The Sun. — London, England, 1802-12-11 00:00:00

IMPERIeIL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF PEERS, FRIDAY, DEC. 10, Cot:l4st'. were heard relative to the Scotch Appeal, George Lord Kinnaird v. Matthewson, at considerable length, viz. Messrs. ADAM and MOORE on the part of the Appellant, and Mr. Rom ILLy on behalf of the Respondent. After which their Lordships deferred the further hearing till Monday. Earl SPENCER acquainted their Lordships that he should en Monday offer a few observations relative to the Malt and Mum Duty Bill. The. Bills on the Table, generally Private ones, were for warded each a stage. The Small Notes Bill was read a third time, passed, and a Message sent to acquaint the Commons therewith. Mr. ALEXANDER ' accom• allied by several Members brought up from the Commons the Irish Militia Bill, as did Mr. Bo aDow the Thirske Road Bill, both of which were read a first time. Adjourned till Monday. ROUSE OF COMMONS, FRIDAY ' , DEC. 10. Mr. S. LEFEVRE said, he had the honour of being returned for two places—for Bodmin in the County of Cornwall, and for Reading in the County of Berks, and that he had made his eledion for Reading. Upon which a new Writ was ordered tp be issued for the Borough of Bodmin. The LORD MAYOR presented separate Petitions from each of the City Prisons, namely, the Fleet, Ludgate, the Foul try, : and Giltspur-street Compte:s, on behalf of the Debtors confined therein, praying general relief, which were ordered to be laid on the Table. _.._ ............ . . • , The LORD MAYOR . also presented a Petition on behalf of the Ship Owners in the Port of London, complaining of the Tonnage Ad, &c.—Ordered to be laid on the Table. GENERAL PIiIPPS presented a similar Petition on behalf of the Ship Owners of_ Scarborough.— Ordered to be laid on the Table. Mr. WILBERFORCE presented a Petition from Bridlington, to the same effetl, which was ordered to be laid on the Table. . Mr. LANGMEAD also presented a Petition of a similar kind, from the Ship Owners of the Port of Plymouth. Mr. BuanoN presented a Petition. to thelikeef fea from Sunderland, and observed, that when this Subjea was last discussed in that House, he tad foretold that such a 'Petition would be pre sented, which he now did, in obedience to the di. redions of his Constituents. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, he perfeetly - recolletied the Observation Made by the Hon. Gentleman. At the same time, he must say, that he was sorry for the presenting the Petition, but extremely glad it was presented by that Hon. Gentleman, becauSe it was honourable to the'County of Durham, [in allusion as we presume, to the manner of the Hon. Gentleman's Eledion.] Mr. BURDON said, he should merely state, that in taking this adverse step to Government, it was but to a single measure of that Right Hon. Gen tleman's Administration, and in the doing which, he was folloWin.g the direaion of his Constituents, to whom he was bound by every tie of attachment as well as duty, and whoni• he should constantly serve.' At the same time, begging to be under stood, as being- hirnself by no means hostile Co the Administration of that Right Hon. Gentleman. ; The Petition was ordered to be laid upon the Table. Mr.. WILE ERFORcE presented a Petition on be half of certain Drhggists and Chymists of Sheffield, complaining of the late Medicine Aft.—Ordered to he laid on the Table; Lord CASTLEREAGH reported at the Bar, that Hi's Majesty had been waited upon with. the Ad dress of that House, of yesterday, when he had been graciously pleased to declare, that he'would give direfflons accordingly. • Soon afterwards, the Papers, Accounts, and Pub lic Documents referred to in the Address, were brought up, and laid upon the Table. Captain. MARKHAM gave notice, that on Mon. day, he.should move for leave to bring in a- Bill for the appointment of •a Committee, to inquire into certain Civil Abuses hi the Navy. ,T,he ATTO RN EY GENERAL moved for Leave to bring in a Bill for facilitating and rendering more easy, the Transportation of Felons. He adverted to the Law as it at present stood, by Aft of Par_ liament, by which it was provided, that when Of fenders were ordered to be transported, a contras} was entered into between Government and an in dividual who commanded the ship, by which they were transported, and by which, ,such Contractor had an interest in the set vice of such Felons. Up on this, the Contr;:dor was boun'i to enter into a certain security, for taking such Felons to the place of their destination. It had since been con_ sidered, that opportunities may occur for taking such Felons in some of His Majesty's Own: ships, and it could not be expettted, that an Officer who had the command of a ship of His Majesty's could enter into this Security, it being needless, he being already under command—hut as the Law now stood, the Learned Judges could, Consign the care.of such Prisdnets only to such persons as shout 4 enter into such security. Having stated thi s tole the sub jea of complaint, the House would easily see what was likely to be the remedy ; and it %vbas no other, than to empower those who may have the command of His Majesty's ships, and who may have the charge of such Prisoners, to take them without entering into such security. He therefore moved for Leave to bring in a Bill to facilitate and render more easy the Transportation of Offenders.--Granted. Mr. H. ADDINGTON moved for a New Writ for the Borough of Wootton Basset, for the EleCtion of a Nsw.Merriber in the room of General ST. JOHN, who has accepted of the Chiltern Hundreds, which was ordered to be issued accordingly. The ATTORNEY GENERAL brought up the for which Leave had just been given, relative to the Transportation of Offenders, which was read a first, and ordeied to be read a second time on Monday. • The Order of the. Day on .the Navy Bills was, on the Motion of iVir, VANgI7TAIO x deferred 01'1.Monday. A. Message front the Lords acquainted the House, that Their Lordships had agreed to the f!romissory , foie sili, without any arnepdgtent,. Mr. CORY moved to postpone the second read ing of the County of Dublin Baking Trade Bill, tilt, Monday—Ordered. Mr, ALEXANDER brought up the Report of the Malt Duty, Bill. The amendments were read :and agreed to, and the Bill ordered to be read a third time on Monday, if ingrossed. Mr. ALEXANDER also brought up the Report of the Pension and Personal, Estate Duty Bill : the amendments were read and agieed - to, and the Bill ordered to be read a•third time on Monday, if in.. grossed. He likewise brought up the Report of the Five Millions Exchequer Bills Bill, which went through the same course of proceeding. Mr. NEVILLE presented a. Petition on behalf of H. N. OGLE, Esq. who had presented a Petition, complaining of an undue Return for the Borough. of Drogheda, setting forth, that on account of the ab sence from London, of the returned Member, and not being able to find out any Agent of his in Lon. don,. he had been unable to serve the Notice which the Aft of Parliament required, of his entering into the necessary Recognizance, for the purpose of pur suing his Petition ; that this being the last day for doing so, his right to prosecute his Petition would be lost, unless further • time were granted to give such Notice, and praying that he might be allowed time for that purpose. After some discussion, in which Mr. NEVILLE, Mr. BERNARD (as we understood), tilt CHANCEL : , LOs of the EXCHEQUER, and Lord HAWKESZURY took apart, and which related chiefly to the regu larity of the Proceedings of the House, twenty-one days were granted to the Petitioner, for the purpose required. FINANCE. THE CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved the Order of the J) for the House to resolve itself into a Committee of Ways and Means; which being read and agreed to, He - moved, that the amount of the produce of the Permanent Taxes for the year •18oz, be referred to the said Committee.—Ordered. The House having resolved itself into a Com mittee of the whole House, Mr. ALe_xAWDex•in the Chair, The CHANCELLOR °jibe EXCHEQUER said; that,- before he entered on the Statement of which he had given notice, he wa s desirous of laying be fore the Committee, the grounds on which he pre sumed to solicit their attention to the two, Points of which, he had given notice, as appeared by. the Order Book now upon the Table ; he had by that notice apprized the House of an intention to move in a Committee of Ways and Means for granting four millions, the growing produce of the Consoli_ dated Fund. It also appeared, that he had given notice of laying before the House a statement of the Financial Situation of this Country, as far as it could be stated with accuracy at the present period. The consideration which led him to cali the then_ . tion of the House to the first point, was the proba- Pility of our beingjn a prosperous situation, and, at the same time, an embarrassed .one ; *namely, that in consequence oldie rapid increase of our Re venue, there. might be a larger sum in the EXche_ quer from the produce of Taxes, than that for which Credit had been taken by Government; and with out the authority of Parliament, His Majesty's Go. verntnent would not be able to apply to the Public Service of the Country, the redundancy of its - wealth. Up to the sth of April, 1803, he had .taken credit for 4,500,0001. as the growing Pro duce of the Consolidated 'Fund. On the sth of 06tober, it had amounted to 3,800,0001. If he was to abstain from asking the House to ap ply this Surplus, or if Parliament were not: sit .ting, that considerable sum would lie dead in the Exchequer. The reason for the second part of his notice was this, that as the House had voted, and as he was 'justified in concluding would vote the proper Supplies of the year, that it was desirable to convey to the Public satisfadory infor mation of its Ways and. Means. It was on tho,e grtiunds that he conceived it to be his duty to take an opportunity, before the Christmas recess, to ask the House its opinion an the subjed of the Coosa dated Fund, and to lay before it the State of the' Finances of the Country. But before he adverted to the Ways and Means for produCing it, he would ask permission of the Committee to -advert to the current year, 18oz. It would be recolleded by many Gentlemen present; probably by all he was addressing, that in the course of. the last . Session, arrangements were made for providing for a Capital of 97,000,0001. of Stock :-56,000,0001, constituted the amount for which the Income Tax was mortgaged ; permanent provision was made for the interest of that sum ; the amount of the Loan was to be added to it, and, the Exchequer Bills funded at the commencement of the last Ses sion of Parliament, made in all ,a capital stock.of 97,000,000 : for this, the interest was 3,100,0001. but it was not only admitted by him, but stated as a probable event, th, - et there. would be r awn produced by the Taxes then laid on, exceeding the interest of. the Funded Debt—when, he said, he admitted this, he meant to refer to a charge made by an Honourable Member, of his imposing , TaxeS beyond the immediate purpose for which they were' required. He did admit the charge, and he 'then made a Statement which had'been more than realized by the event. It was, that .the produce of the last year would not be short of 1.,000,0001. He had! . now to state, that the first quarter in which they were produetive, in Malt, Beer, and the Tonnage of Shipping, yielded 9z0,0001. To this there was a new Duty on Houses and Windows, which he was entitled to take at 250,0001, the actual re. sult would therefore be, for that i qbarte,r, 1,170,6001. Now it would he remembered, that he had stated on a former day, that'one effect of the provision made for the PUblic Service in the course of the last year, was to enable Govern ment to take out of the market no lesa a sum titan • i 8,1).qo,000l. 18,000,0001. of Unfunded Pebt was thereby redeemed in the course of the current year. He should he able to•state, that, the grants of the last year, with the exception of the Army Extraordinaries, as far as they were able to fotm an estimate at present, which could not be expected to be accurate until the' expiration of the year, would be found' sufficient to provide for all the Services of the year ; but, as he had said al ready, with thq exception Qt 'the Amy EAtrit. ordinaries. There were many Gentlemen present who would do him the justice to say, that he. had stated, he did not consider the vote for the .:Army Extraordinaries. Indeed it was impossible to state-the amount of that head of service at that period, from the circumstance of a very considerable part of our Army being on Foreign Stations.—The excess in this particular, he was concerned to state the excess, it was probable, would be something more than one million. But he had- the satisfaEtion of counteraeting that impression, by stating that the whole amount of the Army Extraordinaries of - the -next year, are not likely to be half the amount of the Army Extraordinaries of the current year.— The Navy Debt had been reduced one half, that was from 9,000,006 to 4,500,0001.- The Unfunded Debt at the commencement of the last Session of Parlia. tnent aMounted to 37,377,2601. The present Un funded Debt was 19,580,0001. including 4 ., goo,oool. which he had already stated- tope the amount of the Navy Debt ; but he was not able to state this with precision, the Returns having been made up only to Michaelmas, and therefore he stated this as the probable amount of the whole year, calculating on the Returns which had already been received: Of this Unfunded Debt 15,800,0001. consisted of Exchequer Bills, but of these 900,0001. was pro vided out of sthe Land and Malt, and ,3,000,0001. on which no Interest is paid nor payable, nor are they in the Market, being a Payment made by the. Bank on account of the renewal of its Charter.' He then came to the statement of the Supply ,for the year, and the Ways and Means for raising it. . The Committee would recoiled that so,ooo Men had been voted for the Service of the Navy, which at the rate' of 71. a man per month, amounted to 4-450,0001. The Ordinaries and. Extraordinaries ut .the Navy were 1,218,2381. The Estimate for building Ships, &c. amounted to 90 t,14.01. making the whole of the Supplies of the Navy for the en_: suing year 6,669,3781. For the Army there had been voted a sum of 5,500,000. The Extraordinaries of the Army, including the Surplus, to which he had already' al luded, of the current year, amounted to 2,000,0001. making together the sum voted for the Army, 7,500,00017_ For the Ordna nce the Estimate was 787,94.71.-- For Corn 13.iuniies; sz4,s73L—The Miscellaneous Services for 'Englatij and Ireland were esiiinated at i,o6o,oool.—and the Irish Permanent Grants at 363,3391. making-altogether the sum to be jointly contributed between England and Ireland, 16,84.5,2.371. He now came .to state the separate charges to be defrayed by Engl•Jtid only. . They were, first, - to pay oil_ Exchequer Bills issued on the aids of 1801, 2,784,0001. "fo pay ()A - Exchequer Bilis issued on the aids of 1803, 1,500,0001. There was to be made to the East India Company a, repayment of a Atm . ) advanced by them, and on which there was an Account between therm . and Government; arising out of advances Made by the Company to carry .on Military efforts in India, and on which the Com pany would have a substantial demand on Govern ment to the amount of one million sterling.. The next was. an article of Interest on Exchequer Bills, which. was 600,0001... To this was to be _added the -sum- annually appropriated to the: reduction of the National Debt, the .sum of 100,0001.; making the whole of the separate charges to be defrayed by Englani, 5,981,0001. This sum added to that of 16,84.5,23.71. which he had already stated as the amount of the joint contribution to be defrayed by England and Ireland, would make the whole amount to 22,826,2371. From this sum was to be 4 deduaed 2-17ths of the sum of 16,845,2371. beitig the part to be contributed by Ireland, . which amount ed to 1,981,7921. and 2- i7ths of the sum of 1,20040 LI. fur the Civil List and other charges on the Consolidated Fund, not relating.to the Public Debt, to be also paid by Ireland, amounting to 41,2231. these two sums together would make 2,123,0151. which being to be paid by Ireland, would leave the whole of the Supplies to be pro vided for by England 20,703,2z21. The . whole of the Supplies would then stand thus— Navy, 50,000 Meil, 'atql. per Man, 4,550,000 Ordinfry . ankl : tyxtraordinary, 1,218,2 3 8 Sc . e. 901,140 ----;-- 6,669,378 Army, - - - 5,500,000 £xtraordinaries (including Sur- ' plus tktraordinaries 18o2,), 2,000,000 ---- 7,500,000 Ordnance, - - - - • 7 8 7 , 947 Corn Bounties, - - - - 5 2 4,573 Miscellaneous—England, ? - x 0300,000 Ditto, Ireland, S - - Irish Permanent Grants, - - 363,339 To be cOntributed jointly between England and Ireland ', - 16,345,237 ENGLA.ND's SEPARATE CHARGES. To pay off EXchequer Bills on Aids 1801 2,781,000 Ditto, Ditto, on. Aids, i8..)3, (Bank) 1,500,000 Repayment to India Company i,000,000 Interest on Exchequer Bills Discount, Scc. - - - - - - 600,000 Redudtion National Debt - - 100,000 _ 5,0t,000 • Total Supplies - 22,82,6,z37 *. Two-seventeenths of the above sum of J6,845,z371. are to .be contribu.tett by Ireland ' - - 1,9E1,792. Add for Ireland two-seventeenths of . • - 1,z00,400. for Civil List, and other Charges on the Consolidated Fund, • not relatitt to the Public Debt - 141,223 On Account of Ireland - 2,123,015 On Account of England - 20,703,222 He'observed, that great refieClion on the subject, had only tended to convince him of the propriety of a sentiment which he had formerly expressed.—lt was fit the 411oUse should hear it, and the Country know it ; anctiis n yta i s this :—That provision should be made_ for tli_.P.-eirnanent Charges of this Country —That Charges ; of a permanent nature, must be provided for out of a permanent Revenue :—That we should look our difficulty, whatever it might be, fairly in the face, and compare our wants with our 'means :,—,-That we myst not accommodate our Expenditure to. our Revenue, but must raise our Revenne to our Expenditure; and if this could not otherwise be. done, he should not think he did his duty, if he did nor ask of the- wisdom atid . fcir the Fortitude of the House, to make up its, mind to c 4 on the Public to bear an addition to our permanent burthens, it was _an opinion which he liacl already ex t preisecl, and it w 44 an opinion • ft he was happy i n b e ffe v i ng to b e t h e oPin o ' ac t of the House, a n d o f t h e Country: --He ': not felt it necessary to ma k e any suc h propos iti o n now, and he trusted, that it would not be necessary in the course of the present Session of ParliaMent'„ He trusted, that no Financial preparation would ' o f ' necessary, and that th ere wou ld not b e an y glut Exchequer Bills in the Market, for that was C e c tainly agreat Public inconveniesice7- anti - tore"' which, he should, at an advanced period of the Seri sion, propo s e t o . f un d f rom s i x to eig h t. iVlillions!: 'Exchequer -Bills, if that operation could be - made oo 'advantageous terms, of which he had no reason t doubt '; but if that could not be done, a Loan must b e provided to that amount . B ut h e was not aware , there would be any difficulty whatever i n t h e operation 01 the funding Bills . to that amount, which would O' tainly be convenient to the Public. We were creasing in prosperity, with a rapidity which bare', ly any one would have ventured to forerel. Th e Surplus' .Prod u c e o f t h e C onso lid ated F un d 0 ' this year, very nearly double. that .of the last.'" He then proceedec). to make a comparative Estimat e of the produce of the last with those of former year s j ley which the increase of the prosperity was ptar in the most sitisfadory manner; he observed,- 01 - t course of Rich statement, the stoppage of,ti le c Distilleries had greatly k ept d own , t h e pro d uc e o f the last year, since..they had only begun working l i n l . a part of it, -and conseque n tly t h at - t h at f ru io :source of-Rev - end6' had'riiif-had its effea in time s operate on the Reven ue direaly at that period, - 0° t, now that prolific source of Revenue was operati4 ,with great force. -- He then- proceeded to state the Ways acid Megs for raising the Supily. which he had already stated' They were first, the Land and Malt 2,750,00 01 ' The SUrplus of Consolidated Fund, being little less than double that of the last year, amounted tO, 6, 5°0,00°1. The. Exchequer Bills 1;060,06 01 ` and the.. Lottery sooictool. making together, 20,750,0e01. •a • sum Which the Comm it t ee tvoula. observe was greater iffah 'the 'Supplies ,voted. 5 o that-the Ways and Means stood as follows: • Malt S i E u x anl , r ( l l )l e t a q i n s u d C er 't - k F is u .t 6,5Q0,0 ° 4 - . 2,7s°'°°. _ li ,poo,o°° Lott,..ty_ , - . 5‘ , 0 ,c0d , • fte — trren'prWeeided fa - itateilie amain ortl! ItripOris and ExpOrts of the ctinent year, cOloPis in t them with those of former year s , by w hi c h it wj ", manifest that they .h a d g reat ly i ncrease d since tho conclusion of Peace. Muck-had .Ixtettt.4o.4he_sia)jea,of.the sripping . of this Country, and of its d ecre a se ' since the te r ' urination of the War. He, had, on a f ormer oc casion) stated, it was impossible to get 'the Returns upo n subject from. the diffetent Ports ; but with re" sped to. the Port of London; he had been able to oh", tain it, front which it appeared that the number ng Ships that had cleared outwardS and entered inwards; were; in the year 180 I, 1762, and the amo u n t of t" Tonnage was 45,861 tool; "firigoa - , - the numb er of Ships was 21.69, and the amount Of the 'Tonnage was 574.,000.—The ,number Of British Seamen . ' l3 - 1801, Was. 23,696, and in 18oa, it was 33,74 71 The number of Foreign Ships had decreased lv , proportion to the increase of the British, narnelf'' from 3385 to 5149. - • 7 He then proceeded nearly as follows: " I° ll , fully. aware it is impossible for me to add, by ar: 1 0 comment of mine, to the satisfaction which t ll a. must .derive from th e statement w hich ha s been submitted to them—lt has made an impresstol which I will not attempt to strengthen, because believe that would be very difficult, since a stat e ' ment of fads cannot be liable to error, and rea soning may often be i nconc l us i ve i n t h e Ini n ‘, of other s , however it 5, t may carry conviction to ut' e - own mind. I inay,bowe.ver, express some satisfaa i° a on looking back to the period to which this sta! eg o ment applies, as a justific a tio n o f what I ventured ig state both in .the last and in the present year. ,•, was expre s sed t h a t t h ere w o u ld b e an immediate de ficiency i n the Reve nue a f ter Pe ace , but now e' ero ,/ is pro o f t o t h e - contrar y, an d I trust t h at -ev,. er r i, man who is capableef feeling a wi s h f o r t he of his Country, will rejoice at this staternertt, t , can there he in many parts of Europe any so-short, sighted as•not to see that this statement of the Situa tionr, of this Country is interesting to the C o ntine d n e Let it not be supposed that what we gain by 1 ,," „ a ' s ; is lost to others ; or that the pre-eminence of u r %, Britain, blessed .by Providence, and'guided by l e dom of Council, which has made her ~ trade t f atonisinnelit - 6 - f - fhe - iirOritt, - has the state )nY others ; on the contrary, it has made her, not ° the ProteCtress of the Civil World, but paradoxie' as that may seem, that very greatness of this king' a ° 'P dom has teen the means of the in crease . o f the 0 and Commerce of the rest of the world. I wil l , l ig further, and say, th a t .wh a tev er h er mo tives l ag have been, ,income of the contests in which she t 4r been engaged, •or - whatever might have been o i views of some of the parties, .yet it is my o f conviction, that it is chiefly to the exertions pars` Great Britain on the Continent; the different fl og of Europe owed their independence during th e I century,—whatever the motives may have been, 00 assert .that Such has been the et-redo( our exer liv , ; —such has been the importance of Great Britair oe. and. now it • may fairly be expected to be W., I will not therefore look forward with any a p t prehension . to.: the revival of the Manufadur e : vas renewal, ak the trade of other countries. i f we , well said, that we had the start of them all, then ~1 shall easily maintain our pre-eminence by our 5 7 /10 by our Capital, by our Character and Credit•l';: ., . is my conviction. There is one great_ instnslnr`ri which has been the conservation of this under its greatest difficulty, particularly arth e- , 95 , elusion of the late War. In the year t o when my Right Honourable Friend proP°% n o f the House that great measure for the red o-I ' ooo i, the Debt, which was then, I think, 238, 0 ° ° ' ot i, of the sum applied to. the Reduction, was 4 e the the interest of it. At the prese n t moment, "'" , ,000 i. charge for the Interest of the Debt is 1 8 , 0 ° ° el i, is the sum applicable to the reduCtion of, d'e lo rd. 6,Qoa,ciool. which, instead of a Lenin, • ect o f Let the' Committee reflect what is to be the e n u ala ily this, . It is a sum of six IVlillioes brough t ' i , till laid to. [ls:Wish the industry.,, and assiss• the C a P_ c ' outa ge out in Trade jn this country, to aid an.