RESOLUTIONS.
That in order to promote and secure the essential Interests of Great Britain and Ireland, and to consolidate the Strength, Power, and Resources of the British Empire, it will be advisable to concur in such measures as may best tend to unite the two Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland into one Kingdom, in such manner, and on such Terms and Conditions as may be established by Acts of the respective Parliaments of His Majesty’s said Kingdoms.
That it appears to this Committee that it would be fit to propose as the first Article to serve as a Basis of the said Union, that the said Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland shall, upon a day to be agreed upon, be united into one Kingdom, by the name of theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
That for the same purpose it appears also to this Committee, that it would be fit to propose that the Succession to the Monarchy and the Imperial Crown of the said United Kingdoms, shall continue limited and settled, in the same manner as the Imperial Crown of the said Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland now stands limited and settled, according to the existing Laws, and to the Terms of the Union between England and Scotland.
That for the same purpose it appears also to this Committee, that it would be fit to propose that the said United Kingdom be represented in one and the same Parliament, to be stiled the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and that such a number of Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and such a number of Members of the House of Commons as shall be hereafter agreed upon by Acts of the respective Parliaments as aforesaid, shall sit and vote in the said Parliament on the part of Ireland, and shall be summoned, chosen and returned, in such manner as shall be fixed by an Act of the Parliament of Ireland previous to the said Union; and that every Member hereafter to sit and vote in the said Parliament of the United Kingdom shall, until the said Parliament shall otherwise provide, take and subscribe the same Oaths, and make the same Declarations as are by Law required to be taken, subscribed and made by the Members of the Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland.
That for the same purpose it appears also to this Committee, that it would be fit to propose that the Churches of England and Ireland, and the Doctrine, Worship, Discipline, and Government thereof, shall be preserved as now by Law Established.
That for the same purpose it appears also to this Committee, that it would be fit to propose that His Majesty’s Subjects in Ireland shall at all times hereafter be entitled to the same privileges, and be on the same footing in respect of Trade and Navigation, in all Ports and Places belonging to Great Britain, and in all cases with respect to which Treaties shall be made by His Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, with any Foreign Power, as His Majesty’s Subjects in Great Britain; that no Duty shall be imposed on the Import or Export between Great Britain and Ireland of any Articles now Duty free; and that on other Articles there shall be established, for a time to be limited, such a moderate rate of equal Duties as shall, previous to the Union, be agreed upon and approved by the respective Parliaments, subject, after the expiration of such limited time, to be diminished equally with respect to both Kingdoms, but in no case to be encreased; that all Articles which may at any time hereafter be imported into Great Britain from Foreign Parts, shall be importable through either Kingdom into the other, subject to the like Duties and Regulations as if the same were imported directly from Foreign Parts; that where any Articles, the growth, produce, or manufacture of either Kingdom, are subject to any internal Duty in one Kingdom, such countervailing Duties (over and above any Duties on import to be fixed as aforesaid) shall be imposed as shall be necessary to prevent any inequality in that respect: and that all other matters of Trade and Commerce other than the foregoing, and than such others as may before the Union be specially agreed upon for the due encouragement of the Agriculture and Manufactures of the respective Kingdoms, shall remain to be regulated from time to time by the United Parliament.
That for the like purpose it would be fit to propose, that the charge arising from the payment of the Interest or Sinking Fund for the reduction of the Principal of the Debt incurred in either Kingdom before the Union, shall continue to be separately defrayed by Great Britain and Ireland respectively. That for a number of Years to be limited, the future ordinary expences of theUnited Kingdom, in Peace or War, shall be defrayed by Great Britain and Ireland jointly, according to such proportions as shall be established by the respective Parliaments previous to the Union; and that after the expiration of the time to be so limited, the proportion shall not be liable to be varied, except according to such rates and principles as shall be in like manner agreed upon previous to the Union.
That for the like purpose it would be fit to propose, that all Laws in force at the time of the Union, and that all the Courts of Civil or Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction within the respective Kingdoms, shall remain as now by Law established within the same, subject only to such alterations or regulations from time to time as circumstances may appear to the Parliament of theUnited Kingdomto require.
That the foregoingResolutionsbe laid before His Majesty with an humbleAddress, assuring His Majesty that we have proceeded with the utmost attention to the consideration of the important objects recommended to us in His Majesty’s GraciousMessage.
That we entertain a firm persuasion that acomplete and intire Unionbetween Great Britain and Ireland, founded on equal and liberal Principles, on the similarityof Laws, Constitution and Government, and on a sense of mutual Interests and Affections, by promoting the Security, Wealth, and Commerce of the respective Kingdoms, and by allaying the distractions which have unhappily prevailed in Ireland, must afford fresh means of opposing at all times an effectual resistance to the destructive Projects of our Foreign and Domestic Enemies, and must tend to confirm and augment the Stability, Power, and Resources of the Empire.
Impressed with these considerations, we feel it our duty humbly to lay before His Majesty such Propositions as appear to us best calculated to form the Basis of such a settlement, leaving it to His Majesty’s wisdom, at such time and in such manner as His Majesty, in his Parental Solicitude for the happiness of his People, shall judge fit, to communicate these Propositions to His Parliament of Ireland, with whom we shall be at all times ready to concur in all such Measures as may be found most conducive to the accomplishment of this great and salutary Work. And we trust that, after full and mature consideration, such a Settlement may be framed and established, by the deliberate Consent of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms, as may be conformable to the Sentiments, Wishes, and real Interests of His Majesty’s faithful Subjects of Great Britain and Ireland, and may unite them inseparably in the full enjoyment of the blessings of our free and invaluable Constitution, in the support of the Honour and Dignity of His Majesty’s Crown, and in the preservation and advancement of the Welfare and Prosperity of the whole British Empire.