The financial settlement made at the Union distinctly embodied these principles, and was carried by Castlereagh through the Irish Parliament, by what methods history records with shame. Like Pitt, the Chief Secretary looked forward to a time when Great Britain and Ireland might be under the same fiscal system; but at this juncture, this consummation was, he acknowledged, hopeless. Ireland was, financially, to remain a separate country; she was to have a separate exchequer and separate taxes; her National Debt was to be kept distinct from that of Great Britain. She was to furnish only a contribution to the State; and Castlereagh declared, over and over again, that this contribution was to be only in proportion to her means, and that in no event was she to be unduly taxed. 'The great point to be ascertained is the best criterion that can be found of the relative means of the two countries, in order to fix the relative proportions of their contributions.... As to the future, it is expected that the two countries will move forward together, and unite with regard to their expenses in the measure of their relative abilities.' By a comparison made between British and Irish imports and exports, and between the values of certain commodities, Castlereagh came to the conclusion that the contributions which Great Britain and Ireland ought to be expected to make for the general support and administration of the State, should be, respectively, fifteen- and two-seventeenths, that is, Great Britain was to pay about 88 per cent., and Ireland about 12 per cent. of the sum total. This proportion was to be made liable to revision at the end of twenty years; for this provision, Castlereagh remarked, gave 'Ireland the utmost possible security that she cannot be taxed beyond the measure of her comparative ability, and that the ratio of her contributions must ever correspond with her relative wealth and prosperity;' and then followed arrangements which undoubtedly had the 'assimilation of Great Britain and Ireland in finance' remotely in view; but subject to limitations that would preserve for Ireland her fiscal rights, and would secure her from taxation beyond her means, and unjust. It was proposed that if, at some future time, the debts of both countries should be discharged, or if their debts and their contributions were in the same proportion, Great Britain and Ireland might be 'assimilated in finance,' and placed under the same fiscal system; but this was to be on two express conditions, that the circumstances of the two countries should admit of this change, and that, in any case, should the change be made, Ireland--as was the case of Scotland when her Union took place-should have the benefit of such 'exemptions and abatements' of taxation as might be deemed proper, and the circumstances of the situation might allow. The meaning of the technical words, 'exemptions and abatements,' interpreted of late years in a pettifogging sense, was fully recognised at the time, and for a long subsequent period, indeed, has been recognised to this day by most of our leading statesmen, namely, that Ireland was not to be taxed unfairly or beyond her resources, as Castlereagh had repeatedly promised.[154]