The Sun.
London, England, 1808-01-19 00:00:00

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Vsl:o:liave alrody expre-,,ost oor tlp-
gttuttral character 61 thisNVoitki `file
,
Eta A expiatni :;;oine import:int ciiquinstaticui hi the'
situation of fieland in : -

• • • •
" The 'Military Establishment, so essenti.ll to.the
absulutemothority now claimed by the Sovereign,
enaaoed the Lord Deputy's partictilar attention.
Evert after the feeble attempts at innelioration under
I_Jerd.Falkland, Wentworth found the army Without
clothes, without arms, without ammunition : a
terror to the inhabitants, only from its licentiousness ;
and equally contemptible from its discipline and ,
,numbers. I3y indefatigable exertion, all these de- ,
;leas were speedily remediel The regiments of
foot were completed ; the cavalry, the most
.
pent troops against internal commutions; were •
greatly augmented ; and Ireland, for the first time
Since the days of Elizabeth, beheld an army well ;
appointed and'rnarshalled, equal to its protet.tion, or ,
its subjugation. On their marches through the
country, the soldiery,who had hitherto presented the
appearance of troops ravaging an enemy's territory,
now paid for every thing ; tletheaned themselves
with sobriety; and, instead of being feared and de-
tested, were welcorried by the inhabitants as friends
and protedors. With a diligence rarely found even '
in a General exclusiVely occupied with military af-
fairs, Wentworth could boast that. he had visited the
whole army, that be had iuspe&ed every single man,
and observed both his person and his discipline.. He
could report that he was always attended by a troop,
raised and accoutred at his own charge; that he was '
ever ready, at a moment's wacniug, to mount, and
by a sudden chastisement, to repress every symptom
of commotion. •
" Wentworth seems to tiave understood far more
perfthly than the King, how essential a well-dis-
ciplined force was to the support of. an unlimited
monarchy. While be repeatedly urged the absolute
necessity of still continuing to augment the Irish
army, he represented it as an excellent minister and
assistant in the execution of the King's commands,
as the great peace-maker between the British and
the natives, between the Papists and the Protestants,
and the chief security of those plantations from
which his Majesty anticipated suet) advantages. He
dwelt on the expediency-of prmiding a nursery of
soldiers in some quarter of his Majesty's dominions,,
and Ireland was, in is opinion, the must proper
station for such an establishment.

" But the instrument by which all advantages
for the Crown were to be acquired and consolidated,
was.an ample and permanent revenue and. on the
attainment of shis objea, the Lord Deputy exhaust-
ed all his talents and industry. When he undertook
:the government, the public :debt exceeded ninety-
•two thousand pounds : the revenue, always anti-
cipated, did not amount to eighty-five thousand; and,
:nOtwitiistanding the voluntary contribution; still fell,
.short cif the annual expenditure. For the diminution
of these embarrassments, the Parliament, as we have,
scen, was induced to grant six subsidies, each of
which Wentworth computed at thirty thousand
pounds.. But us no tax of thd same description had
' hitherto been levied in Ireland, it was necessary to
make arrangements for this new mode of assess-
teem,: and the Deputy accordingly .appointed Cum-
tnis,iioners to make a, fair valuati9ii of all the !suds,
• that each proprietor might be assessed in his just
proportion. The Commons, however,, dreading lest
discoveries should thus he Made, which would great-
ly advance the rate of their Contributions, hastened
•; to request of the Deputy that they might he allowed
1 to assess themselves, and that lie would accept forty
thonsand pounds in lieu of each, subSidy. To this
propoSal, which so far surpassed his expeCtations,.,
Wentworth procured some farther additions ; and,
when he included the • assessments of the Nobility.
and Clergy, he found that each subsidy exceeded:'
his, cMpotation .by twenty thOusand pounds.-
While he thus obtained the means of quickly
• disengaging the Treasury from its burdens,„hp-pur-'
, stied other plans for the solid and permanent increase
of the revenue. Under his diligent stiperinteraiance,
the preduce 'of the euatoins ,rose, in the course of,
fonryears,. from twelve thousand. pounds a year to
forty thousand, and were still in a state of rapid ad-
' vanceniealt. This ,:unelioration proceeded •in , part
from art improved niethod of colleetion ; but still.
wol'e'frotni the cliConragethent which be afforded to
trs•le. By arming limper vessels for the'prote6tion
(s. flue 4.:•.:ists, he put an cud to a:69 piracies whieh
ilia4tk!ocled theirravages to the Very harbours of
the island and the national commerce and shipping,'
'; treed front slie:e clangers, qisickly. ,experienced an
The trafiic of 'lreland la-
: honred under many disadva,ntages from the absurd
rt.grdations of the English Government, To favour
a poptteogirot.ooap-tuOiers; the exportation of tal-
low ivaaJprohibited; that of- WOW; to gratify the
Et dish grow" A heavy ditty on the importation
cii;d3 okratetd:ai,an Obstacle to the: increase •of
,vils and inanufaautes ; while Oils
,graziers, and
taccdcys of ,llngittud derived' an tiOne. advantago I
irutu a ta'z of eighteen-pence a head on all live cattle.
exported from Ireland, and a still heavier.disty on
hOrscs and Mares transported from England. Against
i these vexations impositions Wentworth strenuously
remonstrated; and while he procured the aholitirn
of sortie; and the mitigation Of others, he founded
( tasting advantages to the Crown in the:improvement
of Ireland.

0 By such• e:cpedients the embarrassments of the
treasury were quicklv removed, all anticipations ter-
nlnated, all the charges of Government paid to a
'day; and, in the fifth year of his adinintstration,
Wentworth could boast that the annual revenue bid
fair to exceed the expenditure by sixty thousand
tiOUnds.
Ttlere were other projects of Wentworth for
the improvement of the revenue and the country,
som of which proved abortive, but some were ulti-
mitt,!iy.attended h permanent advantages to Ire-
land. To remedy the excessive scarcity of coin,
which caused endless embarrassineuts to commerce,
be united with: the Irish Parliament in a petition
Inr the ereetion of a mint In Ireland ; beat 'though
the King .tcadily grantvd the request, yet such wore
the delays interposed by the officers of the English
mint, who dreaded a diminution ortheir perquisites,
• that the repeated representations of the Luria I,l;puty