In reply to the observations of sir Henry Parnell and sir John Newport, difficulties under which any country but England must have succumbed. I then laid before you, said the right hon. gentleman, what Ireland had done; I did not conceal from her the sacrifices which she would be called upon to make; I expressed that hope which parliament has fulfilled-a hope that would not anticipate the resources of Ireland, for if you anticipate, you crush them. I presume to say, that in the propositions which I lay this day before you, I give no indistinct evidence of a disposition to meet the difficul. ties of our situation, of a desire not to shrink, through any personal feelings, from the imposition of such burthens as I think the country is able to bear; and if, Sir, at the close of this long, eventful, and triumphant war, in which Britain has made such sacrifices, and in which Ireland has contributed such as were corresponding to her means; if England has set a splendid example to surrounding nations, her sister island has been far from backward in those exertions, by which our national character has been raised to its present proud preeminence. Let us not be told, then, that we have been a burthen to the empire, to whose success we have contributed so mainly; this House will not forget how Ireland has manned your fleets, and how much your military renown has been added to by her; you have this very day received within your walls, the most illustrious of her sons. —(Hear, hear, hear!)-You owe to Ireland, that great Captain who has led you to victory. I will not speak of any one who may be present, for my noble friend is present, under whose auspices that great Treaty has been accomplished, which has sheathed the sword of war, and by which convulsed Europe has been restored to her ancient and regulated form (Hear, hear!) -Full well my noble friend knows how much, in the contest which has just been terminated, our country has done for the common cause (Hear, hear!)—and if further testimony were wanting, he, Sir, who within these walls to-day received the highest meed of honour, the coronation even of a fame like his, our own Wellington could have told you, how in the fields where he commanded, Ireland has bled, he might have told you in the language of one of her own eloquent men, that Ireland had opened her heart-sluices in your cause; and if Britain justly glories in the battle she has fought, Ireland has a right to participate in her triumph. (Hear, hear!) VOL. XXIX.) Mr. Fitzgerald said, he was highly sensible of the liberal manner in which the hon. gentlemen opposite had received the propositions which he had the honour to submit. He felt deeply the kindness of the committee, and would not be so ungrateful in return, as to trespass long on their time, after the attention with which they had already favoured him. He hoped he might be permitted to consider the information of his right hon. friend (sir John Newport), and the observations which he had made on the public departments in Ireland, rather as notices of intended proceedings in another session of parliament, than as meant to produce discussion now, into which he should very reluctantly enter, after the example which his right hon. friends had set to him in this night's debate. He thanked his right hon. friend, however, that he did not impute these cases of mal-administration to these times; and he assured him, that he did him justice in believing, that his views had been inflexibly directed to the public service, and to the amendment, as the right hon. baronet would find, of many of those preexistent defects of system, of which he and others had complained. With respect to what had fallen from his hon. friend, (the member for the Queen's County,) on the subject of licensing small stills, he knew not where the discretion alluded to was to rest, if not with the Board of Excise. He should deem himself both ungrateful and unjust if he withheld that testimony which was due to the honourable gentleman at the head of that board, whose zeal, whose exertion, whose increased anxiety for the improvement of that branch of the revenue which was committed to his charge, was far beyond any commendation which he could give, but which he must say set a signal example to those at the head of other departments. If any merit were to be ascribed to those who had to carry into execution the intentions of parliament in that branch of revenue, he would not arrogate it to the superior branches of the government, but had pleasure in ascribing it to Mr. Marsden, to whom it was due; he was not aware that the power vested in the commissioners of excise with respect to licences, had ever been abused, he was sure that none had been partially given or capriciously withheld; he had had frequent and confidential communications (4 M) with the chairman of that board on these | Britain, viz. that he meant to except from its entire operation, the article of silk. It was true that, by the enactment and countervailing duties, we should protect our internal manufacture from British or foreign competition. But he still thought, that to raise the duty on that article at once to the full amount of the British duty, might press too heavily on those interested in that manufacture; and as it had been mentioned to him, that they would not object to an increase, so as to bring it up to one half of the existing import duties in Great Britain, that was all that he should now propose to lay upon it, leaving subjects, and must take his share of any consider how far it might hereafter act with respect to silk, on the same principle upon which it had acted generally. After adverting shortly to the new stamp duties, he concluded with expressing his thanks to the committee for its kindness, and also his obligation to those who had received his propositions with so much candour, and had made allowance for the difficulties in which he and the country were placed. INDE X TO VOL. XXIX. INDEX TO DEBATES IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. Adjournment; Motion of, till February; | Militia Embodied in time of Peace, 93, 693, 623. American War, 367, 494. Barclay, Captain; Court Martial on, 106, 120. British Troops on the Continent, 105, 120. Continent; State of Affairs on the, 548, 620. Court Martial on Captain Barclay, 106, 120. Downie, Sir James, 792, 842. Genoa; Transfer of, 760, 846. Imports; Duties on, 707. Ireland; Preservation of the Peace in, 366, Trial by Jury in Scotland, 619, 720, 789, 999, Military Establishments in time of Peace, 914. 1084, 1206. Walsingham, Lord, 27, 91, 450, 493. Army Extraordinaries, 339. Assize of Bread, 242, 616. Bank Restriction Bill, 697,711, 789, 1208. British Troops on the Continent, 80. Canada, Trade to, 562. Auction Mart Petition respecting the Pro- Civil List Expenditure, 209. perty Tax, 243. Auditing of Public Accounts, 614. Civil List Act Amendment Bill, 471, 723. Portugal, Embassy to, 784. Prince Regent's Speech on Opening the Ses- Prince Regent's Answer to the Commons' Prince Regent's Message respecting Lord Princess Charlotte of Wales, 112, 638. Gaol Fees; Bill for Abolishing, 738, 777, 955, Public Business; Resolutions respecting, 88. 1048. Genoa; Transfer of, 726, 928. Hackney Coaches Act Amendment Bill, 337, 548. Helleston Election Bill, 449, 788. Hulks, State of the, 1004. Insolvent Debtors Act, 635. Irish Glass Duties Bill, 230, 449. Irish Customs Duties Bill, 237. Silver Currency, 1117. Irish Superintending Magistrates Bill, 335, Slave Trade, 511, 1005. 387, 492. Irish Taxes, 483. Irish Peace Preservation Bill, 514. Irish Bleaching Powder Bill, 601, 709. Knights of the Bath, 1088. Spanish Subsidy, 795. Streets of the Metropolis; State of the, 920. Liberty of the Subject; Bill for Securing the, Wales, Princess Charlotte of, 112, 638. 426. Lovell, Mr.; his Petition, 450. Abingdon, Earl of, 4. Walsingham, Lord, 462, 510. Window Tax, 1176. INDEX OF NAMES.-HOUSE OF LORDS. Delawar, Earl of, 6. Donoughmore, Earl of, 101, 192, 366, 367, Darnley, Earl of, 9, 129, 187, 195, 495, 707, Eldon, Lord, See Lord Chancellor, 905, 913, 1166, 1170, 1206. Ellenborough, Lord, 771. Rosslyn, Earl of, 1087. Lansdowne, Marquis of, 105, 106, 129, 142, Redesdale, Lord, 1087. Liverpool, Earl of, 21, 27, 91, 92, 103, 106, Lord Chancellor (Eldon), 27, 387, 498, 507, Sidmouth, Viscount, 94, 100, 507, 508, 693, Stanhope, Earl, 720, 721, 1000, 1084, 1167, Sussex, His Royal Highness the Duke of, 631, INDEX OF NAMES.-HOUSE OF COMMONS. Abbot, Right Hon. Charles, see Speaker. Abercrombie, J. 480, 681, 927, 1098. Acland, Sir T. D. 1082. Binning, Lord, 981, 998. Brand, Thomas, 329, 639, 833, 1051. Addington, J. H. 482, 713, 1004, 1005, 1045, Browne, Anthony, 458. 1108, 1157, 1171, 1172. Attorney General (Sir William Garrow), 421, 455, 926, 1100. Babington, Thomas, 1211. Browne, Dominick, 1158. Calvert, Charles, 1123, 1208. Bankes, Henry, 194, 228, 357, 471, 613, 614, Calcraft, John, 839, 841, 963, 1015, 1047, 617, 783, 838, 1068. Barclay, Charles, 1054. Baring, Sir Thomas, 1043. Baring, Alexander, 69, 114, 116, 119, 152, 176, 177, 195, 196, 200, 208, 247, 350, 355, Bathurst, Hon. W. L. 1133. Bathurst, Charles Bragge, 73, 79, 85, 88, 89, 207, 228, 402, 403, 419, 435, 462, 477, 482, Bennet, H. G. 738, 739, 777, 795, 955, 1004, Benson, Ralph, 109, 331. 1082, 1083, 1084, 1111, 1124. Cavendish, Lord George, 1109. Chancellor of the Exchequer (Right Hon. Nicholas Vansittart), 57, 78, 80, 82, 107, Best, Mr. Serjeant, 330, 579, 635, 636, 756, Courtenay, W. 491, 1081. 757. Courtenay, T. P. 418. |