SUBSTANCE 
 
 OF 
 
 OBSERFAriONS 
 
 STATE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 P U BLIC FINANCES 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN, 
 
 BY 
 
 LORD R A W D O N, 
 
 IN A 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 ON THE THIRD READING OF THE 
 
 BANK LOAN BILL 
 
 J> 
 
 II O U S E ok ' L O R D S, 
 
 On Thursday, June 9, 1791. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 'HINTED FOR J. DEBRETT, OPPOSITE BURLINCTO! 
 
 HOUSE, PICCADILLY. 
 
 MDCC.JtCI,
 
 URL 
 
 Statement of the Sele& Commit- 
 tee, (May 10, 1 791) principally 
 referred to, calculated as a future 
 Eftimate, page 27, Appendix F, 
 No. 5, 

 
 SPEECH 
 
 op 
 
 LORD RAWDON 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PUBLIC FINANCES. 
 
 My Lords, 
 
 Y GAVE notice to your Lordfhips that I fhould 
 avail myfelf of the Third Reading of this Bill, 
 as an excufe to throw out a few remarks on the 
 ilate of the Finances in general. The matter be- 
 ing underftood in that light, it will not, I am fure, 
 m point of form, be thought neceflary that I 
 move any precife queftion ; it would be a point of 
 order eafily fatisfied : but it would, in reality, be 
 nugatory, as I only with to urge a few obferva- 
 tions for the reflection of your Lordfhips. Al- 
 though the field which I have claimed be fo wide, 
 
 B
 
 ( * ) 
 
 your Lordihips need not fear that I fhall run into 
 much length. I am too well aware, that no at- 
 tention can follow up a long and complicated de- 
 tail of figures; I (hall, therefore, have the policy 
 to reftrict myfelf to the plainer and more effential 
 features of the fubjecl;, declining minor inveftiga- 
 tion. It is with this view to perfpicuity that I 
 fhall argue from the date fubmitted by Miniflers 
 to the Committee of Finance, whofe Report has 
 beenjuft publifhed; and I beg to beunderftood as 
 making my calculations upon thofe documents, 
 unlefs where I exprefsly declare my deviation. 
 
 I fhall, with your permiffion, begin with a 
 brief advertence to a point, which, without doubt, 
 interefts me perfonally; but which would not 
 be obtruded by me upon you, did it intereft me 
 alone. It is a matter of importance to the public 
 as much as to myfelf. I allude to the balance be- 
 tween the receipt and the expenditure of the 
 three years immediately following the eftabliih- 
 ment of the plan for diminifhing the National 
 Debt; namely, from 5th of January 1786 to 5th 
 of January 1789. I had afTerted in this Houfe, 
 that the million yearly, during that period, applied 
 towards the reduction of the National Debt, did 
 not fpring from an annual furplus of income after 
 the expenditure was defrayed ; but that it was fur- 
 nilhed from extra refources. In making that afier- 
 tion, I took a diftinction which I think was fair 
 and liberal I laid, that were the queftion, what 
 
 inference
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 inference was to be drawn for the regulation of 
 your finance in future years, from the balance be- 
 tween your income and expenditure in thofe 
 three years ? nothing ought to be taken into the 
 calculation but actual revenue. By that defigna- 
 tion I meant to defcribe the permanent taxes, and 
 thofe imports, which, though annual in their form, 
 are always reforted to; fources which furniih a 
 conftantj return to the Exchequer, and the pro- 
 duce of which, though it will necefTarily fluctuate 
 to a degree in its amount, may be capable of tole- 
 rable computation. The queflion, however, was 
 not profpective ; it was a queflion of mere fact, 
 whether the income of the three years had fur- 
 nifhed the annual million ? In that point of view, 
 all accidental fums paid within the term into the 
 Exchequer, mould be reckoned as well as the 
 permanent fupplies; even, although thofe fums 
 Ihculd really have been due before the period of 
 the three years commenced. The income thus comt 
 plicated I would call receipt in contradiftinction to 
 revenue. It was upon the receipt I originally ar- 
 gued; and I again admit the receipt as t;he bafis of 
 the propofnion, which I now re-afTert. The evi- 
 dence, as exhibited by the Committee of the 
 Houfe of Commons, ftands thus : — 
 
 The produce of the permanent taxes £, 
 
 for the three years is flated by the 
 Committee at - . 37>797a I 3 I 
 
 B 2 To
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 Brought over - - £'37>797> T 3« 
 
 To this add the eftimated amount of 
 the Land and Malt Taxes for three 
 years - 7,674,000 
 
 Total Revenue 45,471,831 
 
 Add farther, 
 Refpited duties paid by the Eaft India 
 
 Company in 1786 - - 522,500 
 
 Impreft money repaid, and arrears of 
 Land and Taxes, paid after 5th 
 January 1786 - - 476,686 
 
 Clear gain on the Lotteries during the 
 
 three years - 675,00c 
 
 Total Receipt - 47,146,01: 
 
 Expenditure of the threeyears, as ftated 
 in the document (Appen. F. No. 5 
 of the Report) fubminiftered by the 
 Treafury to the Committee - 46,692,12: 
 
 Surplus in the three years 453*895 
 
 Thus, fimpiy upon the mowing of Adminif- 
 tration, the propofition which I advanced (lands 
 confirmed. For it is obvious, that a furplus of 
 
 * 453» 8 95 J *
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 453 >8 95I- did not furnifh the three millions 
 which the public was led to fuppofe that fund 
 had (applied towards the liquidation of the Na- 
 tional Del:. But this evidence of my having 
 been well-founded, as to my principal pofition, is 
 not entirely fufficient; although the propofition 
 to which I pledged myfelf before the Houfe, was, 
 " that the annual million did not arife from an 
 <c excefs to that amount in the receipt beyond 
 iC the ex penditure." I recollect that I let drop two 
 other obfervations on the fubject; and I cannot 
 leave it doubtful, whether I ventured upon even a 
 contingent affertion refpecting fo important a to- 
 pic without due foundation. The firfr. of the po- 
 rtions to which I allude, was, that if the expen- 
 diture were compared with the revenue for the 
 calculation of future profpects, the deficiency 
 would be found alarming. This is at once justi- 
 fied by a comparifon of the amount of expendi- 
 ture, with the produce of the permanent taxes 
 and ordinary annual refources; notwithstanding, 
 as I (hall fhortly fhow, the ftatement is lefs un- 
 favourable for thofe who maintained the exiftencc 
 of a furplus than clofer inveftigation will warrant. 
 The fecond pofition was, that on the balance be- 
 tween the receipt and the expenditure there was no 
 furplus at all ; but, on the contrary, a deficiency. 
 To fupport this, it is evidently requifite that I 
 mould invalidate fome of the accounts, which 
 form the ground-work of the comparifon already 
 laid before you. I mould be loth to go exten- 
 
 fively
 
 ( 6 ) 
 fiveiy into an arraignment of that nature; as the 
 detail might diftract attention from the main thread 
 of argument which I wifh it to purfue; luckily 
 that digreffion will not be neceffary ; for where 
 the objecft is only to prove that there was nofurplus, 
 the more or the lefs of the deficiency is immaterial, 
 My purpofe will be anfwercd by two items : bur 
 I miift make one general remark on the remainder 
 of the account, becaufe it involves a conlideration 
 worthy of ferious attention. The accounts of the 
 expenditure laid before the laft Committee of 
 Finance, differ effentially from thofe delivered to 
 your Lordfhips in 1789 : not under the head of 
 mifcellaneous iervices alone, in which there might 
 be fuppofed room forcafual alteration in the claf- 
 Sng of articles ,* but in the diftincf. fervices of 
 arm}', navy, and ordnance. I am willing to 
 afcribe the error which occafions this difcordance 
 to the want of fome fixed, unalterable form for 
 making up the public accounts ; but as the effect 
 of the variation in the latter account is todiminifh 
 confiderably the amount of the expenditure for 
 the three years, it isjull the policy which would 
 have been purfued, had the affertions which have 
 been made in Parliament, rendered it an object to 
 fofcen the prominence of evidence refulting from 
 the old ftatement. And the difference between 
 the two accounts is not trifling; for, in more in- 
 ftances than one, it goes on a tingle article bevond 
 170,000!. Your Lordfhips fee how the rectifica- 
 tion of thai point would operate fpr my argu- 
 ment,
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 merit. But I proceed to prove my pofition more 
 distinctly. The computations of the expenditure 
 which I juft now meafured againft the income, are 
 taken from the Appendix, F. No. 5, of the Report 
 of the Committee. In the year 1786, as there 
 ftated, the intereft and charges of the National 
 Debt are given at 9,0 1 0,4041. exclufive of intereft 
 on Exchequer Bills. In the next year, the fame 
 article is eftimated at 9,276,0001. equally exclu- 
 five of intereft on Exchequer Bills. Your Lord- 
 fhips fee that no debt could be incurred in the year 
 
 1786, that could add 26o,oool. intereft money to ; 
 your charges. But it is proved error by the fe- 
 parate account of the public debt of that year ; 
 which gives the intereft and charges at 9,266,940!. 
 exclufive of charges of management on the newly 
 funded ftock of the foregoing year. The account of 
 the Committee of 1786 would confirm the matter, 
 were the point difputable; for that Committee 
 alfo charges the article at 9,266,9401. Upon 
 this head, therefore, there appears clearly to be an 
 omiflion in the ftatement of the expenditure for 
 the year 1786, of more than 250,0001. The 
 fource of that omiflion is curious. Finding that 
 the outgoings of 1786 ran higher, and the reve- 
 nue lower, than was expected, the Minifter was 
 obliged to help the income by taking in the addi- 
 tional quarter of the confolidated fund, up to April 
 
 1787, and to eafe the expenditure by delaying 
 payments. For this latter purpofe it was directed 
 by an Act pafled in 1786, that certain annuities, 
 
 upon
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 .pon which a quarter's payment became due on the 
 5th of January, (hould, in future, be paid only 
 half yearly, on the 5th of April and 10th of Octo- 
 ber. The effect of this (as the yearly accounts 
 are computed from the 6th of January inclufive) 
 was to throw out, in appearance, from the year 
 1786 that quarter which became due on the 5th of 
 January 17S7. The real confequence is, that a 
 quarter of thofe annuities is carried forward, not 
 anfwered by the income of the year in which it 
 became due. The term ufed in defcribing this 
 tranfaction, is not a happy one. " The public 
 " availed itfelf of the amount of one quarterly pay- 
 iS ment upon thefe annuities." It is Government 
 which here affumes thename of the public ; and the 
 avowal of the convenience fought fup'sefts the 
 fuppofkion of an advantage taken of the annui- 
 tants. No deviation from the conditions on which 
 fuch perfons purchafed their annuities can bejuft, 
 nnlefs it be made with the confent of the parties. 
 Their concurrence is not fpecified, nor is it to be 
 inferred, flnce it could not be for their profit to 
 have a quarter's falary with-held. For the Com- 
 mittee have mifapprehended the cafe, when they 
 fay, that by the arrangement, a quarter's payment 
 will, in future, be made in advance to thofe credi- 
 tors. Nothing, according to the new fettlement, 
 is to be paid on the 5th of April; but the two 
 quarters which would have been due on the 5th 
 of January and 5th of April on the old footing; 
 and the quarter due on the cth of July is not to be 
 
 paid
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 paid till the loth of October. Therefore, about 
 250,000!. debt is regularly carried forward upon 
 this article. It is clear, that in making up the ac- 
 count of the charges on the three years, that 
 quarter's payment which became due within the 
 period, muft be reckoned; whether it was liqui- 
 dated by Government, or the difcharge deferred 
 through motives of convenience. 
 
 To that fum 1 will add an over-charge in the 
 credit taken for the produce of the Land and 
 Malt Taxes. The amount of thofe taxes for the 
 three years is calculated at 7,674,0001. that is to 
 lay, at the rate of 2,558,0001. per annum; the 
 affumed eftimate of the Committee. Now, by the 
 account delivered from the Exchequer, on the re- 
 quilition of this Houfe, the fums really received 
 from the Land and Malt Taxes in the three years 
 amounted only to - - 7,439,184 
 
 Deduct that fum from - - 7,674,000 
 
 There appears an over-charge of 2 34jS i 6 
 
 The difference between the two accounts cannot 
 arile from the circumftance that the militia charge 
 is fubftracled from the one and not from the 
 other; becaufe the addition of the amount of 
 that charge to the fmaller fum does not make it 
 currefpond with the other ; but this is proved 
 more fatisfatftorily in another method, The de- 
 
 C deficiencv
 
 ( io ) 
 
 ficiency of the Land and Male Taxes is charged 
 in the accounts of expenditure delivered to this 
 Houie in 17S9, diftinctly from the expence of 
 the militia; that deficiency being added to the 
 net receipt, gives in each of the three years a fum 
 beyond the 25750,000!. at which thofe taxes are 
 laid by Parliament, which can only be explained 
 by fuppofmg that arrears paid in during that pe- 
 riod were reckoned with the current receipt : on 
 that fuppofition, by adding the deficiency and the 
 charge for militia, and then deducting; the amount 
 of arrears received, as fpecified in another docu- 
 ment, the 2,750,0001. ought to be produced. This, 
 however, is not the cafe; apparently through 
 fome defect in the form of the account. But 
 the refult allures me diftinctly, that the charge for 
 militia has been deducted before 2,558,0001. is 
 afTured as the net receipt from the Land and Malt 
 Taxes; and, indeed, in the abftract which the 
 Committee has publifhed, to exhibit a companion 
 between your probable future income and expen- 
 diture, this pofition is juftified completely; as 
 the 95, cool, annual charge for the militia is there 
 inferted amongft the cut-going?, whilft credit is 
 taken on the other hand for 2,558,0001. to arifc 
 from the Land and Malt. Now add the two 
 fums which I have pointed out. 
 
 Omifilon in the charge for intereft of 
 
 public debt in 1 786 - - 250,000 
 
 Brought
 
 ( 1= ) 
 
 £■ 
 
 Brought forward 250,00c 
 Over-charge on Land and Malt 234,816 
 
 Total 484,816 
 which extinguishes the oflenfible furplus of 
 453,8951. and leaves my aflertion proved. 
 
 I come now, my Lords, to the Bill immedi- 
 ately before you. In pitching upon it as the 
 vehicle for my obfervations, I did not chufe at 
 hazard : I had animadverfion to exprefs upon this 
 particular mcafure ; though complicating it, as I 
 now do, with other materials, I (hall not expati- 
 ate upon it fo largely as the fubject might well 
 deferve. My objection applies to the mode in 
 which we know this loan to have come forward. 
 Had it been a voluntary agreement with Govern- 
 ment, on the part of the Bank, there would not 
 have been any thing to have faid againft it. But 
 the (nape in which it prefents itfelf, is this : — As 
 one of the refources to defray the expence of the 
 armament againft Spain, the Minifter points at 
 the Unclaimed Dividends accumulated at the 
 Bank. The Bank pleads, that the advantage of 
 having thefe dividends fuffered by the owners fo 
 to reft in their hands, is one great inducement to 
 their bargain with Government for undertaking 
 the payment of the intereft on the National Debt. 
 The plea is contemned ; yet the refinance compels 
 reflection. A reluctant fenfe of the dangerous 
 
 C 2 wound
 
 ( 12 ) 
 
 wound which ranft be given to public credit by 
 perfeverance in the original meafure, caufes terms 
 of accommodation to be fugg-efted. The com- 
 pofition propofed is exactly this : ll Offer us a 
 " loan of 500,000b or we will, by the hand of 
 f * power, wreft from you a much larger fum." 
 There is no need for comment on the tone of this 
 extortion : the fpirit of the original attempt, how- 
 ever, is not veiled by that compromife : there- 
 fore let two words be addreffed to that point. It 
 is the magnitude of thofc balances, fuffered by 
 their right owners to fleep in the Bank, which 
 enables the Corporation to accept Exchequci 
 Bills, £cc. to the amount that now takes place : 
 confequcntly, Government counteracts its own 
 material convenience in (hiking at that fund. But 
 this is a confideration trifling, in comparifon to the 
 fhock which the meafure mull have given to pub- 
 lic credit. It has, 1 know, been urged (you (hall 
 iudge how fallaciouflv) that the right of the pub- 
 he creditor was not to be impaired, nor was even 
 his fecurity to be altered ; his title to the fum re- 
 mained the fame, though the money was removed 
 from the Bank to the Exchequer; and Govern- 
 ment flood, ]ufl as it did before, in the light ol 
 his debtor. To tins I anfwer, that folicitation at 
 the Exchequer, and demand at the Bank, are 
 very different procefies. The Bank, for a certain 
 allowance and contingent emoluments, undertakes 
 to pay for Government the interefl to the public 
 creditors, a: the period when it fhall become due. 
 
 Bv
 
 ( i3 ) 
 By tills contract, although Government is the fectJ* 
 rity to the Bank, and the ultimate fecurity to the 
 public creditor, the latter, in the firft inftance, 
 has his remedy directly againft the capital of the 
 Bank ; and fo diftinctly, that it allures him againfl 
 the apprehenhon of delay in payment. Will it be 
 afferted that refponfibility is fimilarly defined, or 
 punctuality fimilarly impofed, with regard to the 
 Exchequer ? Let Administration fpeak for them- 
 felves to this point, in the document which I am 
 about to lay before you. Your Lordfhips are 
 aware, that exactitude of payment of the intcrcft, 
 no lefs than facility in the transfer of the capital, 
 is the inducement for molt perfons, who have to 
 live on the interelt of certain funis, to place their 
 money in the public funds, rather than on private 
 mortgage ; in which lad mode, the fecurity for 
 the capital would be as good as in the former, and 
 the intereft higher. Now obferve how this expec- 
 tation is anfwered towards thofe who have to look 
 to the Exchequer inftead of the Bank. When the 
 Tontine Loan took place, the annuity was nor. 
 to commence for a certain time : but till the term 
 of its commencement, the fubicribers were to be 
 allowed 4 per cent, on their money. By the act 
 eftablifhing that loan, a year and a quarter's inte- 
 reft, at the above rate, was to become due on the 
 icth of October, 1790. I have in my hand the 
 Gazette of the 8th of March, 1791, in which 
 there is a notification from the Exchequer, that 
 the intereft due on the above-mentioned 10th of 
 
 October
 
 ( 14 ) 
 
 October will be paid on the i ith of March. Here 
 is a delay of five months in the payment of inte- 
 reff. to be received from the Exchequer : after 
 which proof, I fhall not, I imagine, hear it ar- 
 gued in this Houfe, that a claim on the Exche- 
 quer or on the Bank are equally eligible. 
 
 The mode in which the Bank is to be indem- 
 nified againfl any inconvenience that might arife 
 From this loan, leads to another important confi- 
 deration. The loan is fuppofed to be furniftied 
 
 out of the dividends lying unclaimed at the Bank. 
 li thofe dividends happen to be fuddenly de- 
 manded, as they may be, Government is au- 
 thorifed to iffue to the Bank, Exchequer Bills to 
 the amount of half a million, This perpetual 
 recurrence to Exchequer Bills makes it fitting that 
 your Lordmips fhould advert a little to their na- 
 ture, and to their employment. As foon a r > the 
 land and malt taxes are granted, the Bank agrees 
 to accept Exchequer Bills, on thefecurity of the pro- 
 duce of thofe taxes, to the amount of 2 , 7 50.0O0I. 
 The produce of thofe taxes is however, not- 
 withftanding, received into the Exchequer, and 
 applied to current expences ; an annual fettlement 
 of intereft only being made with the Bank, and 
 the bills replaced by a new iffue on the lame foot- 
 ing. But the Bank likewife accepts farther bills 
 from the Exchequer, reding only on the general 
 credit of Government. Thefe latter bills may be 
 
 compared to the notes of hand which an individual 
 
 would
 
 ( '5 ) 
 
 would give on his general credit, without any fpe-? 
 cirlc fund for their difcharge. Your Lordfliips 
 fee that there muft be fome point beyond which 
 the Directors of the Bank cannot, in honefty to 
 their conftituents, proceed in the acceptance of 
 thefe bills. Hence, I entreat you, reflect on the 
 inexpediency of approaching that point in time of 
 peace. When the fudden neceffity of armament 
 preffes upon you, the refource of Parliament is a 
 vote of credit ; Exchequer Bills, to the amount 
 of the vote, are iffued : but if thofe bills have not 
 currency, which would be the cafe if you had pre- 
 viously loaded the Bank with as many as it could 
 bear, your vote of credit would be nugatory. 
 Your Exchequer Bills may be fuel to have no 
 currency but through the medium of the Bank: 
 for, could you otherwife apply them to the ob- 
 jects of immediate demand, it would be under a 
 depreciation that would be ruinous. Feci how 
 ferious it is to deflroy, by an unv/ife ufe of it in. 
 profound tranquillity, that refource which is your 
 moft ready and efficacious fupply in the hour of 
 difficulty. You have now, as it were, eftablifbed 
 5,500,000!. of Exchequer Bills as an unfunded 
 debt, fyftematicaily carried forward from year to 
 year. I (hall prefently have to notice a part of 
 that fum. For the moment it will only be necef- 
 fary to add, that your Navy and Victualling Bills 
 being, to a heavy amount, bought up by the Bank, 
 
 the load is thereby materially augmented, and the 
 
 i capa-
 
 ( i6 ) 
 
 capacitr of acceptance in the Bank obvioufly di- 
 minifhed. 
 
 Thefe preliminaries, my Lord;, hare openecf 
 the view to a jutler consideration of the immediate 
 {late o( the finances at large ; as that (late is of- 
 fered to you by the balance, in point of fact, be- 
 tween your income and your expenditure, for the 
 five years, from the i ft Jan. 1786, to ill Jan. 
 179 1. In arguing the fabjec~t, I mail take the 
 funis as Adminiftration lias ilated them ; though, 
 in the expenditure, they are, for the firft three 
 years, fubject to all the obfervations which I have 
 already made upon them. 
 
 According to the documents which 
 were fubminiilered to the Com- 
 mittee, " the fums applicable to 
 *' the public expences in the five £. 
 
 11 years" amounted to — 88,040,0:, 
 
 The expenditure by the fame flate- 
 nient, including the fums paid to- 
 wards liquidating the public debt, 
 amou n t cd t o 88,116,916 
 
 So there remained unfatisfied, only 76,86 i 
 
 To this flatemcnt I fhall object : and 1 (hall du 
 It upon the ground which fecretly occurred to the 
 Minifter when he quitted the fimple exhibition of 
 income, and adopted the ambiguous expreffion of
 
 ( i7 ) 
 
 cc fums applicable to the public expences." I (hall 
 argue, that certain of the fums, for which he has 
 taken credit, were of a nature not to be applicable, 
 in the point of view in which he has exhibited 
 them, to the fervices of the five years in quef- 
 tion. I fhall firft enumerate the fums which I 
 fhould, on that principle, fubftract, and make the 
 deduction, in order to fhew how I think the ba- 
 lance really (lands ; I will afterwards give the 
 reafons for ftriking off each particular fum ; as 
 in that mode I fhall lefs embarrafs the perfpicuity 
 of the meafurement, 
 
 I then deduct, 
 
 Monies in the Exchequer, 5th Jan. £. 
 
 1786 — — 1,172,119 
 
 Army Savings in ditto, 5th Jan. 1786 492,378 
 Intereft received for money lent abroad 34,000 
 Tontine loan • — 1,002,140 
 
 Total 2,700,637 
 
 Before this fum be fubftracted from the amount 
 of the receipt for the five years, the over-charge 
 for land and malt, which I noticed in the account 
 of the three years, fhould be deducted, 
 
 Suppofed income of the five years 88,040,055 
 Over-charae for land and malt 
 
 Carried forward 87,805,239 
 D Brought
 
 ( x8 ) 
 
 Brought forward ^87,805,239 
 Dedud 2,700,637 
 
 Remains — real income 85,104,602 
 Expenditure of the five years, with 
 the addition of 250,0001. intereft 
 of public debt, omitted in the ac- 
 count of 1786 — 88,366,916 
 
 deficiency 3,262,314 
 
 Still it is inconteftable, that in the five years 
 the fum of 4,750,0001. was paid to the Commif- 
 fioners for reducing the public debt. Now from 
 that fum mud be deducted that which, it appears, 
 the income of the five years could not furnifh. 
 
 Applied to reduce debt — 4,750,000 
 
 Deficit of income in the five years 3,262,314 
 
 1,487,686 
 
 It is thus fliewn, that about one million four 
 hundred and eighty-eight thoufand pounds was 
 all that could be dedicated to the redu&ion of the 
 National Debt from the actual income of the five 
 years ; including in that income all contingent 
 receipts which did really fall in within that term. 
 The difference between that fum and the four mil- 
 lions feven hundred and fifty thoufand pounds 
 mult have been furnilhed from extra refources. 
 
 The
 
 ( *9 ) 
 
 The quality of thofe extra refources is, therefore, 
 what I have now to examine : and the refult of 
 the inveftigation will determine whether I have 
 proceeded on juft grounds in claffing, as extra 
 refources, thofe fums which I have deducted from 
 the flatement of income. 
 
 I recapitulate them, 
 
 
 Monies in the Exchequer previous to 
 
 £- 
 
 5th Jan. 1786 — 
 
 1,172,119 
 
 Army favings fimilarly circumftanced 
 
 49 2 >37 8 
 
 Interefl on money lent abroad 
 
 34,000 
 
 Tontine loan — « — 
 
 1,002,140 
 
 2,700,637 
 
 On the firft of thefe I muft inquire, with fome 
 furprize, why we never, till of late, when the quef- 
 tion was fo hard preiFed in this Houfe, heard of 
 thofe monies in a fpecific aggregate ? That there 
 were in the Exchequer balances remaining from 
 certain heads, after the fervices were difcharged 
 to which thofe funds had been appropriated, was 
 known : their amount was not. Why, when it 
 was of this magnitude, was it not brought forward 
 as a fum ? I mean not to impute that there was 
 any difpofition to employ this money in a manner 
 not advantageous for the public, much lefs to in- 
 tercept any of it from the national fervice. But 
 that which I diftinctly charge from the face of the 
 tranfattion, is, an attempt to confound this fum 
 D 2 with
 
 ( 20 ) 
 
 with the income arifing from the for.rces properly 
 belonging to the term pofterior to the 5th of Jan, 
 1786. The inference which it was hoped the pub- 
 lic would draw, if the attempt fucceeded, was, the 
 improved condition of the finances in the hands 
 which then managed them. This fum was infi- 
 nuated by petty portions in the grants fubfequent 
 to January 1786, under ordinary titles of furplus 
 remaining from fuch or fuch a fund, that excited 
 no curiofity or investigation. The motive of that 
 policy is plain : had this fum been acknowledged, 
 in its extent, as exifting when the Committee of 
 Finance publifhed their Report in March 1786, 
 the obfervation refpecting it was fo obvious, that 
 it could not have failed being urged on the occa- 
 fion. " If there be (it would have been faid) 
 above a million in hand, you never can pretend to 
 carry that forward for the fervice of this year : 
 becaufe the plan which you have produced for the 
 reduction of the National Debt goes upon the dif- 
 tinct aflumption, that the balance between the 
 nun- al income and the annual expenditure, will 
 leave a furplus adequate to your object. You in- 
 fill upon this in conterr.pt of all our doubts ; 
 therefore you cannot need extraneous aids to fwell 
 that income. And, indeed, you have made a 
 fallacious ftatement of the condition of the 
 country as to its debt, if, having this fum in hand, 
 you do not give the public credit for it in your 
 computation. The natural deftination for that 
 fum would be to extinguish with it a portion of the 
 
 Navy
 
 ( 21 ) 
 
 Navy Bills, or other unfunded debt, charging 
 the country To much lefs in the burden which you 
 hold out to them : for you, indifputably, would 
 not with the debt to appear a million greater than 
 it really is, in order that you. may have the higher 
 merit in feeming to alleviate their didrefTes." — 
 Such, my Lords, would have been the inevita- 
 ble comment which mud have prevented this 
 fum, had it been acknowledged, from being 
 confounded with the future income. It is owned, 
 that the monies were in the Exchequer previous 
 to January 1786: the fum was then a confoli- 
 dated poffeflion which ought to have balanced, as 
 far as it went, againd the debt ; at lead it ought 
 to have been dated in fo didincl a manner, as to 
 have been regarded in the light of a remedy 
 againd any part of the floating debt that might 
 become inconvenient. Whatfoever was the rea- 
 fon that it was not then proclaimed, now that its 
 nature appears fairly to you, I think the conclu- 
 fion irrefragable, that it never can be admitted as 
 a part of the income of the five years to be mea- 
 fured againd the expenditure of the fame period. 
 
 The cafe of the fecond article, the Armv 
 Savings, dands precifely on the fame ground. 
 The whole amount under that head, applied to 
 the fervice of the five years, is 1,091,1471. ; from 
 this I deduct only what appears to have accrued 
 before the period which we are meafuring ; name- 
 ly, the excefs of the fupply for land forces in 
 
 1784.,
 
 ( 22 ) 
 
 1 7S4, the fame for 1785, and a furplus of monies 
 voted for Chelfea Hofpital in 1785; making to- 
 gether 492,3781. If that balance exifted in favour 
 of the public, previous to January 1786, it ought 
 to have been ftated in favour of the public : it was 
 the property, already realized, of the community, 
 and their debt was by fo much the lefs. The debt 
 has been diminimed by the employment of that 
 fum ; but that is not the queftion now agitated ; 
 it might have been equally diminimed by the ap- 
 plication of that fum before the 5th of January, 
 17S6. The fum has nothing to do with the in- 
 come of the five years ; upon the exuberance of 
 which, under their conduct, the prefent Minifters 
 affect to reft the proof of their fuperior manage- 
 ment. This money, as well as the former article, 
 ought to have been applied in discharging a 
 portion of the debt, before the plan for reducing 
 the debt by furpluiTes of income was fet a-foot ; 
 then the latter would have flood on its own 
 merits. 
 
 The third article was thus produced : It was 
 judged expedient to aid the Prince of Orange 
 with a loan of 187,0001. That fum was raifed 
 here for the purpofe : it was, however, understood 
 at the time, that this loan was not to be regarded 
 as an addition to our public debt, becaufe that 
 regular payments from Holland were, by inftal- 
 ment, to furnilh the intereft, and gradually to 
 difcharge the capital. Credit is taken for the 
 
 2 187,000!.
 
 ( *3 ) 
 
 i 87,000!. in the account of extra funis applied to 
 the fervice of the five years ; and I have admitted 
 it, upon the fuppofition that it is, on the other 
 hand, charged as an expenditure ; imagining it, 
 chough not fpecifically defcribed, to be included 
 under ajiead of 191,3421. granted in 1789, to 
 make good money employed in fecret fervice 
 abroad. It is clear, that a fum remitted from 
 Holland to defray a portion of the intereft, and 
 extinguifh a part of the principal of that loan, was 
 intercepted by the Exchequer, and applied to 
 other purpofes : confequently, we mud provide, in 
 fome other manner, for the difcharge of ib much 
 intereft, and fuch a portion of the capital, as the 
 Dutch have exonerated themfelves from by that 
 remittance. It comes then to the fame thing as if 
 we had borrowed 34,0001. the amount of that 
 payment, from Holland ; and when it is proved 
 equivalent to a loan, it is, of courfe, precluded 
 from (landing as an article of income. 
 
 It \*ould be fuperfluous to expatiate on the 
 fourth article; the Tontine Loan, money bor- 
 rowed to fupply deficiency of income, never can 
 be reprefented as income. 
 
 A queftion next arifes, with what degree of ad- 
 vantage thefe extra refources have been applied ? 
 I mean, how far their expenditure has operated 
 in really diminiming the public debt during the 
 five years. The flatement which I now lay before 
 
 you,
 
 ( 24 ) 
 
 you, may enable you to judge upon this point 
 more clearly than you well could, from the feveral 
 facts as they Hand difperfed in the Report of the 
 
 Committee. 
 
 The flock bought by the Commiffioncrs up to 
 the i ft of February 1 791, amounted to 6,772,350!. 
 The annual intereft on this fum was 203, 1 70I. 
 
 Here it will be proper to remark to your 
 Lordlhips, that the computation of the National 
 Debt by its capital is indubitably an erroneous 
 mode of confidering it. As the capital of the 
 monies veiled in the funds cannot be demanded 
 of Government, it is only for the regular payment 
 of intereft on thofe monies, at the (rated periods, 
 that Government is refponfible. In other words, 
 Government only owes perpetual annuities to the 
 amount of the intereft agreed for on the depofit of 
 thofe funis ; which annuities are upon certain con- 
 ditions redeemable by the nation. The reduc- 
 tion, therefore, of the public burdens in the five 
 years, is the extinction of an annuity of 203,1 70I. 
 Let us examine how this has been compaffed: 
 the monies applied for the purpofe, beyond the 
 receipt of the five years, may be claiied under 
 three defcriptions; as fums expended, as debts 
 acknowledged, and as debts obvioufly chargeable. 
 With regard to thofe two heads oi>debt, it is ap- 
 parent that they have been thus incurred. Por- 
 tion-, of the annual income which mould have an- 
 
 fwered
 
 ( *5 ) 
 
 fwercd certain current fervices, have been applied 
 to the purchafe of flock. Hence the payment 
 of thofe fervices was either left in arrear, or fup- 
 plied by refources which entailed debt in fome 
 other mape. It mud be underflood, that every 
 annual fervice is defrayed before a furplus can be 
 reckoned : therefore, the application of any fum to 
 the purchafe of (lock, leaving, thereby, a fervice 
 undifcharged, was tantamount to borrowing that 
 fum in order to make the purchafe; and, in that 
 light, the amount of the debt fo incurred is here 
 to be confidercd. 
 
 The detail and amount of thofe extra refources 
 will Hand as follows : — 
 
 Sums Expended. 
 
 £• 
 
 Money in Exchequer, previous to Jan. 
 
 1786 - - - 1,172,119 
 
 Army favings previous to ditto 492,378 
 
 Intereft money for abroad - 34,000 
 
 Tontine Loan - - 1,002,140 
 
 2,700,637 
 
 Debts Acknowledged. 
 
 Navy - - 457.95° 
 
 Deficiency of Grants 80,590 
 
 Ordnance - - 61,909 
 
 600,449 
 
 Carried forward 3,308.086 
 
 E Brought
 
 ( 26 ) 
 
 Brought over 3,301,086 
 
 Debts Chargeable. 
 
 if- 
 
 Additional Exchequer Bills 750,000 
 Anticipated Quarter of the 
 
 Confolidated Fund 628,982 
 
 1,378,982 
 
 Total 4,680,068 
 
 In explanation of the fir ft defcription, nothing 
 need here be added to the illuftration which 
 I before gave of thofe funis. 
 
 Upon the fecond head, the acknowledgement 
 of Minifters leaves no occafion for obfervation. 
 
 The third head requires more dilation; becaufe 
 both the articles contained in it have been the 
 fubject of repeated controverfy. The queftion on 
 the Exchequer Bills (lands thus : in finding a part 
 of the floating debt in 1784, the outftanding Ex- 
 chequer Bills were left at 4,500,0001. In the year 
 1785, the Minifler applied to Parliament for 
 leave to iflue an additional million. This could not 
 be toanlwer any prefTure in the current demands of 
 the year, becaufe your Lordlhips know the in- 
 come did, in that year, exceed the expenditure 
 by more than 900,000!. It could not have been 
 recommended by the refult of the preceding year, 
 
 for
 
 C *7 ) 
 
 for that alfo had produced a large furplus. In fact* 
 it does not appear that more than 250,0001. from 
 that million was applied within the year 1785, 
 The conftruction, therefore, to be put upon the 
 requefl to Parliament for that million neceflarily 
 is, that it was intended as a provifion for extin- 
 guifhing fome other unfettled charge, whofeform 
 might render it more troublefome, than an addi- 
 tion to the amount of Exchequer Bills. I have at 
 this moment in my contemplation the Navy Debt; 
 any part of which that remains undifcharged fo 
 long as (according to the cuftom of the depart- 
 ment) to become entitled to intereft, grows very 
 burdenfome. No application of this nature ap- 
 pears with regard to 750,0001. of the million in 
 queftion. Be it here obferved, that a Diftribution 
 Paper, as it is called, marking the dates at which 
 portions of the million were iifued, could not de- 
 cide the point; for, it is clear, that the whole mil- 
 lion might have been iflued in payment of the 
 current fer vices of the year, and the income natu- 
 rally applicable to thofe fervices might, to the 
 fame amount, have been with-held; which would 
 produce the fame effect of keeping the additional 
 fum in hand: confequently, no part of the million 
 can be deemed to have been expended beyond 
 what (hall correfpond with the amount- of de~ 
 mands liquidated, diftinct from the balance be- 
 tween the fervices and the receipt of the year. 
 In 1786, that additional million was carried for- 
 ward in the new vote of Exchequer Bills. Seven 
 E 2 hundred
 
 ( *s ) 
 
 hundred and fifty thoufand pounds, therefore-; 
 were thrown into the credit of that year. When 
 the Minifter brought forward his plan for the re- 
 duction of the National Debt, upon the fuppofi- 
 tion that there would be an annual excefs of in- 
 come beyond current demand, had he then ap- 
 plied to Parliament that he might add 750,000!. 
 to the debt under the head of Exchequer Bills, 
 in order to produce the excefs which he prophefied, 
 the propofal would have been held laughable. 
 The weaker! capacity would have difcovered that, 
 if the excefs could not be fecured without fuch an 
 aid, the expected furplus was vifionary. To bor- 
 row by way of exhibiting a furplus, would have 
 been a delufion too grois to have palled on any 
 underftanding. Now, practically the carrying for- 
 ward that fum of 7^o,oool. in Exchequer Bills, 
 comes to the fame point, although it was notabfo- 
 lutely granted within the term. If thofe bills 
 are fuppofed to haveexifted as a fum in the hands 
 of Government at the opening of that plan, (and 
 there is no proof of their expenditure previous) 
 they are fubject to the fame remark which I have 
 made upon the other monies exifting in the Exche- 
 quer, when theftatement of its debts was expofed 
 10 the nation by the Committee in 17 86. Or 
 courfe, it mud juftly be charged as an extraordi- 
 nary fum funk within the live years. 
 
 The anticipated quarter is thus circumftanced ; 
 the account of the Confouuated 'Wind ufed to be
 
 ( *9 ) 
 
 made up to Chriftmas. In 1786, the Minifter, 
 having appropriated to the fupplies the quarter's 
 income of that fund, accumulated upon the 5th of 
 April, took four quarters more up to the 5th of 
 April 1787, for the fervice of the year 1786. 
 Thus, to anfwer four quarters expenditure he ap- 
 plied five quarters income. The amount of the 
 fifth quarter thus anticipated, was 628,982!. 
 Take this fum in what light you pleafe, either as a 
 a fum already accumulated, at the difpofal of Go- 
 vernment, or as an anticipation of revenue, it can- 
 not be admitted as a portion of the natural income 
 of the years in queftion. If it is to be confidered 
 as an accumulated fum, always at the command 
 of Government, it ought to have been 10 ftated 
 by the Committee of Finance in 1786, and the 
 nation ought to have had credit to the amount* 
 If it be regarded as an anticipation of revenue to 
 which the quarter's expenditure is not brought 
 up, it is obvious that there is, by that means, a 
 quarter's debt conflantly carried forward. This 
 debt has been added clearly within the five years. 
 The fum, therefore, by the finking of which, this 
 debt was entailed, muft be charged either under 
 this head, or under the head of Money in the hands 
 of Government, previous to the eitablifhment of 
 the plan for the reduction of the national debt. 
 
 The conclufion which I propofe to draw from 
 this flatement, is, that nothing, whatever, has hi- 
 therto been effected towards diminifhir.g the pub-
 
 ( 5° ) 
 
 lie debt, by furplufes of income. I have repre- 
 iented the extraordinary fums expended, under 
 the three ieveral heads, to amount to four mil- 
 lions fix hundred and eighty-thoufand pounds; a 
 total nearly approaching to the entire fum paid 
 into the hands of the Commiflioners. This, your 
 Lordfhips will take notice, was not flock, but fo- 
 lid calh. At four and a half per cent, the intereft 
 on this fum would be £.210,600 
 
 The Commiflioners have reduced the 
 annual demand on the nation for 
 intereft - - 203,107 
 
 It here appears that you have only extinguifhed 
 an annuity of two hundred and three thoufand 
 pounds, by the annihilation of a fum, the return 
 from which would, in the common courfe of in- 
 tereft, have been fuperior. That the 4,750,000!. 
 applied by the Commiflioners, has not expunged 
 an intereft greater than what the 4,680,000!. is 
 rated to produce, arifes N from this circumftance : 
 that in the conftitution of the plan for reducing the 
 public debt, there is a tendency (which ihall be 
 explained prefently) to keep up the price of 
 flock in the fvinds beyond its natural relative va- 
 lue; fo far cloegincr the operation of the meafure, 
 
 Were the confederation to flop here, I fhould 
 have troubled your Lordfhips to little purpofe , i 
 fhould have only indicated what mull, from the 
 
 uncertain
 
 ( 3' ) 
 
 uncertain foundation of fpeculations in finance, 
 too frequently happen, that the public had embra- 
 ced a delufive expectation, under which confider- 
 able fums had been applied, not very advantage- 
 oufly : but we have to look forward ; and it is 
 incumbent on us to form from paft experience 
 fome judgement for the regulation of our future 
 conduct. The principle of calculation which 
 feems leaft liable to error is, that we mould em- 
 brace a period which may give room for all the 
 contingencies ordinarily affecting income and ex- 
 penditure. Let us, therefore, draw an average 
 from the accounts of the five years, as they have 
 been exhibited by adminiftration. 
 
 Produce of permanent £. £. 
 
 taxes for five years 65,303,877 
 •Land and Malt Taxes, 
 
 at 2,558,0001. per 
 
 annum - 12,790,000 
 
 Gains on the Lottery for 
 
 five years - 1,212,692 
 
 5)79,306,569 
 
 Average - 15,861,313 
 
 Expenditure, adding 
 190,0001. for two 
 years Militia - 79,274,923 
 
 Brought
 
 ( 3* ) 
 
 £- £- 
 
 Brought over 79,274,923 15,861,313 
 
 Deduct fecret fervice 
 
 Money - - 187,000 
 
 5)79,087,923 
 
 Average - 15,817,584 
 
 Remainder - 43,729 
 
 Out of this fum of forty-three thoufand (even 
 hundred and twenty-nine pounds, the annual mil- 
 lion is to be provided. I entreat that your Lord- 
 fliips will be pleafed to advert to the ground on 
 which I have formed this eftimate. I have given 
 the amount which flowed from each head of ufual 
 yearly produce, juft as it is flated from the Ex- 
 chequer. I have made no deduction from the re- 
 ceipt for 190,000!. evidently anticipated on the 
 rum duties in 1790. The rum, on its importa- 
 tion, pays no duty; it is lodged in the King's 
 warehoufe ; the merchant takes it out by quanti- 
 ties as there is demand for it; and, in proportion 
 as he takes it out, he pays the impofl. Patt of 
 the provision to defray the expence of the late 
 armament was an additional duty on rum, to take 
 place in January 1791. The Act impofing this 
 duty palled in November 1790; in confequence, 
 every merchant who had rumftored, took it out in 
 the enfuing month to efcape the new tax. I 
 called for the return of the duty paid upon rum in 
 
 laft
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
 lad December, and in the correfponding month 
 of the former year. The duty of laft December, 
 on that article, exceeded the former by above 
 1 90,0001. This is, evidently, an anticipation of 
 part of the income of 1 79 1 ; becaufe, in the ordi- 
 nary courfe, the rum would not have been taken 
 out till after January 1791, when the 190,0001. 
 would have flood part of the income of that year. 
 In like manner on the expenditure fide, I have 
 not made any addition in refpect of the 250,0001. 
 the payment of which was deferred in 1786; al- 
 though it is plain, that in a calculation for future 
 years, four quarters payment of intereft on the pub- 
 lic debt muft be computed in each year ; and I 
 have deducted 187,000k the fum lent abroad, be- 
 caufe I fuppofe it to be included in the expendi- 
 ture, under the head of Secret Service Money; 
 and as I do not reckon the fum in the income, 
 the employment of it fhould not be charged in the 
 outgoings. 
 
 I know that an average drawn from the five 
 years has been oppofed, upon the profeflcd plea, 
 that the firft of thofe five years fe 1 remarkably 
 fhort in point of income; and that the fecond, 
 likewife, was ftill below what had been the ex- 
 pectation. It may be the intereft of a Minifter 
 to inflate the appearance of the finances under 
 his management ; but it never can be the intereft 
 of your Lordlhips, or of the public, to embrace 
 any felf-delufion on fo momentous a fubject. If 
 thofe two years were inferior in income, to what 
 F may,
 
 ( 34 ) 
 
 may, hereafter, be fairly expected ; let it be re- 
 membered, on the other hand, that the latter 
 years have been attended with circumftances of 
 advantage, which muft be confidered as acci- 
 dental and tranfitory. A part of Europe has been 
 engaged in war ; other powers have been convul- 
 fed with internal troubles; and, in others, the acti- 
 vity of commercial enterprife has been checked by 
 the apprehenfion of fimilar diftreffes. Enjoying the 
 inappreciable bleflings of a peace, which I hope 
 we fli all not wantonly caft away, we have drawn 
 emolument from the difficulties of all thole na- 
 tions. We have either directly fupplied the 
 wants, againtl which thole countries had not lei- 
 fure to provide by their own exertions, or we have 
 had the factorage on all the mercantile intercourfe 
 of the better part of Europe. The adventitious 
 increafe to your income from cafualties, fuch as I 
 have ftated, will be wholefomely balanced (if we 
 are in earned in our fearch for a juft ground of 
 expectation) by thofe deficiencies, which, ha- 
 ving occurred once, may occur again. It is 
 evident that a war muft materially affect thofe 
 fources of affluence, whence this nation has latterly 
 been able to pay fuch prodigious fums into the 
 Exchequer ; and many other incidents may be 
 imagined that would fimilarly reduce the amount 
 ol income. You cannot then, upon this ground, 
 expect that your receipt fhall, after the annual 
 charges are paid, furnifh you with the million clef* 
 tinrd to the diminution of the National Debt. 
 And this view of the fubjed is confined by the 
 
 obvious
 
 C 35 ) 
 
 cbvious confideration, that many of the fountains 
 which have fupplied the deficiency of your annual 
 refources during the five years are entirely ex- 
 hausted. Of thefe, indeed, the army favings, and 
 repayment of intereft monies, are the only ones 
 which might bear the appearance of promifing a 
 future fupply ; when their nature is examined, 
 the hope will vanifh : they were the confequen- 
 ces of a war; on the great fcale of which immenfe 
 funis were advanced upon account. The reduc- 
 tion which immediately on the peace took place 
 in all your warlike eftablifhments, precluded the 
 application of much of this money in every depart- 
 ment. The individuals in office, to whom the fums 
 were iffued, on making up their accounts with Go--* 
 vernment, have returned fuch portions of the mo- 
 ney as were not demanded for the fupply of their 
 refpeclive branches of fervice; but they returned 
 them once for all. Having paid in their balances, 
 they have nothing more to pay on that fcore; nor 
 are they likely to contract new debts. You have 
 reftricted your eftablifhments, and have meafured 
 accordingly, the fums allotted for their fup* 
 port* The fource of fupply from favings or repay- 
 ment of imprefl money, at leaft, to any amount, 
 flops here, unlefs the calamity of anew war mould 
 befall us ; or extenlive and repeated armaments 
 fhould leave fomething to be gleaned towards 
 ordinary fervices, from that which the nation 
 (hall have granted for indifpenfable extraordinary 
 Jprovinons. The eftablifhment of a fund, which 
 F % has
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
 has ferved fo well in fupporting the appearance of 
 the five years, would not be very falutarily pur* 
 chafed on fuch terms. 
 
 In fact, the Minifler has been aware of the 
 conclufion that mufl flow from fuch a meafure- 
 ment as I have made ; and to guard againfl it he 
 has reforted to an expedient of a mod extraordinary 
 nature. He has given you an eflimate of your 
 expenditure for the time to come. An eflimate 
 which I confidently fay, is conflructed on no 
 other principle than that on its comparifon with 
 the afiured income it (hall leave a furplus. It 
 does not even affect to give a reafbninjuftification 
 of its limits ; and it fets at defiance all regard to 
 pafl experience. Obferve the detail : — 
 
 The average expenditure of the Navy, £. 
 for the lafl five years, exclufive of 
 the Armaments which are feparately 
 provided for is - 2,289,907 
 
 The eflimate now prefented is - 2,000,000 
 
 Difference 289,907 
 
 The average of the Army for the five 
 
 years is - - 1,880,355 
 
 The eflimate is - 1,748,842. 
 
 Difference 131,511 
 The
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
 The average of Ordnance for the five £. 
 
 years is - 461,668 
 
 The eftimate is - - 375,000 
 
 Difference 56,668 
 
 The average of the five years for mif- 
 cellaneous Services, exclufive of the 
 Loyalists is - - 269,450 
 
 The eftimate is - - 128,416 
 
 . Difference 141,034 
 
 Thus, there is in all near 650,0001. difference 
 between that expenditure which experience warns 
 you to apprehend, and that which is now arbitra- 
 rily affumed. I afk, upon what rational founda- 
 tion is this eftimate offered to you by the Minif- 
 ter r I fay, by the Minifter, becaufe the Members 
 of the Committee have diftinctly declared that they 
 did not think the ground on which that eftimate 
 was formed, a matter within their cognizance. 
 They conceived their province to extend no far- 
 ther than to the companion of fuch documents a> 
 were furniflied to them by the Minifter ; holding 
 the amount ftated in thofe documents reflectively, 
 a matter for which the Minifter alone was refpon- 
 fible. In this, thofe Gentlemen undoubtedly 
 judged well; becaufe, according to the conftruc- 
 tion of the Committee, they had not the means of 
 examining the particulars which conftituted the 
 ■z feveral
 
 ( ss ) 
 
 feveral fums. And, in truth, the fervic'e which 
 they did undertake was fufficiently laborious, and 
 entitled them fully to the applaufe of the public 
 for the induftry and ability of their inveftigation. 
 A more perfpicuous (latement upon fo intricate a 
 iubject has never been prefented to any nation. Ir 
 is in the data alone, for which the Committee is 
 not refponfible, that any error can lurk. I have 
 already charged error againft fome of thofe data ; 
 I now advance my apprehenlion of it with regard 
 to this eftimate. In the year 1786, the Com- 
 mittee, upon as wide a view of documents as thofe 
 which have lately been fubmitted .for infpection, 
 estimated your future expenditure at 14,478,181]. 
 The calculation was arraigned as a wild and arbi- 
 trary fpeculation : it was, however, pertinaciously 
 maintained. After an experience of five years it is 
 abandoned; but it is not abandoned in favour oi 
 the fcale which the experience of the live years 
 might have fubftantiated, A new eftimate is ob- 
 truded upon your credulity, refling upon the fame 
 fpecies of vague afTumption as that of 1786; not- 
 withstanding a mortifying refutation of all the pre- 
 dictions on the fubject, now forces you to admit 
 an error in the fuppofition of the Committee of 
 1786, to the amount of above a million yearly 
 on an average, or of near a million and a half 
 in the lait year. And what is the motive that 
 impels the Minifter to give into this delufion ? 
 It is, that, having pinned the fame of his ma- 
 nagement on the production of a million an- 
 nual
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
 nual furplus : the million muft, at all events, ap- 
 pear to be forth-coming. Had the average ex- 
 penditure of the five years been meafured againft 
 the average revenue of the three beft of thofe 
 years, which the Committee take as the baiis for 
 future expectation, it muft have appeared at once 
 that the furplus million would not exift. The 
 average revenue of the three laft years was 
 16,030,2861. The average expenditure of the 
 five years, deducting the charge for the Loyalifts, 
 which the Lottery is fuppofed to anfwer, and de- 
 ducting the 187,0001. fecret fervice money, 
 amounts to 15,560,709. Obferve that this ex- 
 penditure does not include the million applied an- 
 nually towards liquidating the debt ; therefore, 
 the revenue would exceed the expenditure by no 
 more than 469,5771. Were the eftimate of the 
 expenditure to be taken from the average of the 
 laft three years, as has been done with regard to 
 the income, the balance would be (till fmaller, 
 becaufe, unfortunately, your expenditure feems to 
 have increafed in proportion as your income aug- 
 mented. I will then fay to thofe who bring for- 
 ward the prefent eftimate, " Do you really mean 
 " to condemn your own management of the pub~ 
 ' ' lie treafures for fiv^ years, by dating, as the ex- 
 (i tent of that which the public fervice can require, 
 " a fum fo much fliort of that, which you have ac- 
 £c tually lavilhed?" For, the difference between 
 what has been annually expended during the five 
 years, and that which we are told will be fufficient 
 
 for
 
 ( 40 ) 
 
 for the public fervice, is no lefs than five hundred 
 and eighty -one thoufand one hundred and thirty- 
 one pounds yearly. But, my Lords, the circum- 
 ilanee which mod completely overturns this etli- 
 mate, is- the conduct of the Minifter with regard 
 to the fupplies for the current year. The report 
 in which this eflimate is ufhered to the public was 
 not yet dry from the prefs, when the Minifter him- 
 felf exploded the cftimate by the amount of fupply 
 which he demanded for the ordinary fervice of the 
 year 1791. For the Navy he requires 2,131, coo). 
 For the Army 1,853,000!. For the Ordnance 
 443,ocol. For Mifcellaneous fervice, exclufive 
 of American Loyalifts 2 6o,oool. making, in the 
 whole, after a deduction of 76,0001. to be repaid 
 by the Eaft India Company, 4,612,000!. This 
 js 360,000!. above the eflimate, which fcarcely a 
 fortnight before he had offered to the nation, as. 
 defcribrng the probable future expenditure under 
 thefe heads. You will remark, that this demand 
 is for the ordinary fervices, and has no relation to 
 v .hc exifting armament; under the provifion fSr 
 svfoich one might rather fufpeel fome portion of 
 the excelfive charge for ordinary fervices would 
 be fmothered. Yet one may doubt, whether, 
 even by this demand, adequate provifion has been 
 made for the feveral fervices ; as each of the arti- 
 cles falls fhort of the correfpondent article taken 
 ?n the average of the five years. In the article of 
 mifcellaneous fervices, efpecially, there is reafon 
 to look forward to a heavier charge. On the aver- 
 age
 
 ( 4t ) 
 
 rage of five years, the lottery has not anfwered the 
 expence of the Loyalifts. If that refource conti- 
 nue inadequate, the refidue of their claims muft be 
 otherwife furnifhed under the head of Mifcellane- 
 ous fervices. No proviiion appears to have been, 
 confidered for the completion of Carleton Houfe: 
 a provifion which muft not only be expected, but 
 in common decency deiired, nay, in mere eco- 
 nomy ; otherwife, the fum already granted on ac- 
 count has been waftefully expended on that build- 
 ing. I feel no little pleafure that the report of a 
 Committee of the Houfe of Commons renders it 
 unneceffary for me to enter upon thofe difcuffions 
 on the fubject, which I mould have otherwife 
 thought indifapenfable. Suffice it, that the public 
 has been diftin&ly informed by the Committee, 
 how the money already granted for that building 
 has been applied; that the Prince of Wales never 
 affumed the direction of that fum appropriated to- 
 wards the completion of an edifice, which (though 
 the refidence of his Royal Highnefs) is the pro- 
 perty of the King ; but caufed the architect to 
 draw for the money as it was required, accounting 
 for the expenditure to his Majefty's Board of 
 Works. The object of that grant being to render 
 the habitation becoming for the Heir Apparent of 
 the Crown, it is to be conceived that the purpofe 
 will not be dropped in the middle. If we wifh, 
 really, to form a juft idea of what are likely to be 
 our out- goings, we cannot but look forward to 
 this among many other impending expences, for 
 
 G which
 
 ( 4- ) 
 
 which po allowance appears to have been made in 
 the calculation. 
 
 It may now he afked, what is the view and ob- 
 ject of all this detail ? For, if no fuggellion that 
 may be of public advantage is to be deduced from 
 it, your Lordfhip's time has been unprofitably em- 
 ployed in liftening to the ftatement. Surely, 
 however, an inference of immediate importance 
 prefents itfelf irrefiftibly : I mean the neceffity of 
 adopting fome principle of real and not orienta- 
 tions economy, which fnall flop the growth ot 
 your expences, if not reduce them. For it is a 
 lamentable confideration, that, in proportion as 
 your income has been augmented by the imposi- 
 tion of new taxes, or a (meter exaction of old 
 ones, your expenditure, alio, has increafed. In 
 i 7 86, a tax to produce ioo,oool. annually was all 
 that was held out as neceflary to eniure a million 
 furplus in each year. Year alter year new bur- 
 dens have been laid on the country, and the pro- 
 posed effect is not yet Secured. The caule is obvi- 
 ous; you let out with a plan of reflricting your ex- 
 pences to 14,478,181!. annually; but, in the very 
 next year you exceed that eftimate by more than 
 twelve hundred thoufand pounds; and, in this laft 
 ye ir you have exceeded it above a million and a 
 half, l^fad the expenditure been kept down, and 
 the income proved inadequate to produce the mil- 
 li >n towards reducing the debt, the impofition ot 
 freih taxes would have been accounted for to the 
 
 fa tit faction
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 fatisfaction of every man. For there can be but 
 one opinion as to the neceffity of endeavouring 
 to diminifh the debt ; though there may be much 
 difference of fentiment, whether the prefent plan 
 for affecting that object be the bed that could 
 have been adopted. To anatomize that plan, 
 though not foreign to the prefent difcuffion, would 
 lead me into too great extent. It is fufficient to 
 have fhown, from the documents of Minifters, as 
 I truft I have fliown, that you have made little pro- 
 grefs in your undertaking; and that you are not 
 likely to make a much greater without a pofitive 
 and ferious reduction in your current expences. 
 It is not the difappointment alone or the dangers 
 of delay that are to be lamented; but the plan is 
 attended with inconveniences that would render it 
 highly objectionable, were there not a rational 
 profpect of real advantage to refult from it. In 
 order to keep up the appearance of furpluffes in the 
 Exchequer, a thoufand little expedients mud be 
 retorted to, ruinous to the individuals upon whom 
 they apply : I mean the retardment of payments 
 to the dalles of men whofe neceffities molt require 
 punctuality of fupply ; loyalifts, half-pay officers, 
 penfioners, fervantsof the State in all the different 
 branches of employment, whofe allowance from 
 the public is their only fupport. Another evil of 
 the fcheme is, the delufion in which it holds the 
 public with refpe<fl to the funds : heretofore, the 
 rate of the funds was a criterion which gave fome 
 indication of the general profpeiity. When the 
 G 2 funds
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 funds funk, the vigilance of Government or of the 
 nation was attracted to difcover and remedy the 
 caufe; at prefent the eftimation of the funds is 
 wholly fallacious. It is obvious what muft be the 
 confequence of the notoriety, that, at leaft, 
 250,0001. is to be laid out by Government every 
 quarter in purchafing flock whatfoever be its 
 price in the market. The tendency of this ar- 
 rangement is naturally to induce each (lock-holder 
 to increafe the valuation which he puts on his 
 flock; for he argues, that if by aiming at too high 
 a price he miffes his fale in the immediate inftance, 
 he has the chance of the next quarter open to him. 
 The effect of this is vifibly to counteract, in a ma- 
 terial degree, the main purpofe of the plan ; fince 
 in proportion as ftock is bought by the com- 
 miffioners, that which remains to be purchafed 
 will be heightened in p ice. It is from this influ- 
 ence that the rate of the funds is kept up without 
 advertence to external circumltances ; fo that, as 
 you have feen, they have not been affected by even 
 impending war. 
 
 Thefe confiderations, however, are trifling in 
 comparifon with others. I have met perfons fo 
 flrangely deluded by the outward fhow of things, 
 as to confider the magnitude of the burden under 
 which the country labours a proof of its profperity. 
 It is true, that a nation which had not acquired an 
 extraordinary degree of opulence could not have 
 fuflained fo fevere a draft upon its induilry; but 
 
 the
 
 ( 45 ) 
 the effe<ft of thofe imports, as counteracting that 
 induftry and ruining that opulence, ought to be 
 ferioufly weighed. The habits of an activity 
 which has led to affluence, will not be at once 
 abandoned ; becaufe it will not, at once, be per- 
 ceived that affluence no longer accrues to the indi- 
 vidual from them. But it is clear, that the com- 
 plication of taxes affecting every article of fufle- 
 nance rauft operate to reprefs the growing gain of 
 the manufacturer, and of the country at large. 
 For, upon thofe commodities, which are to be 
 fold in a foreign market, and the produce of which 
 keeps up the circulation of this country, mult be 
 charged all the additional burdens with which Go- 
 vernment directly or indirectly loads the manu- 
 facturer ; otherwife his work would not make him 
 a neceffary return for his labour. Hence, the 
 commodity offers itfelf at (o high a price in fo- 
 reign countries, that it is beaten out of the mar- 
 ket by the productions of other nations; poffibly 
 not of equal quality, but fo reafonable as to ex- 
 tinguifh the other confideration. Add to this the 
 political confequence which muft, in fome degree, 
 foilow your prefent fyftem of finance. If your 
 Lord (hips will turn to the items which conititute 
 your income, you will perceive that the material 
 increafe of your revenue arifes from the extenfion. 
 of the excife; a mode of taxation which the exi- 
 gencies of the State unfortunately render indifpen- 
 iable, but which is, in its nature, the molt vexa- 
 tous, and the mod repugnant to the idea of a free 
 
 community
 
 ( 4^ ) 
 community that can poflibly be imagined. There 
 is not one of you, even in your situations, that are 
 not expofed to the tcazing intuits infeparable from 
 that fpecies of collection. The habit of acqui- 
 elcence, under the overbearing intrusions which 
 the officers of excite are authorifed and necesTita- 
 ted to make, breaks the fpirit of a people in a 
 dangerous degree, and makes them fee little to be 
 loft by entire fubmisTion to abfolute power. And 
 it is an axiom which mould never be forgotten, 
 that power is in its nature lo progressive and en- 
 croaching, as not to be refilled but by general 
 compact, and by preciie definition of fome boun- 
 dary, which (howfoever indifferent in itfelf that 
 boundary may lcem) it muft never be permitted 
 r .o over-ftep. The reflection is the more material 
 as the magnitude of your public debt enrols a 
 body which weighs heavily againtl constitutional 
 energy. Thev, whole fnpport flows iolely from 
 the public funds, and whofe lecuritv refts upon 
 the public tranquillity, mufl fupport, indifcrimi- 
 natelv, every admininiftration, whatfoever be 
 their meafures. For thefe fluctuations, on which 
 ;he falvation of public liberty might depend, 
 would, to fuch men, be attended with hazard of 
 considerable diminution in the value of their pof- 
 fesTions ; therefore, they are interested both to 
 preach and practife apathy, under every invasion 
 of conflitutional rights. 
 
 I will
 
 ( 47 ) 
 
 I will conclude this difcuffion by obferving, 
 that any Minifter may increafe the revenue of this 
 country; for it is not only to lay new taxes to 
 which the good fenfe and sreneral information of 
 the people of Great Britain will always fecure a 
 cheerful obedience ; but the aim of a Minifter 
 ought to be to render fuch burdens of fhort dura- 
 tion, by applying their prefent produce to the ex- 
 tinction of annual claims upon the nation. If he 
 fuffer the increafed receipt to be 1 wallowed by the 
 augmentation of current expences, the additional 
 fums which he raifes on the public are a grievance. 
 It mud be from reform in the expenditure that 
 any Minifter (hall have a right to claim credit 
 with the nation. So far from any fuch reform 
 having taken place during the five years, it is evi- 
 dent that your expenditure has increafed immo- 
 derately; and unlets fome important reduction 
 (hall fpeedily take place, it cannot fail to lead you 
 into extreme difficulties. 
 
 II K
 
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 The REPORT from the SELECT COMMITTEE, to 
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 snd other Papers prefented to the Houfe of Commons, relating 
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 REPORT from the SELECT COMMITTEE appointed to 
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 relating to the Public Income and Expenditure ; — and to report 
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