prosperity, the necessary expences, in time of peace, of protecting the trade and general interest of the Empire.

  III.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that towards carrying into full effect so desirable a settlement, it is fit and proper that all articles not the growth or manufacture of Great Britain or Ireland, except those of the growth, produce, or manufacture of any of the countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope to the Streights of Magellan, should be imported into each kingdom from the other reciprocally under the same regulations, and at the same duties (if subject to duties) to which they would be liable when imported directly from the country or place from whence the same may have been imported into Great Britain or Ireland respectively, as the case may be; and that all duties originally paid on importation into either country respectively, except on arrack and foreign brandy, and on rum, and all sorts of strong waters, not imported from the British Colonies in the West Indies, shall be fully drawn back on exportation to the other; but nevertheless, that the duties shall continue to be protected and guarded as at present, by withholding the drawback, until a certificate from the proper officers of the revenue in the kingdom, to which the export may be made, shall be returned and compared with the entry outwards.

  IV.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that it is highly important to the general interests of the British empire, that the laws for regulating trade and navigation should be the same in Great Britain and Ireland, and therefore, that it is essential towards carrying into effect the present settlement, that all laws which have been made, or shall be made in Great Britain, for securing exclusive privileges to the ships and mariners of Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Colonies and Plantations, and for regulating and restraining the trade of the British Colonies and Plantations, such laws imposing the same restraints, and conferring the same benefit on the subjects of both kingdoms, should be in force in Ireland by laws to be passed by the Parliament of that kingdom for the same time, and in the same manner as in Great Britain.

  V.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that it is further essential to this settlement, that all goods and commodities of the growth, produce, or manufacture of British or foreign Colonies in America, or the West Indies, and the British or foreign settlements on the coast of Africa, imported into Ireland, should on importation be subject to the same duties and regulations as the like goods are, or from time to time shall be subject to upon importation into Great Britain, or if prohibited to be imported into Great Britain, shall be prohibited in like manner from being imported into Ireland.

  VI.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that in order to prevent illicit practices, injurious to the revenue and commerce of both kingdoms, it is expedient that all goods, whether of the growth, produce or manufacture of Great Britain or Ireland, or of any foreign country, which shall hereafter be imported into Great Britain from Ireland, or into Ireland from Great Britain, should be put by laws to be passed in the parliaments of the two kingdoms, under the same regulations with respect to bonds, cockets, and other instruments, to which the like goods are now subject in passing from one port of Great Britain to another.

  VII.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that for the like purpose it is also expedient, that when any goods, the growth, produce, or manufacture of the British West India islands, or any other of the British colonies or plantations, shall be shipped from Ireland for Great Britain, they should be accompanied with such original certificates of the revenue officers of the said colonies as shall be required by law on importation into Great Britain; and that when the whole quantity included in one certificate, shall not be shipped at any one time, the original certificate properly endorsed, as to quantity, should be sent with the first parcel; and to identify the remainder if shipped within a time to be limited, new certificates should be granted by the principal officers of the ports in Ireland, extracted from a register of the original documents, specifying the quantities before shipped from thence, by what vessels, and to what ports.

  VIII.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that it is essential for carrying into effect the present settlement, that all goods exported from Ireland to the British colonies in the West Indies or in America, or to the British settlements on the coast of Africa, or to the countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope to the Streights of Magellan, should from time to time be made liable to such duties and drawbacks, and put under such regulations as may be necessary, in order that the same may not be exported with less incumbrance of duties or impositions than the like goods shall be burthened with when exported from Great Britain.

  IX.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that it is essential to the general commercial interests of the Empire, that so long as the Parliament of this kingdom shall think it adviseable, that the commerce to the countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope, to the Streights of Magellan, shall be carried on solely by an exclusive company, having liberty to import into the port of London only, no goods of the growth, produce, or manufacture of the said countries, should be allowed to be imported into Ireland, but through Great Britain: except dye-stuffs, drugs, cotton, or other wool and , which may be imported into Ireland from foreign European countries, so long as the same are importable from foreign European countries into Great Britain; and that it shall be lawful to export such goods of the growth, produce, or manufacture of any of the countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope, to the Streights of Magellan, from Great Britain to Ireland, with the same duties retained thereon as are
now retained on their being exported to that kingdom, but that an account shall be kept of the duties retained and not drawn back on the said goods exported to Ireland, and that the amount thereof shall be remitted by the Receiver General of his Majesty’s customs in Great Britain, to the proper officer of the revenue in Ireland, to be placed to the account of his Majesty’s revenue there, subject to the disposal of the Parliament of that kingdom; and that the ships going from Great Britain to any of the said countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope to the Streights of Magellan, should not be restrained from touching at any of the ports in Ireland, and taking on board there any of the goods of the growth, produce, or manufacture of that kingdom; and that no ships be allowed to clear out from Ireland for any of the said countries, but such ships as shall be freighted by the said company, and which shall have sailed from the port of London; and that whenever the commerce to the said countries shall cease to be so carried on solely by such an exclusive company, the goods, the growth, produce, or manufacture of the said countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope, to the Streights of Magellan, should be importable into Ireland from the same countries from which they may be importable into Great Britain, and no other.

  X.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that no prohibition should exist in either country against the importation, use, or sale of any article the growth, produce, or manufacture of the other, except such as either kingdom may judge expedient from time to time upon corn, meal, malt, flour, and biscuits; and except such qualified prohibitions, at present contained in any act of the British or Irish Parliament; as do not absolutely prevent the importation of goods or manufactures, or materials of manufactures, but only regulate the weight, the size, the packages, or other particular circumstances, or prescribe the built or country, and dimensions of the ships importing the same; and also except on ammunition, arms, gunpowder, and other utensils of war importable only by virtue of his Majesty’s licence; and that the duty on the importation of every such article, (if subject to duty in either country) should be precisely the same in the one country as in the other, except where an addition may be necessary in either country, in consequence of an internal duty on any such article of its own consumption, or an internal bounty in the country where such article is grown, produced, or manufactured, and except such duties as either kingdom may judge expedient from time to time upon corn, meal, malt, flour, and biscuits.

  XI.

  RESOLVED, That it the opinion of this Committee, that in all cases where the duties on articles of the growth, produce or manufacture of either country are different on the importation into the other, it is expedient that they should be reduced in the kingdom where they are the highest, to an amount not exceeding the amount payable in the other, so that the same shall not be less than ten and a half per centum, where any article was charged with a duty, on importation into Ireland, of ten and a half per centum, or upwards, on the 17th day of May, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two; and that all such articles should be exportable from the kingdom into which they shall be imported, as free from duties as the similar commodities or home manufacture of the same kingdom.

  XII.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that is also proper that in all cases where the articles of the consumption of either kingdom shall be charged with an internal duty on the manufacture, the same manufacture, when imported from the other, may be charged with a farther duty on importation, adequate to countervail the internal duty on the manufacture, (except in the case of beer imported into Ireland, as far as relates to the duties now charged thereon) such farther duty to continue so long only as the internal consumption shall be charged with the duty or duties to balance which it shall be imposed; and that where there is a duty on the raw material of any manufacture in either kingdom, less than the duty on the like raw material in the other, or equal to such duty, such manufacture may, on its importation into the other kingdom, be charged with such a countervailing duty as may be sufficient to subject the same, so imported, to burthens adequate to those which the manufacture composed of the like raw material is subject to, in consequence of duties on such material in the kingdom into which such manufacture is so imported; and that the said manufactures so imported shall be entitled to such drawbacks or bounties on exportation as may leave the same subject to no heavier burthen than the home made manufacture.

  XIII.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that in order to give permanency to the settlement now intended to be established, it is necessary that no new or additional duties should be hereafter imposed in either kingdom, on the importation of any article of the growth, produce or manufacture of the other, except such additional duties as may be requisite to balance duties on internal consumption, pursuant to the foregoing resolution, or in consequence of bounties remaining on such article when exported from the other kingdom.

  XIV.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that for the same purpose it is necessary farther, that no new prohibition or new or additional duties should be hereafter imposed in either kingdom on the exportation of any article of native growth, produce or manufacture, from the one kingdom to the other, except such as either kingdom may deem expedient from time to time, upon corn, meal, malt, flour and biscuits.

  XV.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that for the same purpose it is necessary that no bounties whatsoever should be paid or payable in either kingdom, on the exportation of any article to the other, except such as relate to corn, meal, malt, flour, and biscuits, and except also the bounties at present given by Great Britain on beer and spirits distilled from corn, and such as are in the nature of drawbacks or compensations for duties paid; and that no bounties should be payable in Ireland on the exportation of any article to any British colonies or plantations or to the British settlements on the coast of Africa, or on the exportation of any article imported from the British plantations, or from the British settlements on the coast of Africa, or British settlements in the East Indies, or any manufacture made of such article, unless in cases where a similar bounty is payable in Great-Britain on exportation from thence, or where such bounty is merely in the nature of a drawback or compensation of or for duties paid over and above any duties paid thereon in Great Britain; and that where any internal bounty shall be given in either kingdom on any goods manufactured therein, and shall remain on such goods when exported, a countervailing duty adequate thereto may be laid upon the importation of the said goods into the other kingdom.

  XVI.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that it is expedient for the general benefit of the British empire, that the importation of articles from foreign countries should be regulated from time to time in each kingdom, on such terms as may effectually favour the importation of similar articles of the growth, produce or manufacture of the other, except in the case of materials of manufacture which are or hereafter may be allowed to be imported from foreign countries duty free; and that in all cases where any articles are or may be subject to higher duties on importation into this kingdom, from the countries belonging to any of the states of North America, than the like goods are or may be subject to when imported as the growth, produce or manufacture of the British colonies and plantations, or as the produce of the fisheries carried on by British subjects, such articles shall be subject to the same duties on importation into Ireland, from the countries belonging to any of the states of North America, as the same are or may be subject to on importation from the said countries into this kingdom.

  XVII.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that it is expedient that such privileges of printing and vending books, as are or may be legally possessed within Great Britain, under the grant of the Crown or otherwise, and the copy-rights of the authors and booksellers of Great Britain, should continue to be protected in the manner they are at present by the laws of Great Britain; and t
hat it is just that measures should be taken by the Parliament of Ireland, for giving the like protection to the similar privileges and rights in that kingdom.

  XVIII.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that it is expedient, that regulations should be adopted with respect to patents to be hereafter granted for the encouragement of new inventions, so that the rights, privileges, and restrictions therein granted and contained, shall be of equal force and duration, throughout Great Britain and Ireland.

  XIX.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that it is expedient that measures should be taken to prevent disputes touching the exercise of the right of the inhabitants of each kingdom, to fish on the coasts of any part of the British dominions.

  XX.

  RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that the appropriation of whatever sum the gross hereditary revenue of the kingdom of Ireland (the due collection thereof being secured by permanent provisions) shall produce after deducting all drawbacks, repayments, or bounties granted in the nature of drawbacks, over and above the sum of six hundred and fifty-six thousand pounds in each year, towards the support of the naval force of the Empire, to be applied in such a manner as the Parliament of Ireland shall direct, by an act to be passed for that purpose, will be a satisfactory provision, proportioned to the growing prosperity of that kingdom, towards defraying in time of peace, the necessary expences of protecting the trade, and general interests of the Empire.

  THE END

  A COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF THE TWO BILLS, FOR THE BETTER GOVERNMENT OF THE BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN INDIA

  BROUGHT INTO PARLIAMENT BY MR. FOX AND MR. PITT. WITH EXPLANATORY OBSERVATIONS.