The seventh article of the Act of Union, which comprised the financial
proposals of the Act, has been summarised as follows in the report of a
Royal Commission, to which we shall have occasion to refer later:--

"Ireland and Great Britain had entered into legislative partnership on
the clear understanding that they were still, for the purposes of
taxation, to be regarded as separate and distinct entities. Ireland was
to contribute to the common expenditure in proportion to her resources,
so far as the same could be ascertained, and even after the imposition
of indiscriminate taxation, if circumstances permitted, she might claim
special exemptions and abatements."

We have seen how the taxation of Ireland at the time of the Union was
three millions. Five years later the figure had risen to four millions,
and it went on increasing at this rate until in 1815 it amounted to no
less than six and a half millions, having more than doubled in amount in
a space of fifteen years, while during the same time the National Debt
had risen from four and a half to ten and a half millions.

To understand the significance of these figures it must be realised that
the Napoleonic war was in progress, and that the supply, on the part of
Ireland, of provisions at enhanced war prices was the only means by
which she was able to cope with her increasing liabilities. The
conclusion of the war and the consequent fall in prices accelerated a
crisis in Irish finance. Even in the years of plenty not more than
one-half of what the Act of Union proposed could be squeezed out of the
country, and the balance, which was added to her debt, raised the ratio
which it bore to that of Great Britain from the proportion of 1 to
15-1/2 in 1800 to that of 2 to 17 in 1817. One would have thought that
such an increase of debt would have made Ireland less fitted to bear
equal taxation with Great Britain, but the statesmen of the day thought
otherwise, and in 1817 the Exchequers were amalgamated. Even then the
fiscal systems of the two countries were not in all respects
assimilated, though in regard to some taxes an equalisation was
effected, as, for example, in the case of tobacco, the duty on the
unmanufactured variety of which was raised from 1s. to 3s. per lb.,
while that on cigars and manufactured tobacco was raised from 1s. to
16s. per lb. The manner in which the change affected social conditions
in Ireland at this time may best be illustrated by the fact that