A celebrated Song in THE FAIR AMERICAN, fung by Mifs PHILLIPS at the ROTUNDA. "How ferenely the Morning," &c.. But Venus herself never fhines in her sphere, In Sunshine they rife, and in clouds still depart; HIBERNIAN MAGAZINE Till that mourner, the night, bathes her cheek with a tear. Thus it fares with our hopes, when love fills the heart, Printed for WALKER's 12.. he wished alfo to confine the relief to thofe y; for he knew that a great number of fons had furrendered themselves merely in hope of being confidered as prifoners, and reby obtaining the first Act of Infolvency. their views were not honeft, he was deter ned, if he could, to dilappoint their hopes; therefore moved for leave to bring in a bill the relief of Infolvent Debtors arrested on or ore the 7th of June, 1780. The motion led without any opposition. (To be continued.) Irif Parliamentary Intelligence. HOUSE OF COMMONS. Thursday, November 15, 1781. R. Fortier having moved the order of the 1. Lateuche moved the Houfe, to order the ire Sir Hercules Langrishe acknowledged that the reftion was of importance: but he thought it as not cultomary to hear council on fuch occaOne. In cales of calculation it were better to ave the matter to the judgment of the House, After confiderable debate as to the hearing suncil, the house having divided on the motion, sere appeared Ayes 54, -Noes 105. Tellers for the Ayes, Mr. Latouche, Mr. forbes. Tellers for the Noes, Mr. Mafon, Mr. T. Burgh. The Houfe refolved into a committee of ways ind means, Mr. Monck Maton in the chair. The Attorney General gave notice, that be would move in refpect to the duties on wines, and then proceed to the fugars. Mr. Burgh thought it extraordinary they should go into the wine bufinefs, without knowing the tefult of the Portugal affair. The Attorney General afked, if any gentle man could imagine that the great Money-bill could be poftponed 'till we heard from Portugal? Mr. Eden rofe, and faid with great candour, be would beg leave to lay before the Houfe every thing he knew of the Portugal negociation. He then read part of a letter which he had received from the Conful of Lisbon, accounting for the delays which had arilen in the business in the Court of Portugal, and mentioning that difpatches had been fent from the court of Lisbon in Oto. ber to their minister in London, referring the mafter to be fettled by him with the British miDifter; and he concluded the inftructions having left Portugal only in October, it was idle to fuppofe the business could have been compleated by this time. It was what he had not expected; what no man had fuppofed. He could not, however, think this delay a reason for stopping the general fupply. That if the refult of the negociation should prove disfatisfactory, parlia ment had till means left for fhewing their sense of the injury the nation had juttained, and of vindicating their dignity and their right. He, however, hoped there would be no occafion for the exertion of thofe means, and he trusted the Houfe would not relent too icon. This exp anation not, latisfying Sir Lucius O'Brien, he said he fhould oppofe going, into thefe duties; and he was fupported by Mr. Flood and other gentlemen; when, after fome debate, Mr. O'Hara moved, that the feveral duties should be granted for fix months only. This produced further debate, and the question being first put upon French wines, the House divided. A yes, 47 108 Then the question on Spanish wines was put, and negatived, without a division or debate. Friday, Nov. 16.] The Houle in a committee of ways and means, read the petition of the Sugar Bakers, praying relief from the ill effects alledged to have been produced by the equalizing duty on fugars, of laft feffion. Saturday, Nov. 17.] Sir Lucius O'Brien moved the House to come to the following refolution: "That upon the refloration of peace, the new and extraordinary duries on Spanish wines, impofed, for the fift time, lait feffion of parliament, thould ceafe; and Spaia be put on the footing of the most favoured nation, agreeable to treaty." Si Lucius fupported his resolution on the ground of the great advantages that Ireland would reap from the commerce of Spain; to prove which he adduced many arguments; and particularly infifted, that as Cadiz alone exported more linen to America than all Europe befide, it was our intereft to cultivate the friendship of Spain, to acquire a fhare of this linea trade. Mr. Eden faid he always heard the Hon. Baronet with pleature, on every fubject, particularly on that of trade, in which he displayed fuch knowledge; but he fubmitted to his judgment, whether it would not have a very odd appear ance if that parliament which had just granted a duty to the crown, thould faddle it with a claufe to render that grant ineffectual; for the addi. tional duty on Spanish wines could have no operation 'till peace fhould be restored; and when ever that happened, they were, by this resolu tion, to ceafe. The Provoft faid, that the first part of the refolution" the new and extraordinary duties on Spanish wines, impofed, for the firft time, laft tellions of parliament,"-feemed to caft a cenfure on the grant we are now making, in re newing that duty; and the latter part of the refolution may happen to be erroneous, as, in a new treaty of peace, Spain may not be put on a footing with the moft favoured nation. Mr. Daly faid, he thought it improper for a nation like Ireland, just emerging from obfcurity and restraint, to run precipitately into the expla nation of treaties, with which hitherto fhe had been fo very little converfant; he would rather leave th management of fuch matters to the British minifter. Befides, he feared that dilpofition which impelled Spain to accede to the family compact, for the avowed purpose of destroying the naval force of England, and exalting that of France, would fcarcely entitle her to be put on the fame level with Portugal in a new treaty. Thefe fentiments feeming to prevail in general through the Houle, the refolution was drop ped. Monday, Nov. 19.] The Hoafe received and agreed to the report of the committee of lupply on the three Money-bills, Tuesday, Nov. 20.] The Houfe in a committee went through the Money-bills that were ready, and the Speaker refaming the chair, the report was ordered to be received to-morrow morning. Purfuant to order, the Houle thea refolved into the committee of ways and means. The Speaker refumed the chair, and Mr. Ma. fon reported fome prog els. Ordered, to fit again on Thursday, and finally to determine on the fugar equalization du ties. Wednesday, Nov. 21.] Order of the day was called for and read, for the House going into a committee on the heads of a bill for the better regulating of trials of controverted elections, for members to serve in parliament. Thursday, Nov. 22.] The House refolved itfelf into a committee of ways and means for raifing the fupply granted to his majesty. At near five o'clock the Attorney General rofe to make the motion for regulating the duties on raw and on lump fugars imported. He was oppofed by the Right Hon. Henry Flood, who aid, that it would be the highest sbufe of parliamentary faith to precipitate this business, to which the House had agreed to give the most folemn investigation. That Sir Samuel Bradstreet, recorder and representative for the city of Doblin, had prefented a petition from that great and refpectable body the corporation of weavers, and if witnesses were not called to prove it, if petitioners were not examined, it would fhew the determined refolution of the Houfe to treat the people with contumely, to refuse to listen to soy man that could give information on the fubject, to rob the nation of the benefits of that Free Trade, for which we were laid to be under such mighty obligations to England; and, instead of finding employment for our induftrious manufacturers, to plunge them again into that ruin and diftiefs from which they had had but a short, a temporary redemption. The Attorney General appealed to the Houfe, appealed to the public, whether he had ever treated the people with contumely? No, he loved the people, and love was incompatible with contumely. He thought it hard, that after having fat for feveral days to hear and examine witnelles on this fubject, the Houfe fhould be taxed with a breach of faith, and that it should be afferted that a folemn investigation was refused: He was there in his place at a proper hour, he had not haftened the business, it was now near five o'clock, and full time to begin; and he could not but think it fingular that gentlemen, who had been in fuch a violent hurry to throw this business into a special committee, contrary to the defire of the merchants themlelves, merely for the lake of expedition, should now impere the progrels of the enquiry they would seem to forward, by petitions from the weavers corporation. He knew, he faid, how fuch petitions might be procured; an active busy man was employed to run about among the manufacturers to perfuade them their trade was in danger; the content of fome to a petition was procured by thefe means, the content of more by other means; but he was happy to find that the true fente of the manufacturers, who were all employed, were happy and content, and was not contained in the petition. -He acknowledged that the weavers were a refpectable body, fo was every other body corporate in the city; but were they better judges of the fugar-baking than the sugar bakers themlelves? Are they brought to prove that the fenfible, candid, and well informed gentlemen who have given the House so much fatisfaction, who have honeffly shewn that the law complained of has given ample guard to our ma· · nufacturers; are the weavers called to prove that thofe gentlemen know nothing at all of the fugar baking trade, of which the corporation of weavers are the only competent judges? The Provost spoke a few very respectful words of the weavers corporation, of which he said he bad the honour of being a member; he thought that being much affected at the export trade, for which this nation must receive fugars in return, they might be examined as part of the fugar. bakers evidence, without the trouble of the committees adjourning to have their petitions' regu larly referred from the House. The Attorney General, to fhew his regards for the people, and merely to fatisfy them that their best friends were not those who painted their fituation in colours of horror and distress, and though he knew the petition was procured with an intent to do mischief, yet he truffed out of it to draw at least this benefit that the people fhould fee the House hearing their complaints with complacency, and turning every circum. ftance to their advantage. He hoped, however, that the business would not be expedited by petitions from every other of the twenty-five cor. porations, to whom equal refpect was due, and whom the House could not refuse now to hear on the subject of sugar baking, without manifeft ground for the charge of partiality. We are agreed on all hands as to the duties that are to be laid on the raw material and en the baftard; the only difficulty that remains with gentlemen is in what manner we shall pro. portion the duty on refined fugars. In the last feffion, when we were about regulating this business, and when we had ascertained the duty at 95. 2dh, on refined fugars, this House was filled with prophecies and predictions of :uis and defolation to this country; yet, the friends of Ireland, who founded that law in wildom, have had reafon to exult in its fuccefs, for though it was then afferted in parliament, and promulgat. ed to the people, that we never fhould have direct trade with the Weft Indies; yet experi ence has proved the falihood of thofe predictions: experience has fhewn, that notwithilanding the general inconvenience arifing from a war with the the most powerful maritime ftates in Europe, yet our direct trade has taken place, and our importation of Engl fh fugars has funk from 1-12 to 1-32 part. The quantity of refined fugars imported from England, and never exceeding 1-12 of our confumption, far from injuring the refinery of Ireland, has only prevented it from becoming a monopoly; the very small competition of a 1-12, now fallen to 1-32, is only to be confidered as a guard againft combination, though the politician who reprefents the weavers fays, that we fhould grant our refiners a monopoly; yet I very much fear his conftituents would be little obliged to him for depriving them of the use of fugar, now become a neceffary of life, for fome years; which, in his opinion, it will take to establish Our Weft India trade, and during which interval, if a monopoly was granted, we should be abfolutely at the mercy of our fugar refiners It has been offered as an argument against the tax, that leveral of our fugar bakers have flop. ped working fince the laft regulation duties; Lut this is a calamity under which England fuf. fers in a greater degree: this is to be imputed to the war and not from the duties, as from the seltimony of a refpectable evidence, and from the tellimony of our own realos, grounded on fair arithmetical calculation, we know that our refiners have itill near 6s. advantage in the duties. This cannot be controverted: We have therefore only to preferve the advantage we poffefs, by railing our duties against English refined fugars, as the English parliament raise their bounties on the exportation; and the English parliament having fince our last duty of 95. 2dh. granted a draw-back or bounty on exportation of 125. we, in order to counteract this bounty, must now lay on a duty of 12. fo that the duty ●n importing a hundred of refined sugar will be 1. 1. 8h. or in the whole 17. 135. 8dh. I therefore move you, “that a duty of 14, 13.8dh. be laid on every hundred weight of refined fugar not being battard, and on every hundred weight of candied that shall be imported into this kingdom from Great Britain, from the 25th of December, 1781, to the 25th ❝ of December, 1783." he thinks gr. adn. too much, 35. 8d. was the true equalization duty; when the fame member defends 9. adh. as a proper duty, he has bat little credit with me, having loft his authority by defending a duty too ridiculous to be named. It feems, 3s. 6d. 55. 10dh. and 95. 2dh, are all agreeable to him: He has voted for each, be has defended each, with the lame force of argument and confidence of calculation. If his true equalization duty, his 3s. 6d. was fafe, 95. 2dh. is a monopoly he is now voting for a monopoly.-He has been pleased to fay, that a direct trade will take place, and then he infists' 9s. 2dh. will be a monopoly. What then becomes of his argument against monopolies, and all his appret enfons of combinations among the Irish fugar bakers, when the defence of his own duty is, that it gives thefe fugar-bakers a mo¬ nopoly a monopoly, if a direct trade takes place a monopoly, if 35. 6d. was the equalization duty, even without a direct trade. Tie, therefore, I fay, that gent emen do not appear to feel the conviction of their own arguments. An Hon, Friend, who spoke after the Right Hon. Gentleman, bas faid, that there are 13. 6d. in favour of the Irish refiner, even in the circuit. ous. I deny the fact: Upon calculation of duty and drawback, and expence of bringing to Ireland one hundred of refined fugar, there are about 9s. 34. against the English refiner; agsinft which balance you must let the expence of bringing to Ireland three hundred of raw, which at prefent are 125.-balance against the Irish refiner, 25. gd. Thus, to an arithmetic certainty, you eflablifh by your own law, a balance against your own trade; but if you add incidental difadvantages, if you add the benefits which England enjoys from being the proprietor of the islands, from antient and extended habits, from cheapnefs of coals, &c. &c. if you confider these any thing, (the merchants have flated them at 17.55.) you thake the manufacture to its foundations. 100,000l. per annum, to be fatisfied with the wretched one of 15. 6d. ?—I do not say that you will never have a direct trade; but I fay, that you will not have a direct trade for two years, which is the period of your duty. Bur, fays my friend, forgetting the expence of carriage, and our infinite incidental difadvantages, you have 1s. 6d. to fecure you. Will my friend take the being of this trade, which is the Mr. Grattan. I wish to know who are the parent of many others, on fuch a perilous fecuobjects of this debate ?—the Irish fugar-baker-rity? Have you granted a tax for this trade of certainly not:-The Irib confume-certainly not for you have taxed him ninefold: It is then the English manufacturer, whole intereft, to the exclufion of our native commercial intereft, engages our deliberations. They have found, the British manufacturer has found a factor in the Irish minifter, which the Irish manufacturer cannot find in the Irish parliament. Gentlemen on the other fide have taken much pains to fhew, that they have excluded the English refiner by their calculation, and that it is just and generous to admit him into a participation of the trade. If it is juft, and intended to admit him, what credit are we to give to their calculation which affect to exclude? There is a flagrant infincerity in their argument; for if they believed it them felves, they must believe the English refiner excladed by their duty, and therefore could have po objection to ours. The firft Right Hon. Gentleman has told you, Upon calculation, it appears that the duty is against ds. Let us examine it on other grounds than calculation-les us examine the importation-an increase of refined, a decrease of raw, and a decrease of confumption-a decrease of raw near one-third, though the profpect of an increafe of duty fhould have produced a fudden" and falle influx.-The decrease of the raw proves to a certainty, a decline of the maofacture, but does not prove the proportion of that decline, because fugar may be imported, and not manufactured. See then the ftate of the manufacture itfelf-north and fouth-in Waterford, Cork, Belfalt, Newry, Dublin, &c. &c. an univerfai declipe,The sugar-houses in these places have CeRfed |