Star. — London, England, 1805-03-14 00:00:00

rig ~0113 E OF COMMONS, W'SDNESDAY, MARCH s 3. nr. Theca:saws precasted the papers which bad twee ordered Spretios Sir Heme Popham. A perfoo from the Secretary of State's Oiee prefeeted ah Ae roma which had been ordered of the Ezpenee incurred for the re-vice of the Volunteers of Great Britain in thalaft year. . . Sir Joint New roar poftponcti hit motion for an Inquiry into the State of the pour of Inland, till Monday next. Sir Wit.i.ta to Scott pee noticelhat he fblibld 'solve on Wed- D4ftloy next fur Imve to bring in a Bill to regulate Prie• Mr. J. LATOUCHC prefented a Petition from the Wholeftle Merchants. of Dublin, and another from the Retail Merchants of the fame City, apiuit the 6 per Cant. Duties. HILL OF MAN. Mr. C moved that an bumble Addrefs bonld be peefent= ed to his Mikity, praying him to &red that a Copy mould be 1. 1 before the Hoare, of the CommltUtet appoindng John, Duke Of Athol, Governor of the kle of Man, which Commiftion was da - ed an the 14th of February. 1793: and alfo, that the Clerk of • littels of the raid Mud mould produce a Copy of the Commit non appoln!lisgLord Henry Mersey Lieutenant-Governer of the lIIIIDDLIM !VICTIM Sir Joust ANDERSON prefented a PetitiOn from George BlnitonMainwaring, Efoi. Mr.Thernton Mr. Mellifh, Sir Wm. Gibbons, Mr. Cockerill, and °titers, Freeholders of the County of Middlefex, againft the return of Sir Francis Burdett, Bart. , The Petition fet forth, , , That the Petitiewers were Freeholders, and entitled to vote at ' tee late elation ; that Sir Francis Burden, Bart. and George Bool e in Mainwaring, Efq were Candidates to reprefent the hid Coun ty In Parliament. as Knights of the Shire; that the faid eledtion c onamenced on the std of July lag at Brentfoed,and the poll eon einued open fifteen days, under the direetion of Shaw and Leigh on, Sheriff The Petition then Rated, that Sir Francis Burdett, But. by his friends, agents, and Partizans. with divers other wicked and evil dirpored perfons,regardkfs of the laws of elealon. and the pains and penaltim of perjury, and in violation of the fta ewe!. in that cafe made and provided. and intending to defeat the tights of ehc Twat Freeholders, and to defraud them of their privi lege and frandatfe, &I combine and confederate, by means of fie uncial and pretended Voters, to obtain a colourable majority for the (hi Sir Francis Burdett, and by theft, and other onlawful mean, to procure Sir Francis Burdett to rave in Parliament, in oppobdon to the votes of the real majority of the Freeholders of the county; and that the Laid Sir Francis Burdett, Ms agents , friends, and partizans. In furtherance of their faid porpofe, did procure perfons to reprefent thernfelves as. and alfwie the names of freeltoPers, and 'pore particularly during the latter days of the Paid Eledion, did procure divers unqualified perfons to be fent to poll; that notwithltanding, before fuck perfom =tired their nurses WI ;sr poll, they were deteeted, yet that Sir Francis Bur dett, 144,ftkeds. partisans, and managers, did eaufe and procure great numbers of inch fake and fietitious Freeholders, who took the Frecheider's reel, and the oath againft bribery, to be received a.O placed uptri the poll, and did caufe and procure divers perfons teigive their v J?es for the raid Sir Franciißurdett, and to vote for froebotda In raccet to which they bad no right, and alto to vote more than once, and by gifts and rewards, did procure tbofe who wed qualified, as well as thole who were not qoalified, to vote feviial times at the laid Ekaion ; and, in furtherance of their faid &Ilan, did prevail on the faid Sheriff to put certain on the poll on the I rth day, wiso had no dew to vote. lt ° , l2 t i s l y theft nets, the raid Sir Francis Burdett. his friends, ajeQls, sad pm, did did procure a majority of one vote ; by tncamf of which the fad Sir Francis Burdett was unlawfully returned. althoio the feid George Boohoo Mainwaring had a large majority of lawful vales, and ought to have been returned duly eleEted. The Ped dun concluded by praying relief. A converfatton took place between Mr. Thornton, Mr. Creevy, Mr. Sturges Bourne,and the Chancellor of tfie Exchequer ' • the refult of which was, that Turf day, the gth of A pril next. was appointed for taking the faid Petition into confederation. COMMITTIII OF SUPPLY. • Mr. FOSTER. moved that the Order of the Day &mid be read for the Houle refolving itfelf into the Paid Committee. He then moved as an inftrudion to the Committee, that the Ails paired in the 4oth year of his M..jefly, in the Ira Parliament. as alfo thofe of the 39th, 4oth, 43d, and 44th in the Britilh Par liament, relating to the Revenues of Ireland. thould be laid before the Paid Committee.—Ordered. IRISH MIDGET. Mr. FOSTER—'t Sir, having detained the Corn. enittee laft year at confiderahle length on the fubjed of the fitnation of Ireland, I (ball not now have occa lion to go A mncb into detail. I (ball begin with a fe wt biervatiofts as to the Rate of the trade oflreland, and 1 am happy in laying, that although the trade hes n..t In much advanced as I could have wilhed, yet It is in a far better fituation than it was Come time .ego. A very Rion Ratement will elucidate this po fito.n. The impr.rts were to the amount of 3,700,0001. Lill year. The imports for the five years preceding were on an average 3,70ch0001. fo that in fad the imports for the IA year have kept pace with the average of the former five years. The exports amount ed te 4,980,0e01. lark year, which is much beyond what they have reached at any period during the laft ten years. Therefore, the quellion Rands thus—there ha. been no alarming increafe in the imports lark year, and the exports exceed the amount of the preceding years. With regard to the exports, there is Come thing arremely confolatory to be remarked. The linen trade has increafed, dining the three quarters of tht lair year ending in Oftober, 2,000,000 of yards beycl d the exports of the fame period of the preced ing y. at—therefore we may eonclnde, that the ex ports of the whole of laft year would have greatly exceeded the exports of the formers years. In the imports of lark year, as compared with the preceding year, there is an excels of (owe of the materials of mantfafture—that excels is on theraw materials only, lush as course yarn and cotton wool. With regard to the linen trade, the whole of the excels during the three quarters of the laft year, compared with the three quarters of the preceding year, is 3,000,000 of yards ; the principal part of this increafe arifes from the exports to the Colonies in the Weft Indies. Here allow me to remark, that if in laying on taxes we do not hinder trade and manufatftures, we do well; and if in taking off taxes we promote trade, we do better. Lail year the export tax on the linen trade -was taken off, and there was an excels of 3,000,000 of yards—fir far with relpetft to trade. We ftand not the fittiation Yee did fume years ago ; we are not i i a declining way, taken upon a comparifon with firmer years. The balance of the imports for the I tit years amounts to 1,193,0001. a year official value. Take the excefs of the tali year, and it is only 63c.0.tt01. fo that the excels of the import over the export trade is not one half of what it has been for the WI five years. With retired to the debt of Ire• Land, let us fee how it hat increafed. I (hall not enter into the cattle or the means of preventing to I age an increafe. We can at leaft thew that we have Gepped the proves of that increafe. In January sooa. th? debt of Ireland was 33,0c050c01. It had the year before been 34,000,0 0 0 l. fo that there was arderreafe of t,oco,ooul. The increafe now will not be half that amount ; fo that we may fay we are in a better lituntion than we were at the dole of the laft year. Having Rated the fituation of the trade, and the debt of Ireland, I will proceed to lay Wine the I Committee the demands; and the Ways saf tia for meeting them. The whole charge of felt lllos, for the debt of Ireland, including the Sinking Fund, is L 611,6231. The proportion of 2-tyths a the fum raifed by England, for the joint charge for the lervice of the year, is 5,403.1021. Britifb, or 5,853,3601. Ira, making together the fur of 8449831. which is the fum Ireland is to provide to pay the interek of her debt and her quota of contri bution. Certainly it is a very large fern, and one cannot apply one's attention too much 'to the means of leffening it. In order to meet this demand, I (hall take the revenues of Ireland at 4,000,0001._ I Stall explain my reafon for taking them at that fum * lentil. A loan has been fettled for at 2,500,0001. which is 2,708.3331. kills. A further loan is intended oft 000,0001. There was a retidue, on the sth of January, of the loan of Taft year, n the amount of 73 8, 7 3 9 1. Brita, or 800,354 1. [. Itith, which has not been tranfmitted to the Irish reafury,anal I (hall therefore bring it forward. This comes to 8,508,6871. to meet a charge of 8,464,9831. The nest thing will be to raife the Ways and Means for the intere(t of 2.500,0001. Email!), and 1,000,0001. MA). 01;_at millions, at 6177 - 4- - Stha per cent. the B:11:iflt hint charge - On spoo,ooo, fuppofe at fame rate, 17 2,06 s 186,400 68,8 as Mtking in the avhqle a charge, including the Sinking Fund, of C 255 .2 25 have Rated that I take the revenues of Ireland at 44004=1. I thall now explain the reafon why.— They produced tall year 2,f100,0n01. The principle I go on is to put the revenues at a full peace eftablifh ment, and to rule the additional wat expences. I foppofe that the revenues will produce taoomool. more than lift year. It is pleafant to knot, that the taxes which the Haute thought proper to propofe lift year, with the exception of the taxes on excite, have operated in the grofs, perfettly to my fatisfdion.— . The whole revenues of the country, for the two quar ters ending Midfummer, 004, amount to 1,334,0001. for the two quarters ending srh Jan. t 805, i. 886,0001. The excels of the two quarters ending sth January is 552,c001. more than the excels of the preceding quo , ters. Without going into minutiae, I hate the reve nues to have gained by an acquifninn of 552,0001. I know that the duties on the dittilleries are not col lect! as they ought to he. lam well warranted in laying, that if a proper mode of collating them had been retorted to, they would have amounted to con fiderably more than they have done. lam pertuad ed, that, with the addition of the duties on the dii. tilleries, collated as they ought to be, the revenues of Ireland, in time of peace, will not produce leis than 4,500,0001. Rating the debt at 2,500,0001. there will be 2,000,c0001. over. Naw 2,000,0001. cannot be expended in a peace ellablitbment, sinters tg,ooo,ocol. are expended in England. In talking of the allec lion of the retenues, - 1 believe many Gentlemen who hear me can bear tetlimony, that there is not a city or county in Ireland where the duties on dittilleries are pettedly collated ; they are not collated in the counties of Galway, Tyrone, or the province of Con. naught. As to the city of Dublin, Ido not with to detail what I know concerning the collation of the revenue in it ; but I will fay this much, that there is fcarcely a dittiller in Dublin who has not adually avowed to me that he has defrauded the revenue. It is owing to the wretched fyflem with regard to the lower officers of excife ; their means are fo (mall, and their habits of expence Co great, that without raifiug their falaries confiderably, as the reward of diligence and merit, we (hall never be able to prevent the dif tiller from alts of fraud and peculation. There are :7 or t 8 dillillers, that not long ago, en being exa mined, refufed to e examined on oath, and attually fent in a memorial, Bating, that it would be an. aft of perfidy in them to difclofe faits that would be in jurious to others, and that they cculd not, as honelt men, make any difcovery. This they fairly acknow ledged to me, and I recollea, that in the books of one difliller in particular, there was a charge of I :col. paid to revenue officers. Without the utmoll exer tions of the Com:l:droners of Excife, and at the fame time bettering the condition of the revenue, officers, you can never make any alteration. I hope the pe riod will not be long when you will ameliorate the Excife Laws, and make them more fair and ecfnita ble with regard to thofe who pay the duties. It is a fa& that the Sub•Commillioners of Excife are them felves the feizing officers ; therefore, until that is re medied, it is impoffible that the excife trial can be palatable. The nearer we can get to the civil mode of trial in proceedings relative to revenue, the better. It is particularly important that the colleaion orthe excife duties iliould be under one Board. I hope, on Come future occafion, to call the attention of the Houfe to this fubjett. The objea is to find the ways and means for this fum of 255,2:51. a year. Firft, I fhall propofe a tax on (everal articles, which, tho' of importance, yet, with the exception of one, are trifling as objeas on which taxation will be felt.— It is (caret worth while going through the whole de tail. Iloropofe to inereafe the duties on the impor tation or TIMM( ' &aims, PEPPER; &C. _ An Honourable Gentleman who reprefents the City of Waterford kerns alarmed at the idea of a Tax on Timber ; but if he thinks that the revenue mutt neeefrarily be railed on fomething, there is no thing on which a tax can fall in lightly as on foreign timber. It will certainly not ailed the poorer claffes. There is hardly a cabin of a poor man in Ireland, that is made of foreign timber. I do not knew of any cabin that is not built of high timber. Per. haps in Waterford it may be otherwife, owing to its contiguity to the tea , The dirties I propofe are there: , double the duties on all timber, exceptcleal, and halm the duties on deal. The reafon why Gentlemen mould net be alarmed at this duty is, that it will not amount to a quarter of what is received in Great Bri tain. Thefe duties, altogether, I eflimate at 36,0001. The three or four next taxes will not fall on the poor. One is a tax nil MOasts— Not on agricultural honks (a largh )—riding honks, and horfes that draw carriages. The duty I propofe will be much fmaller than what is paid in England. It will be 3s. for a Tingle honk. The next is a tax on DOGS. It will be of confcquence to the• poor people of Ireland, that inftead of maintaining five or fix dogs, only one fltould be allowed. The horfcs I eftimatc at 4ochooo, and dogs at 8000. The next tax I pro pole is on CURSICLES. Why thnuld not curricles pay the fame as four winded carriages, as they anfwer the Lane purple ? pfiopoli that a curricle with two wheels &ell be con- Mend as a carriage with font wheels. There are amber iittd of carriages . which do not pay duty.— They are ufed as fubllitutes for chaiks. I mean GiCS. Mg, are untaxed. I propofe to put a fmall duty upon them. There is another fpecies of carriages, called JAUNTING cats, Which may be confidered At objeUs of taxation, as they are confidered to be the siir-amia of the poor people. I fhall not impofe fuch a tax as will oblige them to put them down, I fhall propofe ss. a piece. The whole of thefe duties, I estate, will produce to,oool. a year. With yelped to the next tax I pro pole, I am afraid fome Gentlemen will be angry with me; I copy the example of England. It is well known that Bachelors pay very :tale towards the revenue ; I prt.pore an addition of t p. on every Ba chelor's male fervant. This will produce about 40001. The next tax I have to fubmit to the Com mittee is on miurn, HATS, AND AUCTIONS. This I expel will produce tr,oool. I propofe to raife ao,oool. by a tax on the 103 T OFFICE, An additional id. a letter.—With regard to the PA Office, I thould mention, that it is in contemplation to recommend a meafure for the prevention of the frequent robberies of the Mails, by fending them in coaches. The bea mode of ctrrying this into dila will be to recommend to Giani Juries, to dire& the making proper roads through which the mail coaches are to travel, and with that view to take care that Surveyors are appointed to mike the roads as com plete as poffible, and pretent thole who neglea their duty. By this mode we (hall take nu money out of the Public Treafury, and no more than is abfolutely necelfary from individuals. There is another tax which I do not with to refort to direftly, but it is ne, ceffary I Mould mention it. I need not remind Gen tlemen, that in the year 179 t the Health Money du ties were taken off the lower order-, and railed on the higher. Houfes that had one hearth amounted to nearly coo,oool. There were comparatively very few houfes that had two hearths. The whole lots to the Public, by taking off the tar, was 25,0c01. What I with to do is not to revive the tax, but to lay a tax on M 011328 UNDER. SEVEN WINDOWS, Whefe the perfons inhabiting them pay so Millings a year, the tax I propofe is three (billings. But to guard the poor man from being called on, he mull fwtrar be is not worth tol. or does not rent land to the amount of 51. a year. In order to be liable to the tax, he mull pay sos. a year for his houfc, or he worth tot. or rent si. a year in land. I cannot think this will difirefs any one. Gentlemen will fee that we are aMmilating . ourfelves to England. Inflead of taxing houfes according to the hearth:, we exempt them till they are rated at (even windows. This tax will bring back 2 1,0001. a year ; but then we muff derludl 63001. for houfes of five and fix windows, to be exempted as in Britain ; fo that the Sum I take credit for is is,occl. The& are, I think, the whole I have to propofe, except one, which can only fall on thnfe who are able to bear taxes. It is a tax of zsl. per cent. on all windows above (*even. This I ellimate at 31,0001. I mean to propofe a tax, with a view to facilitate the intercourfe between the two countries, an object which mull be the vtifla of every man. Every one knows, that if the harbours he fo arranged that the packets could fail at low water, when the wind is favourable for them, it will prevent their being obliged to wasp out. The tax I propofe is for the purpofe of ameliorating the condition of the two Harbours of Dublin and Waterford, making both as convenient as potlible. I mean to propofe that every paffenger who crolres the water (ball pay a toll. This will be the fubjeet of future ennfidera. Lion. There is one more tax which I eftimate at 170,0001. It is by an increafe on • STAMPS AND LICENCPS. With regard to the Stamps, I mean to propnfe the rates of duties another day. The Licences will he thole granted to Autainneers, Brewers, and others. The tax will be not at all injurious to trade. One article only remains, and that is the Treafuty Bills, which I make no prnvifinn for at prefent, but I fhall referee it for a.future day, when I think it neceffary to trouble the Committee. The whole of the Ways and Means as I have Rated them will Rand thus— RECAPITULATION. Increafed Duties on Import of Timber, Rapine, Pepper, and Sun& les - - - £ 36,000 Tax on Horfes and Dov - - - 4 8 . 000 on Curricles, Gigs, and Jaunting Cars - rc.oco .-- on Male Servants of Bachelors - - 4, 000 on Hooks under (even windows, mcool. but cl , cludt 60004 for Houfes of five and fix windows, to be exempted, a. in Britain - - t 5,000 ... on Paper, Hats, and Auftions . - a z,ozo —25 L cent. on Windows . --- Increafed Stamps and Licences - on Poit Office, additional ad. a Letter 70,000 This in Brit& Money is £ 195,000 Is trim Money 211,150 • AdditionalPollage do,oOo Windows 3i,ooo—Total, 265050 L The Right Honourable Gentleman faid he did not think it neceffiry further to trouble the Committee, tinier' he fhnuld be required to explain any part of his ftatement." He concluded by moving his fiat re. folution.—On the fii It refolotion being read, Mr. JAMES FITZGERALD rOfe, and regret ted that the public accounts of Ireland, which had been moved for, were not ]aid before the Houfe on an earlier day than the sth inaant ; if they had, Gentlemen would be much better able to go into the prefent molt important, and at the fame time in tricate fubjea. Before he lhonld call the attention of the Honfe to the particulars of the natement made by his Right Hon. Friend (Mr. Fofter), he mull proteft against, and even cenfure the habit of anticipating the revenue in Ireland, long before it was received in the Treafurv. Much inconvenience arnfe from this prattice, and he believed a great deal of injury likewife refolted from it to the country.— He could not refrain from lamenting that balances to an enormous amount fhould be constantly left in the hands of the Colledors. It was in vain therefore that we looked for a produeive revenue, whilft this anticipation and its confequent evils afili4led the country, and interfered with the application of the taxes in the moil fltitable ways. He did not think that it was peceffary to raife any new taxes under the prefent circumfiances of Ireland, or that any ground of neceffity had been made out for them. From the review he had taken of the financial (late of that country, however unfavonruble it appeared, he thoight he could fatisfy the Houk that his pre,lol- tion was well founded. His Right Honourablen lend calculated the Revenue at 4,000,0c01. the Luau 3,500,0301. and gave credit for 800,3543. Nov- the whole of the Cum to be raifed amounting to no more than 8,464.,9831. it (truck him that any additiooal taxes were quite unnecetiiry4 ; arid Lc put it to the candour of the Houte whether they fhould be im poled. He faid that the propofed taxes were unne ceffary, becaufe there remained du: to the Treofury of Ireland a great deal more than was fufficient for covering the fufficiency, and the fools to which he alluded were the balances in the 11,:nds of the Col letors, the revenues (till due, and the arrears of ti.e quit-rent; which amounted to to zooeool. The Houle would he ationdhed to hear, that the balancet which remained hot year in the hands of the Collec tors were no lets than 600,0001. He did not reckon much, however, on the greater pate of this, s he fuppofed a great deal of it could never he tocover. ed, and the reR at confiderable expence. The next fource which he fhould propofe for the Sooply would be, the furplus of the Confolidated Fund taken at 264,6191. and the profit of the Irith Lottery rated at too,oool. The Pottage of Letter, he (hoot.' alto reckon at 440001. The Extroordinat its, or the ex pences thus termed, if welt regulated. would, he was convinced, add confiderably to the means of the country; he meant, by not being at all times a con fiderable and weighty drawback on its refources.— There was one branch under the head of Extraurdi naries, which, he trotted, would be reilrieted : he meant the gain to this country, and the confequent lots to Ireland, on tronfmitting money to the hills Treafory. Here the Honourable Gentleman notic ed the nature of the late loan, and the difproportion ed exchange at which it was fent to Ireland. The Right Honourable Gentleman alto took a dote view of the relative fituation of both countries, and the balance of their refpedive debts, with a contrail of what fhould be the proportion of each, according to the Articles of the Union : 30,000,000 due by Ire land on the firtt of March 1802, were in proportion to 469,800,c1001. due by England, as one to Is. — When the debt of England was 469,800,0001. the debt of Ireland Ihould be 62,643,0001. in order to make it equal to it in the propot lion of 71 to one.- 53,926,3561. debt of Ireland were in proportion to 484,952,6321. debt due by England, nearly as one to eight, and tome &anio n s. To make the debt of Ireland equal to that of England, in the proportion of 7i to t, it fhould be 64,555,1721. The Hon. Gen tleman proceeded to great length in this contrail of calculations, and concluded with expreffing a molt ardent with that the affairs of Ireland were before the Houle. The real condition of -that country would convince Gentlemen that its ability to pay its proportion of the joint expereceo of the.ernpire had been totally over-rated. What the motive for thiS could have been he knew not, unlefs it proceeded from vanity, or interefted moiives in thole who were concerned in the arrangement which brought it about. Ireland was literally a bankrupt at the time of the Union, and had been getting worfe ever fince; it was obvious, therefore, that Ireland could not dif o charge her (hare of the unequal contrast entered into for her, and of courfe that England Ihould ultimate ly pay all. Having laid thus moth, he felt it in cumbent on hint to obferve, before he fat down, that if his Right Hon. Friend (Mr. Fotter) perfevered in moving the refolutions, he thould give them his negative. Mr. FOSTER replied, that he had no objeftion to apply the ballances in the Collestors' hands to the purpofe mentioned by his Right Honourable Friend who had Jolt fat down, but the difficulty was to get it paid. Situated as both countries were at this mo ment, would it be wife or politic to leave the fupplies, or any part of them, dependant on mere contingen cies. It was impoffible to make up the accounts Co precifely as not to leave fume of the money in the Commiffioners' hands. It was the praftice from time immemorial to do Co ; and he was convinced, from his own experience, that the object of his Hon. Friend was unattainable, and this could not, therefore, be taken into ferious confideration as a certain fund for the exigency of the moment. His Hon. Friend would alto apply the furplus of the Confolidated Fund in the fame manner ; but did he not know that the whole of that furplus was to be appropriated by Parliament to the paying off certain arrears for which it was intended. If it were taken away, there would he no fund then for this purpofe. His Hon. Friend likewife took credit for z,000,0001. as if the money had been in the Trcafury. This was certainly as great an anticipation of the revenue as any which his Hon. Friend had charged to the Government of Ire land. He hoped he would excufe him for raying, that the Public Accounts of Ireland were laid this year before Parliament much earlier than they had been ever been laid before the Parliament of Ireland, on which Account he Ihould return his thanks to the Officers, for having made up their accounts with fuch accuracy and promptitude. He paid the greateft attention to the obfervations of the Hort. Gentleman, but he did not hear any ground advanced which could induce him to withdraw, or alter the taxes which he had the honour of propofing. Sir JOHN NEWPORT faid, could not con ceive why no account had•been given of the two mil lions due from Great - Bfitain to Ireland ever fince the palling of the AEt of Uriion. Had that refource been Rated and retorted to previnufly to the Budget, it mutt Purely have Coperfeded the neceffity of refort ing to new taxes, to the amount of 255,0001. It was Cutely full time that there accounts Ihould be fettled, as the Committee formerly appointed had only met two or three times, and came to no determination. He expreffed very ftrong objections m the propofed tax upon the importation of timber, as whatever may be the cafe in the county of Louth, or thole parts of Ireland with which the Right Hon: Gentleman (Mr. Fofter) was beR acquainted, it would operate very injurioufly to the comforts of all the cottagers in thofe parts of Ireland with which he was particu larly conneCted, where native timber was fo fcarce that they were obliged to have recourfe entirely to fuch as was itnported. Notwittittonding this ne ceffity, he was forty to obferve, that the tax upon foreign timber was regularly augmented every year fince the Union. Mr. CO it RY raid, that he was glad to find, from what had fallen from the 'Cat Honourable Gentle man (Mr. Fofter), that a new light was thrown on a circumflance which was in difpute between them laft year, as to the difficulty of calling iu the bo-