The Union Finance

Above : Illustrating Picture Of Napoleon War

In order to pay her quota of the joint expenses, Ireland was obliged to borrow very large ; her revenue fell short of the sum required by almost 50 per cent. The £78,000,000 raised by taxes (1800-1815) faced by an expenditure of £148,000,000 ; whereas the £31,000,000 revenue of the earlier period (1785-1800) had fallen short of expenditure only £10,ooo,ooo; and that, too, during fifteen years, several of which were years of war, and one of which saw war abroad and rebellion home. The interest on the money borrowed became an ever-increasing burden, and the final result was that Ireland’s National Debt, which at the time of the Union was 32 millions, had reached by 1815, 112 millions, or, in other words, had almost quadrupled. During the same period that of Great Britain wanted a good deal of having doubled. It will be remembered that one of the clauses of the Act of Union set forth that, if and when the value of the respective debts of the two countries became to each other as two to fifteen, the Parliament might order the amalgamation of the exchequers. In 1815 it appeared that the condition had been fulfilled, and a Parliamentary Commission was appointed. Acting on its report, a Bill for the Financial Union of Ireland and Great Britain was introduced, and passed without protest. England took upon herself the National Debt of Ireland, joining it with her own. This debt had been, however, as has been pointed out, in a great part, incurred in a vain endeavour to satisfy the unreasonable demands made on the poorer country by the terms of the Act of Union.

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.