The Marquis of Angleseysaid, he should solicit the attention of the House, and of his Majesty's Ministers more particularly, to a Petition which he had the honour to present from the inhabitants of the parish of St. Catherine, Dublin, signed by 111 Merchants, Manufacturers, and Traders of that City, praying for a remission of the duty on Coals imported into Ireland. That such a petition should have been intrusted to him was matter of regret, as he could not, without pain to himself, and without risk of his health, address their Lordships at any length upon the subject, whereas other noble Lords would have been more efficient in its advocacy, although none could be move sincere in zeal. It ought to be recollected that Ireland had not the advantage of those inexhaustible collieries which this country enjoyed, as the ablest engineers had given it as their opinion that in Ireland, though not destitute of Coals, the Coal-mines were scarce, and that the fuel 1120 which they produced was of bad quality, and for the most part unfit for consumption. With the knowledge of this fact ever before them, it appeared to him to be their duty in point of policy alone, to give every encouragement to the importation of Coal from Great Britain into Ireland. It would be in the highest degree advantageous to themselves that a material should thus be transferred to that country, which would furnish the means of employment to its idle population. Of the Irish people he would venture from experience to assert, that a more industrious or ingenious race, who were anxious to obtain honest bread by the sweat of their brow, was not to be found under the sun. There was no measure for the remission of this tax, he believed, at present under the consideration of Government: but he could not conceive what possible objection could be suggested, except only the reduction of the Revenue to the extent to which this tax had increased it. But the repeal of the duty he had no doubt would create, even within a single year, such a stimulus to the manufacturing interest of the country, that all the advantage so lost would be recovered. The amount of the tax on the importation of Coal was but 50,000l., and a substitute for that sum could be very easily procured. He would propose one which he had turned in his own mind, and was satisfied that it might be adopted without inconvenience. They could make a reduction to that amount from the public payment made for the constabulary force, and fix it on the counties, which would be responsible for their respective proportions to supply the deficiency of the Revenue, which would be occasioned by abolishing the duty on Coals. He moreover felt assured, from the manner in which the people had gone on since the bestowal of the great been which had been last year conferred on them, that the counties would not long have to endure this additional burthen, as the constabulary force might very soon be considerably reduced. Great as that been was on all hands admitted to have been, it was impossible that it could have done all for Ireland which the circumstances of Ireland required. It certainly appeared that the interests of their Irish fellow-subjects had been entirely overlooked throughout the whole of those arrangements which a Minister of the Crown had lately announced in another place. By the reductions pro- 1121 posed, Ireland would benefit only to the amount of the 50,000l. annually which the repeal of the Leather duty remitted, while there was an increase of duty on Spirits of not less than 150,000l.; and an additional tax was likewise imposed upon Stamps; so that whilst this country, in consideration of its distresses, was relieved to the amount of 3,500,000l, the people of Ireland were told that their burthens, which aggrieved them but too much before, were to be increased by 100,000l. annually. The present Petition was the first which had been brought before the Legislature, but he had reason to believe that many of a similar nature were in preparation. Of this he was most certain—the been prayed for, if conferred, would be received with the gratitude which constituted a proverbial characteristic of the people.
§ Petition read and laid on the Table.