2170
i
2684
AQTES
LIBRARY
VERITAS
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN |
FROM THE LIBRARY OF
Professor Karl Heinrich Rau
OF THE University OF HEIDELBERG
PRESENTED TO THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
BY
Mr. Philo Parsons
OF DETROIT
1871
:
יד
3.
}
HJ
8624
A 25
t
3. All Parlament
THE
DE BA
UPON THE
La EX TASA To
LIBRARY
PARSONS
University of
MICHIGAN
ESTABLISHING A FUND
FOR THE
DISCHARGE
OF THE
NATIONAL DEBT,
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 1786.
TO WHICH IS ADDED, THE
REPORT
FROM THE
SELECT COMMITTEE,
RELATING TO THE
PUBLIC INCOME AND EXPENDITURE,
MARCH 21, 1786.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR JOHN STOCKDALE, OPPOSITE
BURLINGTON HOUSE, PICCADILLY.
MDCCLXXXVI.
[ PRICE ONE SHILLING AND SIX-PENCE. ]
DE B A TE
ON THE
+
DISCHARGE
OF THE
NATIONAL DEB T.
TH
WEDNESDAY, March 29, 1786.
HE Houſe having refolved itſelf into a
Committee of Supply, to take into confide-
ration that part of his Majeſty's Speech which re-
lated to the neceffity of providing for the dimi-
nution of the National Debt, and the fame being
read accordingly,
The Chancellor of the Exchequer proceeded to
open his long-expected propofition on the fubject.
-To follow him accurately through his various
arithmetical ſtatements, but much more through
his brilliant arguments and political deductions, is
a taſk not eafily performed. The Reader muſt,
therefore, be contented with a faint and mutilated
ſketch of a ſpeech, which, from the great and au-
ſpicious importance of its ſubject, as well as from
the maſterly ſtyle in which it was arranged and
delivered, deſerves a more lafting and authentic
A 2
11877
record
[ 4 ]
record than it is poffible to give it. The object
in view was, he faid, one, on the great and urgent
neceffity of which, he apprehended there would
not in that Houfe, any more than abroad among
the people, be any difference of opinion. Every
body faw, and every body felt how much it was
the duty of thoſe, to whom the interefts of the
country were intrufted, to dedicate their moſt ſe-
rious efforts towards the eſtabliſhment of a fund
for the reduction of the public debt, as the only
poffible means of holding out to the people any
hope of a relaxation of their burthens, or any pro-
ſpect to the nation of ever again regaining that
pre-eminence among her neighbours, to which, in
many points of view, fhe was fo highly intitled.
It was not only his Majefty, as appeared from that
part of his Speech that had juſt been read; it was
not that Houſe, nor the people alone, that were
looking forward with anxious expectation to the
event of that day's deliberation: furrounding na-
tions were equally intent on our proceedings, fully
convinced that the queſtion then to be difcuffed
was one, on which the ftrength, the vigour, and
even the independence of our empire was to reft.
The expediency, nay, the indifpenfible neceffity of
the meaſure was agreed on by all manner of per-
fons; and if there could, in any, be a difference of
opinion, it could not be on the principle, however
gentlemen might poffibly diffent from the mode
propofed, to be adopted for carrying that prin-
ciple
[ 5 ]
ciple into effect. As to the fum to be applied,
there was, he believed, alfo a general agreement
on that head, and all parties feemed to concur in
the propriety of appropriating a million of money
yearly to that purpoſe. After recalling the re-
collection of the Houſe to the calamitous fituation
to which this country had been fo recently reduced
by a tedious and deftructive war, in the fupport
of which, the reſources of the country had nearly
failed, and which had rendered it neceffary to in-
creaſe, in an almoſt incredible degree, the bur-
thens of the people, in order to diſcharge the in-
tereſt of the debts incurred in the profecution of
that war, he congratulated them, and the public,
that the time was at length arrived, when they
might venture to look the ſtate of the nation in
the face; and when, inſtead of being overcast by
gloomy defpondence and defpair, the profpect was
brightened with hope and the faireft expectations.
In the profecution of this great object, it was ne-
ceffary, first, to confider what the means of the
country, for carrying it into effect were; and, fe-
condly, how thefe means might be most effectually
applied. The whole ftate of the national finance
was before them-they could fee, at one view,
not only the income, but the expenditure of the
ftate. The whole was arranged, in fuch a men-
ner, as to afford the moft clear and fatisfactory in-
formation to any gentleman who had examined it;
and he hoped, and believed, there were few who
7
had
[ 6 ]
had neglected to inform themſelves on fo very
intereſting a ſubject. He was happy that the
Houſe had not the fpeech or opinion of a ſingle
member of Parliament to direct them; they had
the Report of a Committee, who had examined all
the neceffary documents fubmitted to them by
the Houſe itſelf, and that Report was as re-
markable for its clearness and perfpicuity, as the
Committee, who drew it up, were remarkable
for ability and diligence.
The Committee
had made a moft candid and explicit Report.
It would be found from that Report, that they
had taken two periods by which to aſcertain the
amount of the annual revenue-the one the year
ending at Michaelmas 1785, the other the year
ending on the 5th of January, 1786.—In
the former of thofe periods, the whole income
was 15,379,1821. and upwards; in the latter
period, 15,397,4711. He enumerated the dif
ferent articles from which this revenue aroſe,
ftating, from the Report, the payments into the
Exchequer up to the two feveral periods which
the Committee had taken for a criterion, which,
in the latter, viz. that ending the 5th of January,
1786, amounted to 12,499,000l. from which
was to be deducted a fum of 401,000l. that had
been paid by the Eaft-India Company, as refpited
duties, which, though received within the year,
ought not to be confidered as part of the yearly
income, being only a contingency, and not to
be
[ 7 ]
be paid in future years; and alfo the fum of
56,000l. which had been paid on the old win-
dow duties, but which, from an aleration in the
affeffiments, would ceafe to be paid any longer.
Thoſe two fums, amounting to about 457,0001.
being deducted from 12,499,000l. would leave a
remainder of about 12,042,000l. To this fum
then, which had been paid into the Exchequer,
and which was to be confidered as part of the
national yearly income, each article of it being
'payable yearly, there were feveral other fums to
be added, in order to the underſtanding accu-
rately the whole ftate of the public income;
thoſe fums were branches of revenue, which,
though payable yearly, had not yet been received
into the Exchequer; but many of them being
levied by affeffment, could be as well afcertained
from the affeffments, as if they had been actually
received. Of theſe laſt, the chief was the addi-
tional duties arifing from window-lights, by the
Act commonly called the Commutation Act, on
which there remained to be received about
380,000l. for the former period, and 253,5341.
for the latter; another was the new Tax on Male
Servants, which would amount to 26,cool. for
the former, and 42,4441. for the latter period.-
Befides thefe two fums, there were to be calcu-
Jated the further produce on the two and four-
wheel carriages, calculated at 59,2811. for the
former, and 107,1861, for the latter period; and
alfo
[ 8 ]
year
alfo the further produce of the duty on horfes,
carts, and waggons, at Michaelmas, 1785,
amounting to 56,8291. and on the 5th of Janu-
ary, 1786, to 73,610l. There was alfo to be
added the further produce to be derived from the
taxes impoſed in 1784, amounting to 103,000l.
at Michaelmas laft, and to 22,000l. at January,
1786; as alfo from thofe of the year 1785, in-
cluding the improvements of the medicine duty,
amounting to 265,000l. at Michaelmas, and to
242,000l. on January 5, 1786; alſo the fum
paid on account of the Civil Lift of 14,000l. at
the Excife and Alienation office; together with the
Land and Malt Tax, amounting to 2,600,000l.
All thofe fums added, would amount in the
ending at Michaelmas, 1785, to about 3,365,000l.
which, added to the receipts for that year, viz.
11,874,000l. would produce above 15,379,0001,
but in the year ending in January laft, they made
the fum 3,354,000l. which, added to the money
actually received in that year, would produce
15,397,000l. Thus the Houfe would fee the
whole ftate of the annual income of the nation;
the next thing therefore for them to confider,
was the expenditure;-this the Committee had
alfo reported upon, and it would appear from
them, that it amounted to 14,478,000l.-He
went over the items of which this intire fum was
compoſed, dividing them into fuch as were capa-
ble of being clearly afcertained, and fuch as were
Aluctu-
[ 9 ]
fluctuating. In the former defcription, he in-
cluded the intereft of the national debt, including
the Exchequer bills, amounting to 9,532,7691.
the Civil Lift 900,000l. the charges on the Ag-
gregate fund 64,600l. and appropriated duties
64,5381. The latter clafs comprehended the
different eſtabliſhments for the public defence,
as the Navy, the Army, and the Ordnance,
ſervices which it was impoffible perfectly to aſcer-
tain the expence of; and alſo Miſcellaneous Ser-
vices, which from their very name, were liable
to great fluctuation and uncertainty. The charges
for the Navy, as calculated in the Report,
amounted to 1,800,000l. a fum equal to an
eſtabliſhment of 18,000 men, one infinitely
greater than this country had ever kept up in
times of peace; but it was to be obſerved, that
the Committee did not fit for the purpoſe of
pointing out the fums neceffary to the different
eſtabliſhments, but to make a computation of the
furplus likely to arife, after fulfilling every de-
mand of the public fervice. They had confe-
quently very prudently avoided to eſtimate the
expenditure on a contracted fcale, as if they
were anxious to make appearances as promifing
as poffible, for the purpoſe of indulging a fa-
vourite project, but had taken care to go as far
in their Report, as the moft extravagant eſtabliſh-
ments could poffibly amount to :-they had been
equally cautious in their Report of the expence
B
of
[ 10 ]
J
of the Army, which they had put down at
1,600,000, though it was highly probable, it
would not amount to fo much in a fhort time,
having never been fo high in time of peace,
even before the late calamitous war had fo
greatly narrowed and confined the limits of the
Empire. In this department, therefore, it was
to be hoped, that the expence might be lefs than
that ſtated in the Report. The Ordnance they
had alſo eſtimated on an enlarged ſcale (at
348,000l.) but, in fact, in this branch there had
accrued an addition of expence by increaſing the
number of artillery, a thing extremely neceffary,
and the omiffion of which had been feverely felt
in the commencement of our laft war, and which,
if poftponed to the very hour of neceffity, it
might, and probably would, as had already hap-
pened, be too late to remedy. The Mifcellane-
ous Services were ftated by them as nearly as was
poffible to be done on an average of a few years
paſt, but even fo they were probably rated at a
higher fum than they would in the end appear to
amount to. They arofe partly from the Addreffes
of that Houfe to the King for particular grants,
and partly from the eftablishments of our colo-
nies, and the bills of exchange drawn by our
Governors abroad on the Treafury. In thefe laft
there would probably be a confiderable reduction
for the future, as it was refolved to obferve the
moſt rigid and ſtrict ceconomy in all thoſe de-
2
partments,
[ 11 ]
partments, and in that particular member of our
foreign poffeffions, where this expence had hither-
to been the greateft, namely Canada and the
northern American Provinces of Nova Scotia,
and New Brunſwick; it was to be expected that
a confiderable faving would be made, efpecially
when it was remembered, who the officer was,
to whom the Adminiftration and Command in
Canada was to be committed,-Sir Guy Carle-
ton; an officer who united the more fplendid ta-
lents of a great General, with that no lefs necef-
fary, though not ſo common virtue in a military
character, œconomy; and economy was a duty
not lefs incumbent on a General, than on any
other fervant of the public. The whole of this
article of expence was eſtimated at about 74,000l.
Thus, according to the Report of the Committee,
the whole of the expenditure was, 14,478,000l.
which, deducted from fifteen million, three hun-
dred and ninety-feven pounds, the annual in-
come, would leave about 900,000l. a furplus to-
wards the diſcharge of the debt. In order, there-
fore, to make up the remaining 100,000l. to
complete the million which feemed to be univer-
fally received as the fum adviſable to be applied
to this purpoſe, it would be neceffary to raiſe
freſh taxes to that amount. He was happy that in
propofing thoſe taxes he had it in his power to
felect objects for them that would in no degree
add to the burthens of the public. In the first
B 2
place
[ 12 ]
place he fhould propofe an additional duty on
fpirits. He apprehended that there were but two
confiderations that ought to weigh in determin-
ing on the propriety of this tax, the one whether
it would be likely to reſtrain the confumption,
and fo injure the manufacturer, the other whe-
ther it might not hold out temptation to fraud
and illicit practices; for he imagined no man
could think it any national injury that fpirits
fhould be fold at a dearer rather than a cheaper
rate. There had been by a late Act of Parlia-
ment a reduction in the duty on ſpirits of 5 d. per
gallon calculated on the waſh, which, together
with 2d. that had before been taken off, made
the whole duty 7 d. lefs than it had formerly been.
He ſhould not however reſtore the former duty
wholly, but would add one penny to the duty as
it at prefent ſtood, from which a fum of 60 or
70,000l. annually might be expected. The next
refource was rather to be regarded as a regulation
than a tax, and was an alteration of the mode of
admeaſurement of deals and battens, by which
certain abuſes in the prefent method would be
avoided, and a fum ariſe to the public of 20, or
from that to 30,000l. The third and laſt tax
was, on an article infignificant in itſelf, and the
produce of which could not eaſily be calculated-
it was on perfumery and hair powder, and might
be expected to bring in from 10 to 15, or per-
haps 30,000l. By this means, according to the
ſtatement
[ 13 ]
}
ftatement of the Committee, there would be a
clear million a year for a Sinking Fund; but to
this he would propofe to add the amount of fuch
annuities or funds as fhould fall in for a certain
limited time, which he ſhould particularize be-
fore he fat down. It was, however, to be ob-
ferved, that the amount of the expenditure, as
ſtated by the Committee, ample, and even ex-
aggerated as it was, on the head of the three
military eſtabliſhments as they might be expect-
ed to ſtand hereafter, did yet fall confiderably
short of what was the actual expenditure for the
prefent year, and would continue a year or two
to come. To explain this, it would be neceſſary
for him to point out firft, what were the reafons
for thoſe extraordinary expences exifting for the
prefent, and next by what reſources they were to
be anſwered, fo as to prevent them from falling
with fuch a weight upon the revenue as to render
the preſent ſcheme abortive, except by means of
freſh impofitions on the people. First then the
annual expence of the Navy as only ftated was
1,800,000l. whereas the actual charge of it for
the preſent year was 2,400,000l. The reafons,
however, for its exceeding the very liberal peace
eſtabliſhment of 1,800,000l. were fufficiently ob-
vious to fuch as would confider the effects of the
late tedious and moft expenfive war, and that
thoſe effects in a great many inftances had not
yet ceafed to operate-that it had left behind it
many
[ 14 ]
1
many very neceffary demands on the National
Purfe, which it would be highly impolitic not to
comply with; that befide the naval half-pay and
penſion lift, which he would ſpeak of by and by,
in common with the army, it had rendered it
neceffary to begin the building of feveral fhips
which were now on the ſtocks, and which, if we
were to omit completing, would be in fact waft-
ing the money they had already coft, but which,
if we were to finish them, would give us the fineſt
navy that this kingdom, in the moſt flouriſhing
period of its exiftence, had ever poffeft. In the
army there were alfo for the preſent great ex-
ceedings, beyond that which was ftated to be the
regular amount of the expence; thofe exceedings
were about 260,000l. but to this additional ex-
pence, for the prefent, it could not be, but Gen-
tlemen muſt be more reconciled when they confi-
dered that it was applied in a way in which alone,
of all others, the voice of œconomy could not be
fully attended to; the relief of thoſe who had
ſpent the best part of their lives, who had loft
their limbs and their health in our fervice, and
of the widows and orphans of thoſe who had died,
fighting for their country.-Thofe expences ftill
were fuch as muft of courfe gradually diminiſh,
and in time be entirely at an end. As to the
Ordnance and the expence of that department, as
ftated by the Committee, that was a fubject on
which there was fome degree of doubt, as it was
as
[ 15 ]
*
as yet uncertain, what Parliament would propofe
to do on the ſubject of Fortifications. Having
already rejected one plan, it was to be expected
they would in proper time determine on another,
fomething of the kind being by all thought
neceffary, but to what extent, it was impoffible
at preſent to forefee, and therefore the expence
could not be preciſely eſtimated.
Another fource of revenue would arife from the
Crown Lands. He was fenfible that much could
not be fuddenly grafped from this object; the ad-
vantage would be gradual and permanent; but,
perhaps, the wifdom of the Committee might di-
rect them to look in that quarter for a provifion
for thofe men who had facrificed their fortunes to
their loyalty.
Befides thefe, there was another article of ex-
penditure not touched on in the Report-this was
the fubject matter of the King's Meffage, which
he had the honour of preſenting on that day, and
on which he would then take an opportunity
of faying a few words.
a few words. The impoffibility of
bringing the real expences of the Civil Lift, within
the eſtabliſhment allowed by Parliament, proceed-
ed from the circumftance of that fund's being
mortgaged for the payment of certain Exchequer
Bills, by annual payments of 50,000l. which re-
duced it from 900,000l. to 850,000l. Of theſe
Exchequer Bills there remained due about 180,000l.
and there was befides an arrear against the Civil
Lift
[ 16 ]
Lift of 30,000l. more; in order, therefore, to free
the Crown from any farther embarraffment on
that ſcore, he ſhould, on that day fe'nnight, when
the Meffage came to be taken into confideration,
move for a fum of 210,000l. for his Majefty to
diſcharge the incumbrances on his Civil Lift.
He obferved, that the whole of thofe exceedings
in the army and navy on their prefent eſtabliſh-
ments, above their amount, as ſtated in the Report
to be the regular expenditure, was about
750,000l. and was to laft for only four years,
which made a fum, upon the whole, of 3,000,000l.
For this fum, of courſe there ought to be a pro-
vifion made, but from the ftate of the country
there would, for the preſent at leaſt, be no necef-
fity for recurring to any fresh burthens on the
people, and there was great ground to expect that
the whole of thofe extraordinary expences might
be defrayed by certain extraordinary refources
which we were poffeffed of, but which could not
be arranged under any head of revenue. The firft
of thoſe extraordinary refources was the furplus
on feveral funds, together with army favings,
partly already paid back into the Exchequer.
Thofe amounted to about 450,000l. There was
beſides an immenfe arrear ftill due by former Pay-
Maſters, part of which might ſhortly be expected
to be paid in. He entered pretty largely into
the abuſes that had been formerly practifed in the
Pay-Office, but faid, that there was every reafon
to
[ 17 ]
to expect all the out-ftanding balances would be
afcertained and recovered as foon as the Commif-
fioners, appointed to examine and ſtate the public
accounts, ſhould have gone through the whole of
their enquiry; they had to inveſtigate the accounts
of 118 regiments of foot, and many regiments of
dragoons, fome of whofe non-effective funds had
not been accounted for 20 years paft-of theſe
regiments the commiffioners had as yet only gone
through one, in which, however, they had been
able to make out a balance of 22,000l. in favour
of Government. He faid, he was not fo fanguine
as to expect any thing nearly equal to this in the
other regiments; but he thought, on the whole
account, there might be, including contracts, and
other articles of abuſe, 1,000,000l. to be refunded,
thoſe two ſums made 1,450,000l. In this account
he had not yet mentioned a lottery, becauſe it was
not determined to be adopted; but he was afraid,
the fpirit of gambling was fo very deeply rooted
in the minds of the people, as to make it always
a certain refource for at leaſt 140,000l. per year,
and therefore in four years it would produce a
confiderable part of the fum to be made good.
There were, befides, great refources ftill to be
expected from the means already adopted, and
that were further to be uſed, for the fuppreffion
of fmuggling-in the cuftoms, thofe means
had already been attended with fuch fuccefs, as
had exceeded the warmest hopes of the moſt
fanguine,
C
[ 18 ]
fanguine, and given fpirit and vigour to the moft
defponding, and that even during the period of
a fingle year; but it was not to a year alone,
that their fuccefsful operations had been con-
fined; they had continued to increaſe the re-
venue in a conſtant progreffion, ever ſince they
had been put in execution, and there was every
reaſon to expect that they would ftill farther in-
creaſe it;no preventive againſt fmuggling
could be expected to accomplish it's intire object
on the inftant-the capital that had been em-
ployed in that trade, could not be fuddenly with-
drawn, and the party would for a time carry on
a lofing trade, rather than at once give up their
old habits and occupation: it might therefore
reaſonably be expected, that though there had
already refulted the moft extraordinary benefit
to the revenue from the fteps that had been taken
for the fuppreffion of fmuggling, there were ftill
greater advantages to be expected. There were,
he faid, at the prefent moment, feveral treaties
going forward, which muft neceffarily make fome
alteration in the rate of the cuftoms; but he
hoped that alteration, if not favourable in point
of revenue, would make ample amends in com-
merce; and he defired the Houfe to recollect,
that even pending thoſe treaties, a thing in itſelf
likely for the moment to deprefs the fpirits of
trade, the Cuſtoms had received a confiderable
addition, and of courſe muſt be expected to in-
creafe
[ 19 ]
1.
creaſe ſtill more confiderably, when that ſuſpence
fhould be at an end.-There were befides farther
regulations to be adopted, and particularly with re-
gard to the diſtillery, by which confiderable frauds
in that branch would be prevented. But the greateſt
of all was in the article of wine, the revenue arifing
from which, was extremely, and almoft incredi-
bly deficient of what it ought to be. This he
illuftrated by an obſervation, that although it
was probable, that the confumption of wine had
much more than doubled fince the year 1746,
yet upon an average ending at that period, the
revenue on that article did not at prefent, not-
withſtanding the addition both of duty and con-
ſumption, exceed what it produced at that time.
Exclufive of thofe refources, there were others.
that afforded a great promife of affiftance, if it
fhould be found neceffary to recur to them.-
Another thing of the greateſt importance would
be the confolidation of the cuftoms;-this, how-
ever, though a thing by no means to be aban-
doned, was not at prefent in immediate contem-
plation. From all thoſe circumſtances, it was
highly probable, that the growing refources of the
country, together with thoſe accidental receipts
of the fums he had mentioned, would enable us
to diſcharge the 3,000,000, which our eſtabliſh-
ments would, during the enfuing two or three
years, require beyond their permanent allowance,
without having recourfe to a loan for that pur-
pofe;
N
C 2
[ 20 ]
A
pofe; but if it fhould be otherwife, then by all
means money ought to be borrowed for the dif
charge of thofe demands, rather than either poſt-
pone for the preſent the inftitution of a finking
fund, or infringe upon it hereafter, if infti-
tuted.
In the plan he meant to propofe, all imagin-
able care would be taken to fortify the fund as
much as poffible against any poffibility of being
diverted from its object, and to fecure to it its
regular quarterly fupplies, in fpite of any acci-
dents or misfortunes whatſoever. He should
therefore propoſe to appoint a certain fet of Com-
miffioners for the management of it, and to in-
veft them with full power to difpofe of it in the
purchaſe of ſtock, as if for their own ufe, and in
their own names, that fo the fanctity of private
property might be an additional check on the
Crown and on Parliament, to refrain from any
attack upon it. He would moreover have it fo
ordered, that every quarter of a year 250,000l.
fhould be paid out of the Exchequer, into the
hands of thoſe Commiffioners, and that before
any other money ſhould be iffued, except for the
intereft of the debt. From thefe provifions, it
would follow, that no neglect of that Houſe could
poffibly affect the fund, unleſs at the fame time it
neglected every other branch of the public fer-
vice. And alfo that there could no covert, or
fudden attack be made upon it by a Minifter, or
by
*
[ 21 ]
by Parliament, but on the contrary, if any fuch
be meditated, it must be executed deliberately,
and with their own eyes open to what they were
doing, and the eyes of the public alfo upon them,
each of which, he hoped, would operate as pow-
erful reſtraints againſt any invafion on this facred
bulwark of the public credit. He would briefly
ftate to the Houſe the effect of a calculation he
had made on the accumulation to be expected
from a million a year, applied quarterly, with its
accruing intereft, together with the annuities
that were to fall into the ufe of the fund. The
whole would, in a period, not of great length,
when compared with the life of man, but fcarcely
an hour, when eftimated with the duration of a
great Empire, in a period of 27 or 28 years, it
would amount to fuch a fum as to leave four
millions annually, free, to be applied, if ne-
ceffary, to any exigence of the State, and from
that time he would leave the annuities, that fhould
have fallen in, either to go to the public fervice,
or to the relief of the people. The perfons who
ſhould be appointed to this commiſſion, ſhould be
of a rank and eftimation that fhould fecure, as
far as perfonal character could do it, a faithful and
diligent diſcharge of their truft. In the first place,
he would have at the head of them, that refpec
table Commoner, whoever he might be, that ſhould
fill the chair of that Houſe. Parliament, in in-
ftituting a commiffion of fuch importance towards
the
[ 22 ]
[
the ſupport of the national credit and profperity,
could not more folemnly, nor more pointedly,
promulgate its high ſenſe of the duty, by which
that commiffion was bound, than by appointing
the firſt Member of that Houfe to be at the head
of it. He thought alfo, that it would be proper
that the perfon exercifing an office fo intimately
connected with the fubject of finance, as the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, for the time being,
fhould be a Member of the Committee. There
was another perfon alfo, who, from his high rank
and confequence, as well as from his virtues and
reputation, was a proper perfon, he meant the
Maſter of the Rolls.-The Governor and Deputy
Governor of the Bank of England ought likewiſe
to be appointed, having been long in a fituation
fo fimilar in itfelf;-as alfo the Accountant Ge-
neral of the High Court of Chancery, who, by
virtue of his office, was already employed in veft-
ing the money of all the fuitors, and of wards, in
the funds, and increafing, by that means, the ca-
pital by the accumulation of compound interefts.
Such perfons as thefe he fhould propofe to the
Houſe when the Bill came before the Committee.
There might, he ſaid, be fome difficulty in deter-
mining how to regulate the conduct of the Com-
miffioners in their purchaſe of ſtock, as chiefly
with regard to what fort of stock they fhould pur-
chafe; but, perhaps, this might be left to their
own difcretion-but there was another part af
their
[ 23 ]
their duty which he would not leave to their dif
cretion, which was, the times on which they were
to make their purchaſes: this fhould not be op-
tional, but at regular periods, viz. on every
transfer day in the quarter, on each of which
they were to make purchaſes of an equal mag-
nitude.
The Right Honourable Gentleman then ſtated
the annual account of the Supply and Ways and
Means.--The actual and probable receipt under
the head of Ways and Means, he stated to a-
mount for the current year, to
The amount of the expenditure
for the preſent year would be no more
than
13,362,480
12,477,000
Surplus of receipt,
885,480
From which take the fum to be
paid to the Commiffioners,
750,000
135,480
And there would ftill be a furplus of
To which the Committee would
think it reaſonable to add a further
fum of favings, which he ftated the
probability of their procuring by re-
gulations of revenue,
313,620
And there would be a furplus of
receipt after the operation, of
449,100
After
[ 24 ]
After many obfervations on the neceffity of a-
dopting this meafure, and expreffing his fatif-
faction that he had then a taſk to perform fo dif-
ferent from what had fallen to the lot of any of
his predeceffors, and fo far more agreeable than
that which he had been hitherto obliged to un-
dergo, viz.-the contriving the means of dimi-
niſhing inſtead of encreafing the burthens of the
people, he concluded with a repetition of his
former words, that "The eſtabliſhment of fuch
an inftitution as that which he was about to pro-
pofe, was effential not only to the credit, the
ftrength and vigour, but even to the indepen-
dence of the nation,"
He then moved,
That the fum of One Million be annually
granted to certain Commiffioners, to be by them
applied in the purchaſe of Stocks, by the appli-
cation of 250,000l. every quarter for that pur-
pofe, the firſt payment to be made the quarter
immediately after the paffing of the Act, towards
diſcharging the Public Debt of this country,
which money fhall arife out of the Surpluffes,
Exceffes, and Overplus Monies, compofing the
Fund commonly called the Sinking Fund.
Sir Grey Cooper rofe immediately after the Re-
folution had been read from the Chair, and faid,
it required no great argument to explain in what
degree money at compound intereft would accu-
mulate. Baron Mafferes had written upon the
fub
[ 25 ]
fubject, and a great deal had been faid about a
Propofition perfectly fimple, and obvious to every
capacity. He rofe, therefore, not to ſay a word
upon that circumftance, but to remark that the
Committee had proceeded to form their Report
on principles extremely novel, and directly op-
pofite to thofe that the wifeft men in former times
had thought the most certain guides to their judg-
ment, and the moſt to be depended upon as lead-
ing to the true ftate of the object of enquiry.
The Committee had founded their Report on the
preſent year's amount of the receipt of the pub-
lic income, becaufe it had proved a remarkably
favourable year, and they had not ſtated the real
expenditure of the year, becauſe that oppoſed to
the receipt would not certainly have afforded any
furplus on the balance. On former occafions the
rule had been, invariably to proceed in a dif-
ferent road, and by a fair average of a number
of years income and expenditure, taking good
and bad years together, to ftrike a balance upon
fuch an average, and confider that balance as a
footing not likely to prove fallacious, but as a
footing that was firm and that might be relied on
with fecurity. He held a publication, that came
out two years after the end of the war before laft,
and which, it was well known, was printed un-
der the protection, and corrected with his own
hand, by a great Minifter of that day--he meant
Mr. Grenville. The pamphlet was entitled,
D
Con-
[ 26 ]
Confiderations on the State of the Finances of the
Nation. In that pamphlet the oppofite doctrine
to that on which the Report on the Table was
founded, was laid down and maintained. Sir
Grey ſtated the inftance, and argued upon it to
prove how differently Mr. Grenville had reafon-
ed, compared with the Right Honourable Gen-
tleman who had juft fat down. [There being a
great noife in the Houſe, occafioned by a con-
fiderable number of the Members being on the
floor in their way to the door] Sir Grey faid, it
.would perhaps procure him fome favour with the
Houfe, when he declared, that the Right Hon.
Gentleman himſelf was not a more fincere friend
to the idea of diminiſhing the national debt, nor
more anxious to have its diminution effectually
fecured, than he was; but it was his duty to
examine the means by which the Right Hon.
Gentleman wished that Houſe to proceed, and to
point out the particulars, in which he thought
thofe means premature or inadequate. When
the Right Honourable Gentleman had introduced
the queſtion of the Fortifications, he remember-
ed, he had talked in the fame fanguine manner
of his certainty of accomplishing a fpeedy and
effectual reduction of the national debt, that he
had done that day. He had faid, the wifh of
his heart was to have his name infcribed on a
pillar, to be erected in honour of the man, who
did his country the effential fervice of effectually
reduc-
[ 27 ]
reducing the national debt.-This was, Sir Grey
faid, a magnificent idea; it was, however, his
duty not to be dazzled with its fplendor, but
when the firſt ſtone of its bafe was going to be
laid, coolly and carefully to examine the ground
on which it was propofed to be erected, to ſee
whether it was firm, folid, and ſtable, or looſe,
hollow and uncertain. With this view he had
rifen, and if it was not laid down by the Houſe
as a rule, that nobody was to be heard in reply
to any thing ſaid by the Right Honourable Gen-
tleman (The Houſe had at that moment been
fo diſorderly, that Sir Grey could ſcarcely be
heard) he would endeavour to convince the Com-
mittee, that it behoved them proceed with cau-
tion; and great, important, and neceffary as the
buſineſs recommended to them was, to take no
one ſtep farther in it, before they were certain
that they were proceeding on good ground, and
that the path they were adviſed to purſue, would
lead to fuccefs. Sir Grey then went into a va-
riety of remarks on the different ſtatements in the
Report, reaſoning with great acuteneſs and per-
fpicuity upon each diſtinct ſtatement. He par-
ticularly touched upon the manner in which the
Right Honourable Gentleman had talked of the
Exchequer Bills, (Mr. Pitt having faid, the
three millions of Exchequer Bills to be paid off
need not be taken into the account, as they made
an article under each diftinct head of Supply, and
Ways
D 2
Į
[ 28 ]
Ways and Means, thofe to be paid off ranging
under the head of the former, and three millions
more, that were to be iffued in diſcharge of them,
ranging under the head of the latter) declaring,
that it appeared to him a little extraordinary, that
the Honourable Gentleman fhould mention Ex-
chequer Bills in fo light a way. Was he aware,
that they would be a great inconvenience, and
materially deprefs the market, under certain cir-
cumftances, at leaft poffible? There were at pre-
fent more Exchequer Bills unfunded, he ſaid,
than ever were left unfunded by the noble Lord
in the blue ribband during the whole courfe of
the war. After arguing for a confiderable time,
in proof that the data given in the Report were
unfafe for the Houfe to act upon in fo important
a particular, he put a cafe in familiar life, to
illuſtrate his reaſoning.-Suppoſe, ſaid he, a man
has a hop ground, and wants to raiſe a fum of
money; he has a fortunate year, and has netted
a profit of 500l. that feafon; he goes to a neigh-
bour, and offers his hop ground at a mortgage.
He tells the neighbour his profits, and fhews
him his books. The neighbour naturally fays,
"this is a very good account, but how am I
fure, the fame fuccefs will attend the ground and
its produce another year; the feafon may be un-
propitious, a variety of incidental and unavoid-
able circumſtances may occur?" In vain would
the owner of the hop ground boaſt of his fuperior
ſkill
[ 29 ]
ſkill in the cultivation of hops; that he had
manured his ground, and prepared his bines, fo
as to defy the accidents of chance, and that he
had put the harveft and its confequences beyond
a hazard, by fecuring the integrity of his pickers,
and the care of his fervants employed in the cul-
tivation and management of the hops, both be-
fore and after picking; his neighbour, if he had
common fenfe, would fay, "No, I won't lend
my money on any ſuch riſque as the ſucceſs of a
fingle year; prove to me by the average of a
number of years, fome good, fome bad, that the
profits yielded by the hop ground, communibus
annis, are fufficient to fecure me from danger,
and you ſhall have the money you want." This
çafe, Sir Grey faid, would apply to the fubject
in queſtion; one favourable year's receipt was
not a fufficient ground for the Committee to pro-
ceed upon, Greatly to be wifhed, therefore, as
it must be by every man prefent, that the na-
tional debt could be effectually reduced, for it
was a common cauſe, and no party confideration,
he had his fears, that if they proceeded prema-
turely, and upon the plan ſuggeſted, they would
do harm and not good; they would mar their
own intentions, and add to the embarraffments,
inſtead of relieving the diftreffes of the country.
Mr. Fox faid, after the Committee had heard
fo much from the Right Hon. Gentleman oppo-
fite him, he did not mean to intrude long upon
their
[ 30 ]
their patience; but in the out-fet of what he had
to fay, he begged leave to declare that no man in
exiſtence was, or ever had been a greater friend
to the Sinking Fund than he was, and ever had
ſhewn himſelf from the firft moment of his politi-
cal life. He agreed moft perfectly with the Right
Hon. Gentleman in his ideas of the neceffity of
eſtabliſhing an effective Sinking Fund, for the
purpoſe of applying it in diminution of the nati-
onal debt, however much he might differ with
him in refpect to the moſt prudent and uſeful
mode of making the application, and however
much he might differ with him as to many parts
of his Speech, and a variety of the obfervations it
contained. Having premifed this, Mr. Fox pro-
ceeded to animadvert on the conduct of the Com-
mittee to whom the papers had been referred, and
to comment on their Report, declaring that their
mode of taking averages had been not only dif
ferent from that of every former Committee, but
totally the reverſe of that which had ever been
deemed the faireft mode of taking an average.-
In illuftration of this remark, he inftanced the
produce of the Tax on Malt, in averaging which,
for fix years, the Committee had ſtated, that a par-
ticular year, the year 1782, was uncommonly de-
ficient; now the ufe of an average had ever been
fuppofed to arife from the averaging a number of
years produce, among which years there might be
years of extraordinary deficiency, or years of ex-
traordinary
[ 31 ]
traordinary plenty. He next pointed out the
fallacy of ſtating the receipt of the prefent year,
which happened to be a year of uncommon rife
of
revenue, and oppofing to it not the actual ex-
penditure of the prefent year, grounded on the
votes of that Houfe, but the probable expendi-
ture of the year 1790. He aſked whether that
was a fair compariſon of the annual receipt with,
the annual expenditure, and whether as the Right
Hon. Gentleman had admitted, what indeed no
perfon could deny, that 600,oool. more had been
voted for the Navy, and 400,000l. more for the
Army, this year, than appeared in the lift under
the head of expenditure, it was not manifeft, that
fo far from there being a furplus of 900,000l. this
year, there was not a deficiency? He reminded
the Committee of the difference laft year be-
tween him and the Right Hon. Gentleman, re-
ſpecting their reaſoning upon the balances of cer-
tain quarters, which had been ſelected as the moſt-
favourable quarters; and faid, it now appeared,
that if he at that time had calculated the balances
that would refult upon the whole of the four
quarters, when the year fhould be completed,
fomewhat too low, the Right Hon. Gentleman,
it was evident, had calculated them much more
too high. He reminded them alfo, that when he
had faid in argument, on one of thoſe occafions,
that he believed there would be fome balance, the
Right Hon. Gentleman had echoed the words,
8
Some
[ 32 ]
Some balance, with an air of difdain, as if be (Mr.
Fox) had talked with ridicule, or with contempt
of a matter, which it was certain would turn out
to be a monftrous balance. The fact was now
before the Committee, and he begged leave to
aſk whether it was not true, that ſo far from there
being even ſome balance for the preſent year, there
was any? He dwelt upon theſe two points for
fome little time, and declared, though it had
turned out to be in both particulars, exactly as he
had ſtated that it would turn out, he mentioned
them not with any view to triumph over the Right
Hon. Gentleman, but merely to fhew that he had
been in the right before. He particularly ani-
madverted on Mr. Pitt's having faid that
1,800,000l. for the Navy, included 18,000 fea-
men, a larger number than had ever been known
in a permanent peace eſtabliſhment in the moſt
flouriſhing ſtate of this country. He asked what
the Right Hon. Gentleman faw in the fituation of
the affairs of Europe, that could induce him to
imagine that a lefs numerous eſtabliſhment of
feamen would be fufficient, or a more contracted
Navy than 1,800,000l. could provide? For his
part, he ſaw much, that ferved to prove that a ftill
greater naval Eſtabliſhment was neceffary, for
much had of late happened, which looked as if all
Europe was combining to form engagements hof-
tile to this country, and detrimental to its inte-
refts at prefent, and its efforts in cafe of a future
war ;
PARSONS
LIBRARY
[ 33
University of
MICHIGAN
war, while no tranfaction that had lately taken
place in any of the foreign Courts wore a favour-
able afpect. Under fuch a period, to fay we had
a more powerful Navy than had ever been known
in time of peace, in the moſt flouriſhing of for-
mer periods, was faying nothing: Had we a Navy
fufficient to cope with the combined marine of
other maritime powers? If we could not effect
fuch a purpoſe, we fell fhort of what was, in his
opinion, indifpenfably neceffary to our immediate
fafety, and our future fecurity and well-being as
a Naval Power. Having added other remarks on
the Report and its ftatements, he declared, that he
agreed nevertheleſs in the propriety of dedicating
the furplus fund to the diminution of the national
debt; and that whether the whole of the Report
was true, or whether it was erroneous, he fhould
ſtill be of opinion, that it was right to pay off a
part of the National Debt; and highly proper to
begin doing it immediately, even if the confe-
quence were, that the Sinking Fund was not
found equal to it; in which cafe, he held it to be
the duty of that Houfe to make good the fum fo
appropriated to that important fervice, and to
continue fo to do, even if they were annually
obliged to impofe new Taxes on the fubject.
When he faid this, however, he begged to be
rightly understood, as to how far he agreed in
reſpect to the prefent plan; it was merely to the
commencement of fome plan; and a better one,
E
than
[ 34 ]
than that propoſed, he thought might eafily be
adopted. The parts of the plan that he diſap-
proved were two-fold, the one, making the fum
appropriated unalienable in time of war, the
other, making the obligation to pay off the Debt
general, and not pledging or binding it clofer.
Mr. Fox entered into a good deal of reafoning
on theſe two objections.-He pointed out various
diſadvantages that might reſult from tying up the
fum in time of war; and affigned many reaſons to
prove, that as the Committee and the object of
their inftitution were not bound down to any
Tpecific point, both were liable to be annihilated
by a future Parliament. He reminded the Houſe
of the mode of the original inftitution of a plan
for paying off a part of the National Debt, which
had been by a fubfcription of individuals, to whom
the faith of Parliament had been pledged to pay
off certain fpecific portions at ftated periods. He
dwelt on the difference between the two modes,
obferving, that when the nation, or when Parlia-
ment ſtood bound to individuals, the pledge was
held as facred as the pledge to pay the intereft of
the National Debt at prefent, or the annuities
now payable; and undoubtedly, nothing short of
a National Bankruptcy would prevent the fums
engaged to be paid to individual fubfcribers:
whereas upon the conditions on which the Com-
mittee would ftand, what fhould hinder a future
Miniſter in a future war, when the exigency of
affairs
[ 35 ]
affairs might require additional burthens to be
impoſed on the fubject, coming down to that
Houſe and propofing to repeal the Act authorif-
ing the inſtitution of the Committee, and enabling
Government to apply all the Money and Stock
in their hands to the public fervice? What ſhould
hinder the Houſe from agreeing to the propofition;
or was it at all likely that under the exigency of
the moment, they would not immediately agree
to it, when fo much money could eaſily be got
at, and when they could fo readily fave them-
felves from the odious and unpleaſant tafk of im-
pofing new taxes on themſelves and their confti-
tuents? With regard to the Chancellor of the
Exchequer being one of the Commiffioners, Mr.
Fox faid, he thought it perfectly right, that who-
ever held that office, fhould be one at leaſt in
fuch a commiffion. The Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer was an officer in whom that Houfe necef-
farily repofed great confidence in reſpect to mat-
ters of finance, and who certainly ought to have
an immediate connexion with the diminution of
that debt, the creation of which had unavoidably
been an act of his own, in the neceſſary diſcharge
of his official duty. From the various guards
which the Right Honourable Gentleman had fug-
gefted it to be his intention to put upon the
Committee, it was obvious that he faw the fuf-
picions to which it would be liable; and there-
fore Mr. Fox declared, the more guards put upon
E 2
it
[ 36 ]
it the better. Unfortunately, however, the more
the guards, the lefs the economy of the ſyſtem.
He expreffed fome doubt whether the compelling
them to lay out the money on certain days might
not rife the market; and whether it might not
happen, that on fome of thofe days when they
might be obliged to buy, there might be no
fellers, and confequently the Committee be com-
pelled to force the market, and by fo doing,
raiſe the price fo high, that in fuch inftances all
the benefit would be loft to the public. He ob-
ſerved, however, that the Right Hon. Gentleman
had talked of ſpreading the money into ſeveral
fums, and by that means reducing each fo fmall,
as to avert as much as poffible the effects he had
ftated as probable to happen. Of that he ap-
proved, but he could by no means agree that the
Committee were to act a public part: the fact
was, they were to become private ftock-brokers
with the public money. He defcanted on this,
and ſtated his reafons for withing their acts to be
as public as poffible, which were, he faid, the
only means that he knew of to fave them from a
good deal of that fufpicion which it was eaſy to
fee they would be expofed to. After dwelling
for fome time on this, Mr. Fox again adverted
to the Report and the ſtatements made by Mr.
Pitt in his ſpeech, feveral of which he combated,
and endeavoured to difprove. He mentioned the
neceffity of providing new Taxes in lieu of fuch
as
[ 37 ]
as had failed, that ſhould produce the fums for
which they had been given, and by that means
preſerve the Sinking Fund whole and entire. In
order the more amply to point out the neceffity
for this, he animadverted for fome time on the
actual produce of the different Taxes of the laſt
year. The Shop Tax, for instance, which he
faid he ſhould ever hold to be an odious, op-
preffive, and unjuft perfonal Tax, had been no-
minally given for 120,000l. whereas it appeared
from the affeffments, that if they were all paid,
(which undoubtedly was not likely to be the cafe,)
the produce would amount to no more than
70,000l. and when the modifications lately made
to it, came into operation, that 70,000l. would
be reduced to 50,000l. fo that a Tax given for
120,000l. would produce no more than 50,000l.
In that cafe, and in all caſes like it, he held it to
be the duty of a Chancellor of the Exchequer, to
propofe either a new Tax that would be efficient
for 120,000l. and repeal the Shop Tax, or a Tax
that would be efficient for the 70,000l. the fum
the produce of the Shop Tax fell fhort of pro-
ducing. During the war, he had repeatedly held
language urging the neceffity for the deficiencies
of the new Taxes being made good by other
Taxes; and the anſwer of the noble Lord had al-
ways been, that during the war, they muſt get
on as well as they could; but that when peace
fhould come, that would be the fit opportunity
for
[ 38 ]
for making good the deficiencies on the War
Taxes. In that anfwer there was fome reafon ;
but the Right Honourable Gentleman had not
the fame excufe, and yet all his Taxes did not
produce much more than the one half of the fums
for which they had been given. Mr. Fox fpoke
of the Commutation Tax, and defired to aſk the
Right Honourable Gentleman, if the greater con-
fumption of Tea that it had occafioned in this
kingdom, as well as the greater confumption of
a far greater proportion upon the whole than ever
of teas of the higher fort, quality, and price,
which neceffarily increafed the neceffity of the
Eaft India Company to fend out to China, and
expend confiderably more in the purchaſe of teas,
than ever had gone to China, was any matter of
folid fatisfaction to him, as the guardian of the
Commerce and Revenues of Great-Britain? Was
it by fuch extenſions of trade, that he wished to be
confidered as a friend to the Revenue or Com-
merce of the kingdom? Or would he affume any
merit for having extended a trade, before fo dif-
advantageous to this country, in reſpect to exports
and imports? Mr. Fox faid, he thought it fair
to warn the Right Hon. Gentleman on fo im-
portant a confideration, and he would leave it to
himſelf to draw the neceffary conclufion from the
circumftance. The Right Hon. Gentleman had
faid, he obſerved, that our reſources were near
cracking juft before the war was brought to a con-
clufion.
[ 39 ]
clufion. For his part, he never had been of that
opinion, nor never had ſtated that he was; but
what fort of melancholy reflection was held out
to the public, by his Committee, when it was the
clear deduction from their ſtatements, that the
permanent peace eſtabliſhment was not to be ex-
pected before the year 1791, eight years after the
conclufion of the war! He made feveral pointed
remarks on this, and declared it as his opinion,
that with good management, the expences of the
war might have been ſooner wound up. Before
he fat down, he recapitulated his principal ob-
jections to the plan propofed, and faid, he thought
they were confiderably weakened by not making
the fund unalienable in time of war. He entered
into a good deal of argument to prove, that twenty-
ſeven years was too long a period to look for-
ward to for the effect of the plan: before that pe-
riod, it was not improbable that we might have
another war; and a variety of circumftances might
occur, that would operate as temptations to a fu-
ture Chancellor of the Exchequer, to propoſe to
a future Houfe of Commons to repeal the act,
annul the inftitution, and divert the appropriation
of its ſtock to the immediate fervices of the year:
he, therefore, again, on very forcible terms, re-
commended the other mode of proceeding, by
individual fubfcription. In the courfe of his
Speech, he entered largely into the detail of the
argument of Mr. Pitt, affuring the Houſe, that
2
how-
6
[ 40 ]
however difficult they might think the fubject,
and therefore be loth to liften to it, or to endea-
vour to make themſelves mafters of it, nothing
was more eafy; there was not the ſmalleſt conju-
ration in it, and he that ran might read. Mr.
Fox ſpoke rather loofely, but he difplayed, as
ufual, on budget days, great ingenuity, and a
wonderful familiarity with the ſubject of finance
in all its various branches.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer faid, after hav-
ing ſo much, he feared, fatigued the Committee
before, he would not again take up much of their
time; and it was the lefs neceffary for him to do
`fo, from all that had been faid; fince it was evident,
little or no objection had been urged againſt the
Motion, or the plan of following it up and carry-
ing it into execution, that had been ſtated and
propofed. There were two or three things that
had fallen from the Right Hon. Gentleman, ne-
ceffary for him to fay a very few words to and
firſt, in regard to the ftatement of the balances of
the quarter's amount of receipt, about which they
had differed laſt year, and refpecting which, the
Right Hon. Gentleman had now been fo good as
to fay, the Report proved that he had been in
the right, but that he forbore to affume it as a
matter of triumph to himſelf. For this forbear-
ance, Mr. Pitt faid, he was much indebted to the
Right Hon. Gentleman, but ftill more for his
having put him in mind of the difference, becauſe
upon
[ 41 ]
upon a reference to the Report, it would be found,
whether the Right Hon. Gentleman had, as he had
himſelf that day declared, ftated the amount of
thofe balances fomewhat too low, or whether he
(Mr. Pitt) had ſtated them a great deal more too
high. The Chancellor of the Exchequer then
reminded the Committee, that he had stated the
probable amount of the balances, when the four
quarters fhould have been completed, in four dif-
ferent modes; upon one mode, he had, at the
time, declared he was not fanguine enough to
place much reliance-upon the next mode, he
had calculated that the amount would be the fpe-
cific fum of 12,600,000l.-upon the third mode,
a fmaller fum; and upon the fourth, a ftill ſmaller.
The fecond was the amount, to which he had
been now tied down by the Right Hon. Gentle-
man; and upon reference to the Committee's
ſtatements of the actual receipt, it would be found
that the amount was twelve millions, five hundred
and odd thouſand pounds, which, in a matter con-
fifting of fuch various and complicated fums, and
amounting to fo much, was furely coming as near
the real total of the year's receipt, as it could rea-
ſonably be expected any man fhould come by un-
certain calculation. Having ftated this, he pro-
ceeded to take notice of that part of Mr. Fox's
Speech, in which, paying off a part of the debt by
fubfcription of individuals, was recommended,
and faid, he hoped the Right Hon. Gentleman
F
would
[ 42 ]
would not confider it as any diſparagement of him,
if he declared, that the fame idea had been fug-
geſted to him by many others, and that he him-
felf approved it, but would not adopt it, on ac-
count of certain inconveniencies to which it was
liable. With regard to preferving the fund to
be invariably applied in diminution of the debt
unalienable, it was of the effence of his plan to
keep that facred, and moſt effectually fo in time
of war.
He affigned a variety of reaſons for
holding this opinion, and contended, that to fuf-
fer the fund at any time, or on any pretence, to
be diverted from its proper object, would be to
ruin, defeat, and overturn the whole of his plan;
he hoped, therefore, when the Bill he fhould
introduce, ſhould pafs into a law, that Houſe
would hold itſelf folemnly pledged, not to liften
to a propoſal for its repeal on any pretence what-
ever. Mr. Pitt replied to feveral other of the.
arguments of Mr. Fox, and gave that Right
Honourable Gentleman credit, for having fhewn
great candor.
Mr. Fox rofe to explain. He began with go-
ing over the hiftory of the difference in debate
of laſt ſeſſion on the ſubject of the balances, and
maintained that he had ftated the matter fairly at
first. He next went again into a detail of reafons,
in fupport of his advice to commence paying off
part of the debt by individual fubfcription; and
faid, he would at another opportunity, ftate the
out-
[ 43 ]
outlines of a plan, by which the diminution of
the debt might be fo commenced, without being
liable to the objections hinted by the Right Ho-
nourable Gentleman. Mr. Fox alfo went into a
good deal of argument refpecting the propriety
of beginning, as Mr. Pitt had propoſed, to pay
off the 4 per cents. firft, and then the 3 per cents.
a mode which he faid was undoubtedly right. He
mentioned the reaſoning upon the fubject which
they had formerly heard, in defence of beginning
to pay off the 3 per cents. firſt, and ſo proceed-
ing to pay the others in regular progreffion up-
wards, upon the idea, that if the 3 per cents.
were at par, it would coft the public 301. every
100l. and therefore the greater the lofs upon
that ſtock, the wifer would it be to get rid of it
firft.
Mr. Sheridan laid in his claim to go through
the Report fome other day, obferving for the
prefent only, that it was fully admitted, that his
affertion had been correct; that there was, in point
of fact, no furplus whatever on the prefent year;
a circumſtance evinced not only by the Report
itſelf, but by the whole of the Right Honourable
Gentleman's ſpeech that day. Mr. Sheridan
further obferved, that the day had commenced
in a very inaufpicious manner, and when he
uſed that phrafe, he meant no difrefpect to his
Majeſty, but merely to hint at the royal meffage
relative to the Civil Lift, which was an extraor-
F 2
dinary
[ 44 ]
dinary introduction, furely, to a buſineſs, the
event of which the public had been taught to
look forward to, with the pleafing expectation of
finding a furplus in their favour. He declared,
he was a little furpriſed that the Right Honour-
able Gentleman, who, when he two years ago
afked for 60,000l. to clear the debt then due on
the Civil Lift, had in a manner pledged himſelf
to the Houſe, that no farther debts fhould ariſe,
and that the Houfe fhould not again be applied
to for farther grants on the fubject, fhould come
again fo foon, for fo large a fum of public
money. [The Chancellor of the Exchequer faid
acroſs the Houſe, Oh no, I never faid any fuch
thing.] Mr. Sheridan faid, the Right Honour-
able Gentleman muſt excufe him, words faid at
ſome diſtance might be forgotten, but he was
clear in his recollection of the circumftances; and
indeed it was evident he muſt have uſed ſome
ſuch argument, or elfe why fhould the Right
Honourable Gentleman have afked only for
60,000l. two years ago, and come down again
then and claim grants for an arrear of fo large an
amount as 210,000l.?
The Chancellor of the Exchequer roſe once more,
in order to make fome reply to what he termed
the moſt extraordinary attack that ever had been
made upon him. The Honourable Gentleman
had faid words might be forgotten after they had
been faid; it was undoubtedly true, but it was
alfo
[ 45 ]
alfo true, that words might be miſrepreſented;
and if ever he had heard a grofs miſrepreſentation
of his words, it had been the charge ftated by
the Honourable Gentleman. He never had
pledged himſelf not to come again to that Houſe
for any debts on the Civil Lift. When he aſked
for the 60,000l. two years ago, he had exprefsly
faid, there was a further arrear, but that he had
not been in his office long enough to afcertain
what the amount was, and therefore he would
aſk for no more, till he was certain what the
whole of the debt was. But it was evident, not
only that words delivered two years ago might
be miſrepreſented, but that words ſpoken a very
few hours fince, were alſo capable of miſrepre-
fentation. He was in the recollection of the
Houſe, whether he had ever faid, there was now
an arrear of 210,000l.? He had faid the Civil
Lift was in arrear 30,000l. and he had at the
fame time ftated, that 180,000l. was wanted to
pay off the remainder of the Exchequer Bills, for
which 50,000l. a year of the Civil Lift was
mortgaged.
Mr. Sheridan faid, the Right Honourable Gen-
tleman might indulge himſelf as much as he
pleaſed in throwing out charges of miſreprefenta-
tion, but he had ſpoken what in his opinion, and
in the recollection of feveral Gentlemen in that
Houſe, was a true ſtatement of the Right Hon.
Gentleman's own words. If 60,000l. was afked
for,
[ 46 ]
for, as the debt two years ago, how came it that
210,000l. was now wanted? As to the idea of
redeeming a mortgage of 50,000l. a year on the
Civil Lift, why had not that been regularly paid,
fince Government were anfwerable for it?
Mr. Roſe anſwered that it had been paid, and
that regularly; but that there ſtill remained
150,000l. of it to pay, and that the Civil Lift had
ran in arrear 60,000l. in the laſt year, which to-
gether made up the 210,000l. now afked for.
Lord North aſked the amount of the total of
the Supplies, and total of the Ways and Means,
for the year 1786.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer ftated their
amount, and alſo the amount of the Surplus up-
on the whole, exclufive of the 750,000l. to be
paid this year, by way of eſtabliſhing a permanent
fund of a million a year, to be applied unaliena-
bly in diminution of the National Debt,
The Motion was then put and agreed to,
The Chancellor of the Exchequer afterwards
moved the following Refolutions:
I. That towards carrying the before-mentioned
into execution, the following duties fhall be laid
in addition thereto :
That all perfons dealing in, or vending per-
fumery goods fhall be obliged to take out licences,
which licences fhall be charged with a ftamp duty
7
of
[ 47 ]
of five fhillings, if fuch perfons fhall live in Lon-
don, Weſtminſter, or the Borough of Southwark,
or within the limits of the Penny-poſt:
But if fuch perfon fhall live in any other part
of Great-Britain, then fuch licences to be fubject
to a ſtamp duty of two fhillings and fixpence.
That upon all perfumery goods fold by per-
fons, there ſhall be paid the following duties:
(that is to fay) Where the price of fuch goods
ſhall not exceed the fum of eight-pence, there
ſhall be paid a ſtamp duty of one-penny; where
the price of fuch goods fhall exceed eight-pence,
and not exceed one fhilling, there fhall be paid a
ftamp duty of one-penny halfpenny; and where
the price of fuch goods fhall exceed one shilling,
and not exceed one fhilling and nine-pence, there
fhall be paid a ftamp duty of three-pence :-And
where the price of fuch goods fhall exceed one
fhilling and nine-pence, and not exceed two fhil-
lings and fixpence, there fhall be laid a ftamp
duty of fixpence :-And where the price of fuch
goods fhall exceed two fhillings and fixpence, and
not exceed five fhillings, there fhall be paid a
ſtamp duty of nine-pence :-And where the price
of fuch goods fhall amount to five fhillings and
upwards, there fhall be paid a ftamp duty of one
fhilling.
II. That the prefent rates, whereby Deals and
Battens are chargeable, fhall ceafe.
And
[ 48 ]
And that five pounds fhall be the rate whereby
the duties fhall be computed on one hundred
Deals.
That two pounds twelve fhillings and fixpencè
fhall be the rate whereby the duties fhall be com-
puted on one hundred Battens.
III. That the prefent duties upon Waſh, uſed
in the diſtillation of Corn Spirits, fhall be in-
creaſed one penny, according to the rates of the
former duties on Wafh.
REPORT
REPORT
FROM THE
SELECT COMMITTEE
TO WHOM IT WAS REFERRED TO EXAMINE
AND STATE THE SEVERAL
ACCOUNTS AND OTHER PAPERS,
PRESENTED TO THE HOUSE IN THIS SESSION
OF PARLIAMENT,
RELATING TO THE
PUBLIC INCOME AND EXPENDITURE:
AND ALSO, TO REPORT TO THE HOUSE
What may be expected to be the ANNUAL AMOUNT of the
faid INCOME and EXPENDITURE in future.
(March 21, 1786.)
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR JOHN STOCKDALE,
OPPOSITE BURLINGTON-HOUSE, PICCADILLY.
M DCC LXXXV.
REPORT,
&c.
The COMMITTEE appointed to examine and ſtate the
ſeveral Accounts and other Papers preſented to the Houſe
in this Seffion of Parliament, relating to the Public In-
come and Expenditure; and alſo to report to the Houſe
what may be expected to be the Annual Amount of the
faid Income and Expenditure in future,
H
AVING proceeded to the Confideration of the Matters
referred to them by the Houfe, have arranged the ſeveral
Papers relating thereto under diftinct Heads, containing the dif-
ferent Articles of the Public income and Expenditure.
But before they enter on the First Part of their Report they
think it neceffary to premife, that they have confined their Exa-
mination to the prefent State of the Revenue, as it appears ei-
ther from the Amount actually received in the Periods contain-
ed in the Papers referred to them, or from the beſt Eſtimates
which they could form of the Produce of fuch Articles as had
A 2
not
[ 4
}
]
not been brought to Account in thofe Periods, but compoſe,
nevertheleſs, a Part of the prefent Income of the Public. The
large amount of Taxes impofed fince the Commencement of the
late War, in Addition to the then ſubfifting Revenue; the Dif-
ficulties under which the different Branches of our Commerce
laboured during the Continuance of that War; and the great
and increaſing Prevalence of Smuggling previous to the Mea-
fures recently adopted for its Suppreffion, appeared to Your
Committee to render any Averages of the Amount of the Re-
venue in former Periods in a great Degree inapplicable to the
preſent Situation of the Country: On the other Hand, they did
not think themſelves competent to diſcuſs the various Contin-
gencies which may in future operate to the Increaſe or Diminu-
tion of the Public Income. A Revenue fo complicated in its
Nature, and depending fo much on the various Branches of an
extenſive Commerce, muſt always be liable to temporary Fluc-
tuations, even although no Circumftances fhould arife to occa-
fion any permanent Alteration in its Produce. Your Commit-
tee have, therefore, judged it proper to ſubmit to the Wiſdom
of the Houſe this extenfive Confideration, and to ftate in this
Report the preſent Amount of the Public Income, as refulting
from the Papers before them.
SI. THE
[ 5 ]
$ I.
THE net produce of the different branches of Revenue,
paid into the Exchequer in the year ending at Michaelmas 1785,
appears to have been as follows, viz.
Cuftoms
Excife
Stamps
Incidents
Total
£•4,520,820
£..5,282,342
£.1,157,549
£1,360,809
12,321,520
But your Committee find, that in this period there had been
paid by the Eaft India Company a fum, for refpited arrears of
Cuſtoms, amounting to . 401,118; which fum, as not refult-
ing from the regular courfe of the Revenue, is to be deducted
from the total above ſtated.
The average net payment into the Exchequer, for ten years,
ending at Michaelmas 1785, of the duties impofed by the 6th
of his prefent Majefty on houſes and windows, amounted
annually to
£. 418,497, nearly
It appears, however, that the grofs charge,
according to the account laid before the
houſe, of the laft affeffment for England,
was only
But this account not including the returns
from the Surveyors of eight diftricts, your
Committee have added a fum propor-
tioned to the amount of the returns for
thoſe diſtricts in 1784
making in the whole
From which must be deducted the falaries of
the Commiffioners, Clerks, and Surveyors,
and the incidental expences of this and all
the other duties under the fame manage-
ment; the whole being charged to the
account of this duty
And alfo the charges of management on this
duty, amounting at 61d in the pound, to
£.401,397
£. 12,805
£414,202
£. 19,916
£. 11,218
£. 31,134
The
[ 6 ]
]
The remainder will be
To this muſt be added the produce of the
faid duty, which may be expected from
Scotland; the net payments of which
amounted, on the average of 10 years.
ending Michaelmas 1785, to
Making in all
But the fum received on this head, in the
year ending at Michaelmas 1785, appears
to have been
The difference therefore between that fum
and the amount at which the preſent pro-
duce of this duty is eſtimated above, muſt
be further deducted from the amount of
taxes received in the year ending at Mi-
chaelmas 1785.
This difference is
£. 383,068
5,871 nearly:
£. 388,939
435,128
£. 46,189
It ſhould be obſerved, that this account is framed on the aſ-
ſeſſments for the laſt year; and that no credit is taken for the
furcharges, which will probably be much more than fufficient
to balance the amount of diſcharges, or other accidental de-
ficiencies.
Theſe two fums of £.401,119, and £.46,189, being de-
ducted from the total receipt above ftated, will leave a ſum of
£.11,874,213.
To this are to be added the further fums which have accrued,
or may be eſtimated to be the produce of any part of the preſent
revenue, not brought to account in that period.
§ II IT
[ 7 ]
§ II.
IT appears that the amount of the affeffment on all inha-
bited houſes in England, for the year ending on the 5th of
April 1786, under the Act of the 24th of his preſent Majeſty,
£. 492,555
was
But the returns from the Surveyors of
eight diſtricts not being included in
this account, your Committee have
added a fum proportioned to that af-
feffed upon thoſe diſtricts in the half
year ending 5th April 1784
Total
To this muſt be added the affeffment for
one year in Scotland, which your
Committee have eſtimated, on the af-
feffment for the half year ending 5th
April 1785, at
£. 15,000
£.. 507,555
£. 16,533
Making in the whole
£. 524,088
From which must be deducted the
charges of management; which at
61d. in the pound, amount to
The remainder will be
No credit is here taken for furcharges.
The whole fum paid to the Receiver
General of the Cuftoms, on this head,
and by him paid into the Exchequer,
in the year ending at Michaelmas
1785, was
The difference therefore between that
fum and the eſtimated produce of this
duty, as above, muſt be added to the
amount of taxes received for the year
ending Michaelmas 1785.
This difference is
£. 14,194
£• 509,894
£129,838, nearly.
£: 380,056
§ III. IT
}
[ 8 ]
§ III.
IT appears that the amount of the affeffment on two wheel
and four wheel carriages, under the new mode of collecting
thoſe duties, was, for three quarters of a year, ending the 5th of
April 1786,
£. 107,849
35,949
Add one-third
Affeffment for one Year
But the account of theſe affeffments
not including 14 returns, your Commit-
tee have eſtimated their produce (not
thinking the affeffments for the houſe
Tax proper for this compariſon) by the
proportion which the affeffiments for the
fervants tax in thoſe diſtricts bore to the
whole affeffments for that tax, when for-
merly under the fame management under
which the carriage duty is now placed :
This proportion gives a fum of
And the whole will then be
From this are to be deducted the charges
of management, at 6 d. per pound,
amounting to
£. 143,798
£• 7,818
£. 151,616
£.
4,106 nearly:
Which leaves the eftimated net produce at £. 147,510
And the produce to be expected from
Scotland, taken at the average of three
years net produce, under the manage-
ment of the Excife, upon which however
there may probably be fome increaſe
under the prefent mode of collection,
as is the caſe in England
Total eſtimated produce of this duty for
one year
£. 8,500
£. 156,010
The fum paid on this account into the Exchequer, be-
tween Michaelmas 1784 and Michaelmas 1785, appears to
have been
To which must be added, for three 5 per
£. 84,113
cents. payable thereon, purſuant to
feveral Acts of Parliament
£. 12,616
Total paid in that period
£ 96,729
I
The
1
[ 9 ]
The difference, therefore, between that Sum and
the eſtimated net produce of the tax for one
year, under its prefent management, must be
added to the Produce, as above ſtated, of all
the taxes in the year ending Michaelmas
1785:
This difference amounts to
£. 59,281
It is to be obſerved, that in this account alfo no credit is tak
en for furcharges.
§ IV.
IN the Act of the 25th of his preſent Majefty, for repealing
the duties on fervants, and for impofing new duties in lieu
thereof, it was provided, That 51,000l. of the produce of the
duties fo impoſed ſhould be carried to the account of the du-
ties impofed in 1777; from the nature however of the affeff-
ments under that Act, and the period of their commencement,
no payment had been made on this account in the year ending
at Michaelmas laft; but there had been received under the old
mode of collection
Which fum, together with three five per cents.
thereon, amounting to about
makes
There remains therefore to be added on this Ac-
count to the produce of the exciſe, for the year
ending at Michaelmas laſt
£. 21,041
3,156
£. 24,197
£. 26,803
$ V.
THE Aſſeſſment of the duties on Horfes, under the Act of
the 25th of his preſent Majefty, if taken for a year, amounts
to
And that of the duties on waggons and carts, un-
der the Act of the 25th of his prefent Majefty,
if taken for the fame period, amounts to
Making together
B
£. 134,230
£. 29,546
£. 163,776
To
[ 10 ]
To which may be added, for 14 Districts not re-
turned, but eſtimated, on the proportion above
ſtated with reſpect to the carriage tax
The whole will then be
From which muſt be deducted, for charges of
management, at 6d. in the pound
£.
8,904
172,680
1
£ 4,677
Which reduces the eſtimated net produce to £. 168,003
Add for Scotland
The aſſeſſments not being yet come in, and that
fum being nearly in the proportion of the pay-
ments on the carriage tax from that part of
Great Britain, computed as above;
Total
And as it appears that there had been paid into
the Exchequer, on this account, in the year
ending at Michaelmas 1785, for the duty on
Horfes
And for the duty on waggons and carts
Making together (nearly)
10,000
£. 178,003
£. 106,853
14,321
£. 121,174
The difference muſt be added to the produce, as above ſtated,
of all the taxes for that year.
This difference amounts to
£. 56,829
VI.
IN examining into the produce of the taxes impoſed in the
year 1784 (exclufive of the horſe tax) your Committee ob-
ferve that they had produced, in the year ending at Michaelmas
1785, the fum of
£. 482,042
But that in the year ending January 5th 1786 the
fame taxes had produced
£. 563,220
As
[ 1 ]
As it appears reaſonable, in this inftance, to confider the latter
period as affording a jufter ground for eſtimating the probable
annual produce of taxes fo recently impofed, they have added
on this account, to the general amount received in the year
ending at Michaelmas, a further fum of £.81,178, being the
difference between the two fums above stated.
Many of theſe taxes can perhaps hardly yet be fuppofed to
have paid a complete year's produce into the Exchequer. Parti-
cularly it appears to your Committee, by an account from the
Stamp Office, that in confequence of the Act of laſt feffion for
better collecting the duty on game licences, there has been
actually received by the Stamp Diftributors, between 5th Ja-
nuary 1785 and 5th January 1786, the fum of £. 50,889
From this fhould be deducted the charges of col-
lection (which your Committee find cannot be yet
accurately afcertained, but which may be efti-
mated at rather more than 5 per cent.) making
about
The remainder will be fomewhat above
£. 2,500
£ 48,000
But in the foregoing comparative ſtatement, only £. 25,953
is included in this account as paid into the Exchequer in the
year ending 5th January 1786.
The difference therefore, being about £.22,000 is to be
added to the fum of £.81,178 above ftated; making in the
whole about
£. 103,000
3 VII.
YOUR Committee next proceed to ſtate ſuch eſtimates as
they are enabled to form on the information which they have
procured refpecting the produce of the taxes impofed in the
year 1785. It was naturally to be expected that a very ſmall
part of fuch produce could have been received at the Exchequer
previous to Michaelmas laft; whatever therefore may appear to
be the further annual amount of thoſe taxes, must be added
to the other articles of annual receipt,
B 2
The
[ 12 ]
The amount of the affeffment in England to the Shop Tax, for
three quarters of a year, ending on the 5th of April 1786,
is
Add one third for the remaining quarter
Affeffment for one year
Add for 14 diſtricts not returned, but taken at the
proportion which thofe diftricts bore to the re-
mainder of the affeffments for 1784, under the
Window Duty 6 Geo. III.
Total for England
Deduct charges of management, at 6d per pound
Remains
£. 55,481
£. 18,494
£. 73,975
4,100
£. 78,075
2,114
£. 75,961
Add for Scotland, on the proportion taken above,
under the article of the Window Duty 6 G. III. £. 1,164
Total produce of the Shop Tax, no credit
being taken for furcharges
£. 77,125
But if the reduction which has been propofed this Seffion on
different parts of this duty fhould be carried into Effect, Your
Committee apprehend that it will diminiſh the above fum by
about a fixth part thereof:
They have therefore taken this article only at £. 64,271
The Affeffments on Male and Female Servants for three quarters
of a year, ending 8th April 1786, amount to £. 91,424
Add one third as above
Total
Add for 14 diftricts on the proportion which
thofe diftricts bore to the whole Affeff-
ments on Male Servants in 1780
Total Affeffment for England
Deduct charges of management, at 61 per
Pound
Remains
30,475 nearly:
£. 121,899
£.
6,627
£. 128,526
£
3,481
£125,045
Add
[
13 ]
Add for Scotland, on the proportion of the average
remittance, for three years under the excife
Total
Deduct, for what is ordered by Act of Parlia-
ment to be carried to the account of the taxes
of 1777, and for which credit is taken above
( §. 4. )
Remains, net produce of this tax
9,803
£. 134,848
£51,000
£. 83,848
It is more difficult to form any eſtimate of the amount of
the remainder of the taxes impofed in 1785. They are not
collected by the mode of affeffment; and the fums which they
have hitherto produced, in the fhort period fince they became
payable, afford a very imperfect ground for judging of their
future amount; eſpecially as they are, for the most part, ftamp
duties, and as a confiderable time always intervenes between the
actual receipt of thofe duties in the diftant parts of the country,
and the time of their being remitted to the head office in Lon-
don.
It will obviouſly occur to the Houſe, that this circumſtance
muft render accounts of this nature particularly defective, when
they relate to taxes fo recently impofed.
Your Committee, having pointed out the imperfection of theſe
accounts, will proceed however to ftate the beft computations
they have been able to form thereon.
The Duty on Pawnbrokers confifts in an annual licence for ex-
ercifing that trade, and took place on the 5th July 1785.
There was paid at the Stamp Office in Town, and remitted
from the country, on this account, in the period between
July 1785 and February 1786, both inclufive, being
eight months, a fum of
Your Committee have added, as an allowance for
money to be received in town, and remitted from
the country, in the remainder of the
year
And have taken the produce of this Duty at
£. 3,740
£. 1,260
£• 5,000
The
[ 14 ]
The Tax on Attornies confifts in part of an annual licence
for the perfons exercifing that profeffion, and in part of a duty
on warrants for licence to fue.
1
The tax took place on the 1ft November 1785, and in the
month of November 1785 there was paid on this account, at
the office in town, the fum of £. 8,996.
In the three following months there was paid in town, on an
average, the fum of £. 979 per month.
Nothing was remitted in the month of November from the
country on this account. In the three following months there
was remitted, in all, the fum of £. 1,080.
Of the payments in town it appears that about £. 6,315 arofe
from the produce of the annual licences in London, and about
£ 1,283 from that of annual licences for Attornies in the
country; amounting together to £ 7,598. The remainder,
amounting to about £. 4,301 was paid for the duty on warrants
to fue.
If, therefore, the whole amount of annual licences to be
received in town is taken at £. 8,000, and from £. 8,000 to
£. 10,000 be allowed for the annual amount of warrants to ſue,
the whole produce in town would be from £. 16,000 to
£. 18,000.
With reſpect to the payments in the country, the accounts.
do not diſtinguiſh how much of them has been received for the
Two different branches of this duty; nor is there fufficient
ground to eſtimate the future remittances on the average of
thoſe in the three months included in thofe accounts; as it ap-
pears that the remittance in the laſt month is nearly equal to
thoſe in the two others. Your Committee however conceive that
the whole of this duty, including the remittances from the
country, may not improperly be taken at about £. 20,000.
On account of the Glove Duty there was paid at the Head
Office in London, in feven months,
ending February 1786
Which gives an annual produce of
£• 3,410
5,845
There
[ 15 ]
There was remitted from the country in
the four laft of thoſe months
Which gives an annual produce of
Total
£ 1,075
£. 3,225
9,070
Which your Committee conceive, may be ſtated at £. 10,000,
making allowances for the remittances not received from the
country, and from Scotland.
In the Act of the laft Seffion for reducing the allowance for
wafte on Salt, it was directed that . 12,000 fhould be anually
ſet apart under that head; your Committee have not the means
of judging, from any accounts which they could procure, what
may be the future amount of this duty under the new regula-
tion, but have ſtated it at the fum taken in the Act, which is
£. 12,000.
For the purpoſe of ſtating more accurately the produce to be
expected from the additional duty on poft horſes impoſed in the
haft feffion, as well as the old duty on poft horſes, and that on
ftage carriages (both of which were then confolidated with the
new duty) your Committee called for the annexed return from
the Stamp Office of the produce of the poft horfe duty impofed
in 1780, from its commencement to the year 1785 inclufive.
From theſe returns it appears, that the total produce in Lon-
don of the poſt horſe duty impofed in 1780 was nearly £.144,705;
and that the ſum of £. 408,143 was remitted from the country
in the fame period.
Д.
The total produce of the new confolidated duty in London,
for the fix months, appears to have been . 22,187, which is
at the rate of £. 44,374 a year; the annual produce of
the fame including the country, according to the proporion
above ſtated, would be . 169,536; as, however, in the year
ending at Michaelmas, . 96,000 nearly appears to have been
received under the old duty on poft horſes; and as in the fame
period it appears that about £. 23,000 was received for the
duty on ftage carriages, theſe two fums, amounting to .119,000,
are to be deducted from £. 169,536, in order to give the ex-
pected future produce, and will leave £. 50,000.
I
Your
[ 16 ]
Your Committee think it right farther to obferve, that an
improvement has alſo been made in the revenue, in addition to
the produce of rhe taxes of 1785, by the operation of the Act of
the laſt feffion for the better collection of the duty before ſub-
fifting on medicines.
It appears that the produce was no more than 1,5921. in
London, in the year ending the 1ft Auguft 1785, and that the
produce in the fame diftrict was 6,0881. 18. 9, between the 1ft
September 1785, when the new law took effect, and the 11th
inftant; which is at the rate of 13,2741. a year.
year
It alſo appears, that the whole amount of the duty, in the
ending ift Auguft 1785, was 3,860l. of which 1,5921. was paid
in London, and 2,2681. in the country; fuppofing, therefore, the
produce in town and in the country to bear the fame proportion,
the fum of 18,940l. nearly may be expected to be raiſed in the
latter, which, added to the fum of 13,2741. expected in London,
will amount to 32,1851. from which deducting 51. per cent, for
the eſtimated charges of collection, the remainder will be fome-
what above 30,000l.
The Difference between this fum and 3,860l. (being the for-
mer produce) is about 26,00ol; this fum, if added to the
taxes of 1785, as already ſtated, will make the whole amount
to about 271,000l. from which is to be deducted 6,1751. fo
much having been paid in on account of the taxes of 1785, pre-
vious to Michaelmas in the fame year.
The remainder will be 265,000l. nearly.
§ VIII.
IT further appears, by an Act of the 1ft of his prefent Ma-
jefty, C. I. that the part of the fum affigned by Act of Parlia-
ment for the fupport of his Majefty's houſehold, to the amount
of 12,000l. is paid by the Receiver General of the Excife be-
fore the net produce of that revenue is paid into the Exchequer
This fum is therefore to be added to the head of receipt.
And
[ 17 ]
And a fum of 2,000l. paid by the Alienation Office is, for a
fimilar reaſon, to be included in like manner.
They amount together to 14,000l.
$ IX.
THE duties on land and malt, although they are annual
grants, and form therefore no part of the fettled revenue of the
country, appeared to your Committee to be proper to be in-
cluded in this Report, efpecially as the fervices for which they
are uſually granted, are hereafter inferted under the different
heads of expenditure.
It appears that the whole produce of the Land Tax, for feven
years, ending at Lady Day 1782, being the laſt complete
years of a four fhillings aid, was
£. 13,380,599
To which is to be added, being the amount paid
on account of the Militia in thoſe years, pre-
vious to the payment of this duty into the Ex-
chequer, the fum of
£
392,954
1,967,650
Total £13,773,553
Average of one year
The produce of the Malt Duties for the fame period was
4,319,0691. which would give an average of 617,010l.
But in this period is included the year 1782, in which the
produce of Malt was uncommonly deficient. If the average
were taken on the preceding fix years, it would amount to
above 657,000l. but if it is ftated as low as 632,350l. the whole
amount of Land and Malt would be 2,600,000l.
The foregoing accounts of the Public Reventie are formed
on the ground of the actual receipts in the year ending at
Michaelmas 1785, with fuch alterations and additions as the
different circumſtances which have been ſtated relative to them
appeared to your, Committee to require. But as it was thought
important that the Houſe fhould be informed what difference
would have arifen in the refult, if the calculations had been
grounded
C
[ 18 ]
grounded on the receipts of the year, ending in January 1786,
your Committee have inveſtigated thofe accounts, proceeding
by the fame ſteps, and on the fame principles, which they have
detailed to the Houſe in ftating the particulars of the former
period.
But they think it neceffary to remark, that the account to
Michaelmas 1785, includes fifty-three days of weekly payment,
and that fifty-two only are included in the account, ending on
the 5th of January 1786. The Houfe will however obferve,
that as far as the reſult of theſe accounts differ, which they do
not in any confiderable degree, that difference is in favour of
the Revenue in the latter period.
Your Committee, having thus inveftigated the amount of the
ſeveral articles of the public Revenue, proceed to ſtate, in like
manner, the ſeveral branches of expenditure.
1
$ X.
THE annual intereſt, and other charges payable on the
public debts, as they ſtood at the receipt of his Majeſty's Ex-
chequer on the 5th of January 1786, amounted to 9,266,9401.
In addition to this, the intereft at 3 per cent. on 1,000,000l.
charged on the 6d per pound on Penfions, by the Act 12
George I. and the charges of management thereon, amount to
30,3601.
The charges of management on 10,990,6511. 5 per cent.
annuities, funded in 1785, were computed at 6,182 1.-Theſe
fums amount in the whole to 9,303,4821.
But it appears to your Committee, that, fince the time of
making up the accounts which have been laid before the Houſe
on this fubject, a diminution has taken place in the charges of
management payable to the Bank of England, to the amount of
24,853 1. If a fimilar reduction may be expected in the charges
of that part of the public debt which is under the management
of
[ 19 ]
·
of the South Sea Company, the total faving will amount to
27,7131.
Which being deducted from the above fum, leaves a remainder
of 9,275,7691.
It is to be obſerved, that a part of the annual payment to the
public creditors confifts of Annuities, which will gradually
fall in at the expiration of the terms for which they were granted.
Your Committee think it not improper to obferve particularly,
that Annuities, to the amount of 25,3511. will determine on
the 5th of April 1787.
$ XI.
YOUR Committee called for an eſtimate of the expence
likely to be incurred under the head of Exchequer Bills from
the Lords Commiffioners of His Majefty's Treaſury.
The future charge on this article, after the preſent year, is
eftimated at 258,0001.
§ XII.
THE fum charged on the Aggregate Fund, and payable at
the Exchequer, for the fupport of His Majefty's Houfhold, is
886,000l. and there is further paid, for the fame purpoſe, a fum
of 12,000l. at the Excife, by an act of the firft of His prefent
Majefty; and a fum of 2,000l. is paid at the Alienation Office,
and makes part of the Civil Lift. Thefe fums amount in the
whole to 900,000l.
C 2
§
XIII.
[ 20 201
]
§ XIII.
EXCLUSIVE of any part of the intereft, and of the charges
of the public debts, and of the fum paid towards the Civil Lift,
there are other payments charged upon and payable out of the
Aggregate Fund.
They confift in part of annuities which will gradually ceafe;
but your Committee, not judging it proper to form any eſtimate
of fuch diminution, have taken the whole at the prefent amount
thereof, which is 64,600 l.
}
$ XIV.
IT appeared by the Papers referred to your Committee, re-
lative to the feveral fervices of the navy, army, and ordnance,
that the average of thofe fervices refpectively, for the years 1766,
1767, 1768, and 1769, were as follows:
For the Navy, including the Expence of Ordnance for Sea Ser-
vice
For the Army
For the Land Service of the Ordnance
£. 1,660,218
1,516,631
287,165
The expence on theſe feveral heads for the prefent year ap-
pear, by the eſtimates now before the Houfe, to be confiderably
larger; but your Committee obferving that thefe expences may
be expected to vary, and that many particulars thereof muſt ne-
ceffarily be reduced in future, have called for additional ſtate-
ments from the feveral offices; according to thoſe ſtatements,
which are annexed to this Report, the expected average expence
of the feveral fervices above mentioned, on a permanent peace
eftabliſhment, appears to be as follows:
For the Navy, including the Expence of Ordnance for Sea Ser-
£. 1,800,000
1,620,009
vice
For the Army
But as in this eftimate no credit is taken for the expected di-
minution therein ſtated, in the article of Bills of Exchange drawn
from the colonies and plantations, and in the half-pay and
Chelſea
*
[ 21 ]
Chelfea out-penfion, your Committee conceive themfelves
juftified in taking the average expence of this department
£. 1,600,000
at
It is proper however to obferve, that nothing is here allowed
for the expence arifing from the regiments in India; on which
account, in the extraordinaries prefented this feffion, there is
charged a fum of 77,9441, which is not included in the fum
above ſtated
The East India Company being to pay a certain fum for every
regiment in India, by an Act of the 21ft of His prefent Ma-
jefty, this charge is in fact only a temporary advance, for
which the public will have credit to an equal amount hereafter,
whenever remittances are made from India, and the demands
under that Act are brought to account.
The eſtimated expence for the land fervice of the ordnance
is 348,000 1.
In ftating the total of theſe fervices, your Committee think
it neceffary to take notice, that various charges are included,
on account of half-pay, Chelſea out-penfioners, and other
allowances of a fimiliar nature, amounting in the whole to
683,325 1.
$. XV.
THE annual charge incurred on account of the militia,
for the years 1775, 1776, and 1777, the last three years of
peace in which the militia was trained and exerciſed, appears
by the accounts referred to your Committee, to have been, on
an average, 128,000l. nearly.
But they conceive that, if the reductions which have been
propoſed in this feffion in the expence of this branch of the
national fervice fhould be carried into effect, the whole will
amount in future only to about 91,000l. at which fum they
have accordingly taken it, fubject however to fuch variation as
may arife from any alterations in the plan which is now under
the confideratian of Parliament,
§. XVI,
[ 22 ]
§. XVI.
THE expence of the different articles ufually included un-
der the head of miſcellaneous fervices is ſtated in the annexed
eſtimate thereof (which has been received by your Committee
from the Lords Commiffioners of his Majefty's Treaſury) at
74,2741.
:
§. XVII.
IT appears that a part of the annual produce of the pulic
revenue is not applicable to the payment of any part of the
intereft of the national debts, or of the general fervices of the
country, but it is appropriated to certain ſpecial purpoſes, not
included under any of the foregoing heads of charge.
The amount of the taxes fo appropriated forms therefore
another article of expenditure. They appear to have produced,
in the year ending at Michaelmas 1785, 66,5381.
There are ſome charges on the Poft Office, and other offices
of revenue, arifing from different Grants and Acts of Parlia-
ment, by which certain annuities are made payable thereon:
but, as theſe are iffued at the different offices of collection, pre-
vious to the payment into the Exchequer, your Committee have
not brought them to account under the head of public expen-
diture; the fums by which they are defrayed not being ſtated on
the other fide as any part of the public receipt.
The total of the feveral articles above ftated, compofing the
whole of the annual expenditure of the country, amounts to
14,478,181 1.
There are fome additional articles, both of expenditure and
receipt, of which your Committee think it right to take notice,
though they have not inferted them in their Abstract, as con-
fidering them improper to be included in accounts of the perma-
nent peace eſtabliſhment of the country, and of its preſent annual
revenue. The first article of this defcription, and probably
the moſt confiderable, confiſts of the additional demands which
may be made for the fervice of the Navy, before it is put com-
pletely on the footing on which the future peace eſtabliſhment
is
$
[ 23 ]
is calculated thefe cannot be ftated with precifion; but it ap
pears, from the account delivered by the Navy Board, that the
probable amount may be from 1,200,000l. to 1,600,0001.
In this article no proviſion appears to be made for the prefent
outſtanding debt of the Navy: your Committee find that on the
31ft of December 1785, it did amount to 2,537,7641. towards
the fatisfying which there remained to be applied 825,2751. re-
mainder 1,712,4891. But it is ſtated that from the delay in call-
ing for payment of many of the charges of which it is compofed,
a floating arrear to this extent may generally be expected to ſub-
fiſt; and, as it neither bears intereſt in its preſent ſhape, nor will
require to be funded, it cannot occafion, either in prefent or in
future, any addition to the annual charge upon the public.
Under the head of Miſcellaneous Expences, there may alfo
arife fome temporary exceeding beyond the annual amount ſtated
by the Committee. Thefe, however, they conceive, will, for
the most part, either be occafional, or at leaſt of ſhort duration;
but, from the nature of this head of expence, it is impoffible to
foreſee with certainty the particular demands.
The only article to which your Committee think it neceffary,
ſeparately, to call the attention of the Houſe, is that of the Re-
lief of the American Sufferers; but it is not for the Committee
to determine what fum Parliament may think proper to allot for
this purpoſe, either as temporary relief, or when the inveftiga-
tion of the feveral claims fhall have been completed.
From what has been ftated, the Houſe will obferve, that no
accurate eſtimate can be formed of the total fums which may
arife beyond the average amount of the expences before ſtated,
and which may therefore require a ſeparate proviſion. But, upon
the whole, your Committee conceive, that the means of defray-
ing the expences (exclufive of the average income above ftated)
may be expected to be fufficient for the purpoſe.
In the first place, your Committee have taken no credit in
the foregoing ſtatements, for the profits which may annually be
expected from Lotteries, whenever Parliament fhall think proper
to avail itſelf of that mode of raifing money.
It appears that the profit on the Lottery of laſt year was nearly
140,000l. this alone would be an addition to the annual in-
2
come,
[ 24 ]
come, probably greater than the fum which would be added to
the annual expenditure, even on the fuppofition of its being ne-
ceffary to provide funds for the whole amount of the contingent
expences above ſtated.
A further fum may alfo be expected to arife for fome years to
come, under the head of army favings. It appears, by the Acts
of Appropriation in feveral feffions, that a variety of mifcellaneous
articles of this deſcription, amounting in the whole to a very
large fum, were brought in aid of the army ſervices for ſeveral
years after the conclufion of the war before the laft. From the
extent of the grants for army fervices in the courſe of the late
war fimilar favings may naturally be expected, and probably to a
larger amount, as provifion has recently been made for a more
ſpeedy inveſtigation of all the depending accounts.
A balance is alfo due from the Eaft India Company, for the
fubfiftence of troops in India, and on account of the victual-
ling of the Navy, purſuant to the 21ft of His prefent Majefty,
C. 65. The propriety of applying to public purpoſes a portion
of the unclaimed dividends of the funds (confiftently, with the
ftrictest regard to the fecurity of the creditors of the nation)
and the means of rendering the crown lands more beneficial
than at preſent, are alſo objects which feem to fall under this
confideration.
But, independent of the articles which have here been ſtated,
your Committee truft that they ſhall not be thought to exceed
the limits of the duty preſcribed to them by the Houfe, in ob-
ferving, that the prefent fubfifting taxes, if the due collection
thereof could be fecured by meafures adequate to the purpoſe,
would probably afford an ample provifion for any deficiencies
which may at any time be found, either in theſe reſources, or
in the particulars which compofe the general income of the
public; and would inſure a parmanent annual furplus, applica-
ble to the reduction of the National Debt, in ſuch manner as
the wiſdom of Parliament ſhall direct.
ABSTRACT
соколоколонокококоно
L 25
ABSTRACT of the feveral Articles of Public Receipt and Expenditure.
RECEIP PT.
§ I. Total net payments into the Exchequer, from Mich³ 1784 to Mich' 1785
Deduct therefrom
The reſpited duties paid by the Eaſt India Company
Excess beyond the future amount of the window duties
§ I. Total net payments into the Exchequer, from 5th January 1785 to 5th January 1786
от околоколокола
Deduct therefrom
The refpited duties paid by the Eaft India Company
Exceſs beyond the future Amount of the window duties
II. Further produce of the Window Duty impoſed by the 24th Geo. III.
III. Further produce of the Duty on Two Wheel and Four Wheel Carriages
IV. To compleat the former Duty on Male Servants
V.
Further produce of the Duties on Horfes, Waggons, and Carts
VI. Further produce of Taxes impofed in 1784
From Michaelmas 1784 * From 5th Janry. 1785
to Michaelmas 1785. to 5th January 1785.
£. 12,321,520
£. 401,118
46,189
447,307
12,499,916
£. 11,874,213
£. 401,118
56,101
457,219
£. 12,042,697
380,056
59,281
253,534
107,186
26,803
42,444
56,829
73,610
22,000
242,000
14,000
14,000
2,600,000
£. 15,379,182
15,397,471
VII. Further produce of Taxes impofed in 1785, including the improvement of the Medicine Duty
VIII. Paid at the Excife and Alienation Office, in part of Civil Lift
IX. Produce of the Land and Malt
103,000
265,000
2,600,000
X. Intereft and charges of the Public Debts
XI. Exchequer Bills
XII. Civil Liſt
XIII. Charges on Aggregate Fund
XIV. Navy
XIV. Army
XIV. Ordnance
XV. Militia
XVI. Mifcellaneous Services
XVII. Appropriated Duties
1
EXPENDITURE.
£. 9,275,769
258,000
900,000
64,600
1,800,000
1,600,000
348,000
91,000
74,274
66,538
AAnnual Surplus
£. 14,478,181 £.14,478,181
90г,001
919,290
NEW BOOKS printed for JOHN STOCKDALE, oppofite Bur-
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This Day is published, in One large Volume Quarto, with an
elegant Engraving of the Author, Price 11. 75. in boards,
T
HE HISTORY of the UNION between ENGLAND.
and SCOTLAND; with a Collection of Original Papers
relating thereto. By the celebrated DANIEL DE FOE.
With an Introduction, in which the Confequences and Proba-
bility of a like Union between this Country and Ireland
are confidered, by JOHN LEWIS DELOLME, Author of
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O F
SHAKSPEARE;
Including, in ONE VOLUME 8vo. the WHOLE of his
DRAMATIC WORKS:
With explanatory NOTES, compiled from various Commen-
tators.
To which are prefixed his LIFE and WILL.
"Nature her pencil to his hand commits,
"And then in all her forms to this great mafter fits."
ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC.
A NEW edition of SHAKSPEARE, and an edition of fo fingu-
lar a form as the prefent, in which all his plays are compre-
hended in One Volume, will perhaps appear furprifing to many
readers; but, upon a little reflection, their furprife will, the
Editor doubts not, be converted into approbation.
Much as SHAKSPEARE has been read of late years, and largely
as the admiration and ſtudy of him have been extended, there
is ftill a numerous clafs of men to whom he is very imperfectly
known. Many of the middling and lower ranks of the inha-
bitants of this country are either not acquainted with him at
all, excepting by name, or have only feen a few of his plays,
which have accidentally fallen in their way. It is to fupply
the wants of thefe perfons that the prefent edition is principally
undertaken; and it cannot fail of becoming to them a perpetual
ſource of entertainment and inſtruction.
But the inftruction that may be drawn from SHAKSPEARE is
equal to the entertainment which his writings afford. He is the
greateſt maſter of human nature, and of human life, that, per-
haps, ever exifted; fo that we cannot perufe his works without
having
L
>
3
3
23
י.
New BOOKS printed for JOHN STOCKDALE.
having our understandings confiderably enlarged. To promote,
therefore, the knowledge of him, is to contribute to general
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Nor is the utility of the prefent publication confined to per-
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even to thoſe whoſe ſituation in life hath enabled them to pur-
chaſe all the expenſive editions of our great dramatift. The
book now offered to the public may commodiously be taken into
a coach or a poft-chaife, for amufement in a journey. It is a
compendium, not an abridgement, of the nobleft of our poets,
and a library in a fingle volume.
The Editor hath endeavoured to give all the perfection to
this work which the nature of it can admit. The account of
his life, which is taken from Rowe, and his laſt will, in reality,
comprehend almost every thing that is known with regard to
the perfonal hiftory of SHAKSPEARE.
The notes which are fubjoined are fuch as were neceſſary
for the purpoſe of illuftrating and explaining obfolete words,
nuſual phraſes, old cuftoms, and obfcure or diſtant alluſions.
In fhort, it has been the Editor's aim to omit nothing which
may ſerve to ren ler SHAKSPEARE intelligible to every capa-
city, and to every clafs of readers.
Gentlemen in the country, finding a difficulty in procuring the above
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Britain.
SANDFORD and MERTON, Vol. II.
In the Prefs and speedily will be publiſhed,
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Bull-Baiting,
THE
A
HE HISTORY of SANDFORD and MERTON:
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