[clxii. 247]

1821 Jan y 7

Rid Yourselves

This being admitted, during the golden period whatever expence is necessitated - expence of creation and outfit of navy - expence of exportation of armies - it is to the account of the Union with Ultramaria that it is to be carried.

Now then, in the course of this same period - the two years commencing 6 months hence, what in the way of receipts from Ultramaria on account of Government can have of so much that would otherwise be to be levied on you by taxes, can your rulers be in any well grounded expectation of. Looking into your Constitutional Code, I can not find any thing: much less a sum sufficient to cover the vast expence for which your consideration has just been prayed.

True it is /As to this matter/ that what the supposition we set out with imports is not merely willingness, but desire, ardent desire, and thence sure consent to the union in question considered first in a general point of view, and then in the point of view in which it is presented by your Constitutional Code. But betwixt a general consent and even submission to the union, with all its solemnity between this and actual contribution, over and above the contribution furnished for defraying the expence of the local government in the several countries, the interval is not inconsiderable: and no sooner is the eye directed upon the points that bear upon it /the subject/ in the Constitutional Code than it will be sure that under the Constitutional Code this interval never can be passed.

Dispositions