n, for, as that revenue was chiefly made up of customs and
excise, the payment would be in exact proportion to the benefits
conferred by the change.

[Sidenote: _PITT'S RESOLUTIONS ON IRISH COMMERCE._]

As, however, Ireland had a heavy debt, which was largely due to the
extravagance of government, Grattan insisted that the contribution
should depend on the yearly equalisation of the revenue with the
expenses. The Irish government yielded to his demand, and with that
change the resolutions were carried. Pitt brought them before the
English house of commons on February 22 in a speech of remarkable power.
Fox, who had long been hoping "to make his harvest from Ireland,"[196]
opposed them as injurious to British manufacture. The manufacturers at
once took the alarm; a petition with 80,000 signatures was sent up from
Lancashire against the resolutions, and a "chamber of manufacturers,"
with Wedgwood as president, vigorously protested against them. English
manufactures, it was asserted, would be undersold and ruined by goods
produced by cheap labour in Ireland. After evidence had been heard on
the matter for twelve weeks, Pitt saw that he must modify his scheme. On
May 12 he brought forward a new set of resolutions less generous to
Ireland, and providing that in commercial legislation the Irish
parliament should perpetually be bound by the parliament of Great
Britain. Fox, North, and Sheridan vehemently opposed them, and Fox
denounced the whole plan as an attempt to lure Ireland to surrender her
liberty. "I will not," said he, "barter English commerce for Irish
slavery; that is not the price I would pay, nor is this the thing I
would purchase." Nevertheless after long and warm debates, Pitt
triumphantly carried his resolutions. The speeches of Fox and Sheridan
found a loud echo in the Irish parliament; Grattan, in an impassioned
speech, condemned the new resolutions, and they passed the commons only
by 127 to 108. So strong an expression of adverse feeling forced Pitt to
abandon his scheme. Thus was his wise and hopeful attempt to encourage
Irish trade and strengthen the bond between the two countries wrecked by
the factiousness of the opposition, the selfishness of the manufacturers
in England, and the susceptibility of the Irish liberal party. Fox's
opposition to free trade with Ireland brought him a temporary return of
popularity in the manufacturing districts.

Pitt's command of the house of commons was still uncertain.