Above : Napoleonic Wars, Make Excessive FInancial Burden

The financial clause of the Act of Union, which fixed the amount of the contribution of Ireland to the common expenses of the United Kingdom at two parts in seventeen, had been sharply criticised even before the passing of the measure. Persons well competent to judge had declared that the figure had been arrived at by misleading methods of calculation, which had resulted in a very considerable over-estimate of the taxable capacity of Ireland, and the consequent imposition on her of an excessive burden.