that body be convened, which some gentlemen have in contemplation.

I have the honour to be, &c.,

WILLIAM BRUCE.

The Right Hon. G. Rose to Lord Castlereagh.

Old Palace Yard, April 10, 1800.

My dear Lord-Mr. Cooke has put into my hand a letter from Mr. Maclean, of the Custom House, to you, enclosing Schedules, prepared by the Commissioners of the Revenue, of such duties as they conceived will be necessary to lay upon certain articles enumerated, the produce of Great Britain, in order to countervail the internal duties which exist in Ireland upon similar articles, the produce or manufacture of the latter. On the first view of this Schedule, it appears indispensably necessary that it should be reconsidered. In the instance of silk, the proposed duties would operate as a complete prohibition of the article, because the arrangement presumes that, in all cases, 16 ounces of thrown silk will make but 12 ounces of manufactured, and the rate is suggested according to these proportions: whereas, in some instances, (from the addition of gum, &c.) the manufactured goods will weigh more than the raw material. You will see that, in the proposal sent from hence some months ago for countervailing duties, the quantity of silk was considered in each species of the manufacture: the principle adopted in those Tables appears to be the only correct one to act upon, but I have never heard whether they were approved of or not. Some silk goods are made, I understand, of raw, and some of thrown; but the whole, in your Tables, is calculated on the latter, which is higher than in the former by nearly three to one, I believe. No provision is made for mixed goods (such as your poplins, &c.) as in the Tables sent from hence. Some alteration will be necessary in the case of Sugar, which you will see by referring to our suggestions respecting

that article where the different sorts of the refined are distinguished.

With respect to the Excise duties, it will hardly be possible to form a correct opinion without further information: it appears at present doubtful whether, in some instances, at least, they would protect your manufactures. The Irish wine measure differs from the English, but whether the beer gallon is different I do not know; nor am I aware why the duty. should be charged upon the barrel of 32 gallons, which is not the English and seems not to be the Irish barrel.

The Sixth Article embraces so great a variety of things as to render it difficult (as it strikes me) to effect a complete and satisfactory arrangement under it without a complete knowledge of the rates of duty which constitute, and of other circumstances which affect, the English, Scotch, and Irish Revenue. Perhaps it might be convenient to send over some persons here perfectly conversant with the latter.

I write this on the first view of the subject; but I hope, in two or three days, to have an opportunity of talking fully with Mr. Pitt upon it, and I will then trouble your Lordship again. I am, &c.,

GEORGE ROSE.

Lord Camden to Lord Castlereagh.

Secret and Confidential.

Wildernesse, April 11, 1800. Dear Castlereagh-I so fully meant to have answered the letter received from you on the 7th of March, the day after I received it, that I did not advert to it in the letter I actually did write to you (on business) of that date. I am particularly sorry I have not written, as, from the letter I received from you to-day, I fear you might interpret my silence as conveying some insinuation that I did not acquit you of that construction on your speech, which, God knows, I never entertained, and which none of the newspapers I saw gave any ground to suppose you had or could have said what you tell me has been

represented there. I was so certain that your regard for my character would, above all, have induced you to speak of my conduct as, I trust, it deserves, that I should have conceived the account, if I had seen it, to have been perfectly unauthorized; but, if I could have doubted the care you would have taken of me, I should at least have given you credit for not deserting your own character, and have expected, for your own consistency, that you would show that, under change of circumstances, the principle Lord Cornwallis and I have acted upon has been the same.

After assuring you that I never entertained any other opinion of the line you took than that of its being kind towards me, and judicious in your situation, and informing you that I believe the insinuations, which were communicated to you and to me, came from discontented persons, I will tell you fairly that the situation in which you were placed upon that question was not much less difficult than others out of which you have extricated yourself so honourably.

I am convinced that Lord C. came into Ireland with a bad opinion of all the old advisers of Government, and a determination to estrange himself from them. He also came at a moment when measures of lenity could have been carried into execution with advantage, which induced him to form the hope and to attempt to execute the plan of restoring the country to peace by carrying that system to a greater extent than I am sure you or others of his friends quite approved of; and the insinuation thrown out against the Yeomanry, an institution founded by me, could not be otherwise construed by the friends of that institution than as a disapprobation of that conduct they had been suffered to pursue before; and yet the change of system crept so by degrees into his conduct, that I do not think it was possible for you, under the circumstances in which you stood, to represent seriously against it; and it was equally difficult for the Ministers here, although they saw and felt that Lord Cornwallis was not acting exactly as they

1

liked, to send him an instruction to change his conduct. The alterations, however, which were made in the Speech at the opening of the Session, originally sent over, must have convinced his Lordship what were our sentiments upon the advantages he held out in his original draft of the lenient measures he had pursued; and the last letter which has been written by the Duke of Portland must evince that it has been the opinion of all the King's Servants that measures of severity towards rebels are as necessary as those of conciliation to the loyal; and I am truly happy to hear, although I have not seen the despatch of this day, that Lord Cornwallis's answer to the Duke's letter is precisely what could be wished.

I am quite correct when I tell you that the opinion I mention is that of all the King's Servants here. I am equally so when I tell you that it is no less the opinion of all who were in habits with me and others their correspondents here. I should be glad, for my own satisfaction, to name the persons who, I know, entertain this opinion, but it is not fair towards them. I do not, however, think I can put you and your father ill together by saying he is among the number. If, however, this awkwardness has existed, I think there is every prospect of its being done away. If the loyal are protected, they will exert themselves; and if the system of activity is persisted in* with the steadiness and the temper which I doubt not it will, I entertain sanguine hopes that the Government will be carried on advantageously to the country and satisfactorily to both sides of the water.

I believe you know the above opinions have been long conceived by me. I do assure you I have not influenced those of others, as Irish questions in which the personal conduct of my successor is implicated are those I never descant upon.

I have read and compared the amended Bill you have sent over to me with the draft made by our Attorney and SolicitorGeneral, and Mr. Pitt is very well satisfied with it. The letter accompanying that draft will have informed you what were

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conceived here to be the legal objections to the original Bill; and as they are done away by the present, it is little worth while to detain you upon the subject. I am sufficiently aware of the impatience of the Irish House of Commons to be convinced of the necessity of not postponing that Bill beyond a certain period, and have to blame our law servants and his Grace, the Secretary of State, for considerable delay.

I am perfectly satisfied and convinced by your reasons upon the two subjects you last wrote to me upon, namely, the thanks to the Speaker, and the not turning out Foster, Wolfe, and Neville. By the Speaker not taking any opportunity which has yet presented itself of speaking upon the question of Union, and in answer to Mr. Pitt, I am led to think he does not well know what line to take. He is unwilling to pledge himself irrecoverably. Would it not be a good season to converse with him again on the subject?

Private.

Ever yours,

Lord Castlereagh to Mr. Cooke.

CAMDEN.

Dublin Castle, April 11, 1800. My dear Cooke—I have just had some of the Woollen people with me. They are, like all the Irish manufacturers, monopolists in principle, and of course say a reduction of duty will ruin them. They admitted that a free export from Great Britain of wool would be an important acquisition, but that they had rather remain as they are than lose the present import duty. On examining this position, I do not think they were able to make it out, for they allowed the difference of price to be nearly 25 per cent., and the expense of freight not to exceed 5 per cent., consequently there would be a reduction of nearly 20 per cent. on the raw material. I asked them whether this would not enable them to meet British woollens in the Irish market better than a duty of from 6 to 8 per cent., which the 6d. a-yard amounts to on the cloths