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fo beneficial as a direct navigation to the English ports; nor could the direct navigation to England be performed to greater advantage by the Irish than the English merchant; and even if it could, the direct navigation was, at this hour, in the hands of the Irish."

WM. PITT, 1785.

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I hope that this argument may be, as am fure it ought to be, conclufive against an Union, with any wild and vifionary fpeculatift in Cork. I think it anfwers all the roman

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c hopes, raifed on the ridiculous and wretched presumption of emigration, and tranfportation of capital. What has been the conduct of the city of Cork, as a corporate body? Has it not made the deteftation and abhorrence which have manifefted themselves from end of the nation to the other, where the public voice dared to raise itself, the ground-work of their approbation ?—And with what shadow of consistency have they prefumed to cenfure other men for their " SPECULATIVE INTERESTS," when they have fhewn themfelves in this inftance, fuch rafh, fhallow, fhort-fighted fpeculators.

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I come now to the third and laft head of this my fubject-namely," the recorded admiffion" (of the Board of Trade, fitting in London-of which fome of his' Majefty's prefent Cabinet Council, were members-Earl of Liverpool, &c.) that there is an excellent mode of putting

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putting Ireland in the full poffeffion of her natural advantages, without injuring Great Britain, exclufive of a Legiflative Incorporating Union. I call on the nation to pay more attention to the arguments, than to the authority of the Board of Trade.

"The beft plan is, that the two kingdoms lay on certain moderate duties, to be impofed on the manufactures of the other; fuch as will fecure a due preference in the home-market to like articles of its own growth and manufac ture; and yet leave to the fifter kingdom, advantages. though not equal to its own, yet superior to thofe granted to any foreign country; the duties payable on British goods, imported into Ireland, feem by their moderation, as well adapted to answer the purpose, as any that could be devifed;, but to make this fyftem complete, there fhould be added proper regulations with respect to bounties in future-and with refpect to the duties on raw materials imported into each kingdom."

"It is, in the judgment of the committee, a great recommendation of this plan, that if it fhould be carried into execution, and become the fyftem in which both countries fhall be bound hereafter to conform-it will fecure them in future from the unpleafant contests, to which, in pursuit of their refpective interests,

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they may be otherwife expofed; and his Majefty, as sovereign of the two kingdoms, will be relieved from the difagrecable fituation of having laws prefented to him by the refpective. Houfes of Parliament, for his affent, which, though beneficial to one of his kingdoms, may, in their opinion, be highly detrimental to the intereft of the other."

From this report, I contend that I have the authority of" the Lords of the Committee of Council, appointed for the confideration of all matters relating to trade and foreign plantations" that guardian legislatures acting on principles of reciprocity, is the only fyftem which can answer the purposes of a fair and honorable connexion between the two kingdoms; either Mr. Pitt and the British Cabinet, mean to act an honeft, or a treacherous part, to Ireland-if the former, the fyftem that I have now laid before the public, is the one that fhould be pursued-and the very abandonment of that fyftem, muft be a STRONG PRESUMPTIVE proof, of a narrow, fhuffling, and a treacherous intention.

In oppofition to this, it may immediately be faid, that all and every thing of this kind, will be adjufted in the negociation, and that the growing commerce will be carefully protected, by an Incorporate Legiflature. Every thing

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calculated to advance Ireland, can be effected thro' the medium of her own Legislature-let me afk, what would the merchants and manufacturers of London, of Briftol, or of Norwich, think, if they were told, that on every occafion, on which they were defirous of fuggefting a great commercial improvement to government, or to propofe fome alteration in a projected innovation, it would be neceffary for them to dance to Dublin? and what hope can any Irishman, who has felt, and who knows, the jealousies, the heart-burnings, and destructive ill-will, of the mercantile intereft of Great Britain, expect from any application to this Incorporated Legiflature? I fhall not mention the numbers of perfons, who muft, in every feffion, proceed (tho' a rump ariftocracy were to remain in Dublin) on public bufifinefs to the feat of Government-and the delays and expences which thofe journeys muft neceffarily occafion. When, the bufinefs of Ireland is accumulated on that of England, is the Irish merchant, manufacturer, or countrygentleman, to expect greater expedition? And what feelings must they entertain, when they are mumbling their fingers, in a confined lodging, whiftling and gaping thro' Bond-ftreet, and, Piccadily, and fquandering at the CANNON, or Spring-gardens, or the box lobbies

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of Drury-lane, and Covent-garden, the money which ought to be spent in the metropolis of their country, and which, as collected from the various parts of Ireland, would, if fpent there, flow back in innumerable conduits to the parts of the country from which it had been originally taken.

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The laft, tho' not leaft, argument, which I offer to the industrious part of the Irish nation, against an Incorporate Union, arises from the well-grounded apprehenfion of augmented taxation-principiis obfta is an admirable maxim against dangerous political innovations, as well as vicious or immoral actions. The friends of Mr. Pitt, in all their encomiums, have never, that I have heard or feen, given him credit, for GENIUS, or ORIGINAL conception.A correct and studied phraseology—a luminous and lucid arrangement of his fubject—a fonorous and mafculine delivery, and an infuperable fhare of obftinacy and felf-fufficiency, which his friends call firmnefs and political confiftency, are acquirements which have as a DEBATER, raised him very high in the opinion of a great majority of the British Parliament

a majority, certainly not without feveral other inducements, for giving an unbounded confidence to this moft arrogant minifter. None of the pamphlets for or against an Union,

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