The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1806-05-10 00:00:00

P) • r. IOU*: 61 , LOklll—Faiu.v, MAx 4• kSeat ts,ree o'clock, the bUz.ines% in the High Court of P. .►3a . their lionieot her% criodied, nicked e.iriter than - exPentel. Lordship, returned to the newt thOr own 11013 it ; Will I, it was ordered, that the Tirol of Lord Viscount Mel. villa ahoeid be firther proceeded in to-nrnn'ow ; and that a 'Message be sent to acquaint the Commons therekith. koos PErRAGE Lord VFALSINGIIIM presented the Repart of the CC:M -t:14(0C .if Priyileges, respaßidg tine long-considered ease, the effect of whisk w -I, that iii the -opinion of the Committee, 'he ISnke of Rutland Was not entdled to the Roan) , of Ron, ciaiiih. , l by the coheirs of Robert de Roos ; and that the said barony remedit in abeyance between the Kati of Lase, Lady Fiftyfold, and Sir Henryklunloke, But. The Orderuf the Day, upon which itd Lords were sum. enen.d. via. the Commitment of the Slave trade Limitation Bill, bowie teak their Lordship* accordingly resolved into the Committee, Lord Walsinliam in the Chair. The Of nentCiallflt, and provisions of the Bill pissed thro' the Committee., with. airy Amendment; and the House re hrtmilie, the rvy,nrt Wla received forthwith, and the Bill ordered en be read t third time on Tuesdoy nest, for which day their 7.orJ.ltips were ordered to he summoned, and upon which stage it is understood the ex,rected &scut:tun upon the melt cum will take place. The 131.1 a upon the tali!e, chief!) , private, were then for. ward.rd in their respectioe stages; arid the Home adjourned till the ritual hour tmrnoirow, preparatory to their proceeding to the Hill Court of Parliament in Westortinster noust. or commons. A starter from the I. ,, rds stated, that they would pro fealter in the Impeaahlitent to-momm. Petah:me wets presaatud from the Curd4.tinees of the city of 0.004 agaiutt the Flaying Bill, end to the same Oka from the town of Stockport, and the Saddles and Harneu•rtukers of the e•ry of lond , ,n. Sir Cif PRICE gave natio*, that en Mrinday next to shoo:d make a Motion relative to the Shipping and Ile eigatioo of the City. Mr Hobliouve brought up the Report of the Committee •i the Tortola Fire Port Rill, which WAS ordered to be taken into consideration nn Monday. Sir J. Si.iclaw brought up the Report of the Scotch Judges' ant Commiminnet: Salaries R4I, which was agreed to, and the order. 4 to be read a third time cot Monday. ARMY V.STIMATES• tfpott the 'notion of the SECRETARY at WAR, the House ssyole d itself Mtn a Committee of Supply, to which were rt. fetrzd tile Army Eitimate; • whets the folloviiag situ : were voted f.o the .ervice of the Alloy for one mouth, flout the 24th instant 134,1631. far man and °titers, coninsissioned and nen-conr. tnenioned. 197.1491 (et the plantations and eabanies. • 163,3491. fur guards and garrisons. 11.11eRAL OF THE ADI.IIIO9IAL FORCE BILL. blr. Hobhouse brought up the Raport of the Committee on this Bill ; which being read, • Mr. TYRWHIT JONES said, that during the progress of this Bill, he had not hitherto troubled the House with a single observation, nor xhould be say more than a few words at present. He had tinted against this Bill on its first introduftion, be cause he thought it was a bad measure ; but bad as k was, he liked it better than the outline which was given of that now in conternylation ; and he . * ' wished to give notice, that should the new Bill be no better than what was to be expected from the opening, he should think it his duty to oppose it from day to day Mr. ELLISON said a few words, which, as will as we could collet, was in opposition to the return of the fines to the comities. which, he said, bad now become the property of the public. Mr. BANKS said, he should abstain from Braking any observation on the sulijett, as he thought the °bye:lions urged last night had been but very little answered, and only asked whether it was meant that the Bill should he printed ? Mr. WINDHAM replied, that he had no other objection to it than that there was a great deal of printing already ordered. In the en I , however, the Rep•rt was. agreed to ; ordered to be printed ; and read a third time on Tuesday nest, if then printed. Mr. BAKER moved, " That the Maltsters Pe titition shi•uld be referred to a Comm:ace ;" which was agreed to. Sir J. Newport obtained leave to bring in a Bill to have all Irish Treasury Bills and Debentures paid at the Bank of Ireland; as heretofore all the Treasury Bills were paid at the Bank; and the De bentures at the Exchequer ; and for another Bill to regulate the payments uf the malt duties in Ireland. He also brought in the Trish Loan BA and Irish * 300,0001. Treasury Bills gill ; which were read a first, and ordered to be read a second time on Monday. NON DUTY. Lord H. PET l Y moved, "'That the blouse should resolve itself into a Committee on the Iron Duty Bill." Mr. CIJRWEN said, that though it gave him great conce►n to oppose any measure of finance, at period of so much necessity, yet he must call up on His Majesty's Ministers to abandon this Tax, and find some other which would be more just and equi table. By the operation of this Bill, he said. Iron would be raised to 91. 103. a ton, and must be highly oppressive, when it was considered that the lowest species of that article was used in every trade. How would the people relish inch a rise upon wool ? He then adverted to the effedl it would have on trades ef various kinds. It would raise the price of Coals at least one shilling a chaldron, from the great quantity of Iron used in the Coal Trade. 'that wonld be an expence of .50,0001. in the port of Lon don only, and would operate equally in every other port of the kingdom, and in almost every other ". trade, though the most sanguine produce of the Tax itself was calculated at no more than 350,0001. Its effect would not be less ;Ton horses, though • millions were annually paid for toreign corn to feed these useful animals. The highest so: t of Iron passed through the hanr!s of six or seven different manufacturers, ail of whom would be most injuri rinusly affe.led by it. Ile next spoke of the canals. There was one now going lot ward in this country, made entirely cf cast iron, which this tax must prevent from ever being finished, without an exper.ce too enormous to be thought of. The energy in this trade, too, heretofore kept up by the spirit and enterprise of the mattufaturers, would be lost, and never could be recovered. After the passing of this Bill, it would require 30,0001. to mike an iron rail read of thirty or forty miles ; while the commoditi-s %rough t en such roads, were too heavy lor any other species of conveyance. It would pro.:ore an additioral expence of 12s. on ev.sy hosb.: - ..:-y bosses and if °caucus= consi- r r dered the extensive use of iron in all farm-yards, faranit:g utensils, iren toilets, &c. he must conclude, that a dire& tax upon husbandry, would be less prejudicial than the "present t supposing it to pro &ice no more thin five shillings additional expellee upon hushandty horses, yet as there was a million of them in the kingdom, the addition on them would amount to :10,0001. out of a tax calculated to produce no mo t e than 350,0001., and the re mainder would be made up by what must he paid upon pleas-are horses. When the House, therefore, recolleßed the multiplied ill effeds it would have upon the poor of all descriptions, he trusted they would never be brought to consent to it. Mr. S. WORTLEY thought, that from the operation the tax would have upon all branches of the trade, the manufanitrers must he completely ruined by it. From the high price of labour here, the Russians and Danes were already enabled to meet us in the foreign market., and would, in fu ture, engross the whole of the foreign trade. It would be in vain to think of protecting the trade, by a tax equal to it en the importation of foreign iron. The people of England certainly must take what they can get here at any price; hut as our iron cannot be worked but by mixing•it with fo reign, the whole of the new import duties must be paid by this country, with the loss of the foreign trade into the bargain. He exhorted the Minister not to put this corrcd;ng canker to the root of a trade already far facto be•ng vigorous. Any per son that went into the poor man's dwelling, must see that all his instruments. his articles of corer- nience, and even his working tools, were made of iron, and feel the force of these considerations, which, operating on the great and luminous in.nd of the late Minister, induced bins to abandon this °hied of taxation. Mr. MOIIDAUNT said, that however sorry he may be to oppose measures of finance at this arducus period, he could not but objefi to a measure, alert . - feet of which, mu.,t inevitably be to throw a gloom on the spirit of our merchants, to distress, in the se verest manner, all classes of our manufacturers. and to drive from bread very numerous classes of our industrious pour. The effeCl it would have upon Manchester and Birmingham was beyond descry. iinn. Birmingham, which in the best and most flourishing times of this country, and the surround ing nations, was called the toyshop of Europe, had now assumed a very different character, as long and disastrous wars had driven her out of every particle of that trade, and banished it to other countries.— That loss alone was sufficient to distress a place so very populous, and a loge portion of whose arti ficers depended on that traffic ; but the manufactu rers at least exponed, that if, instead of being gold smiths and jewellers, they were transformed into black-smiths, the last trade they might be perinit ed to exercise, and extend with all the industry they' were possessed of. They had now a more chancr ous rival than ever to contend with. A ustria h rig wished for the enj lament of this important trade,and long laboured to gain possession of it in vain, as their commodities could oot be exported until after a long land carriage. At present, however, Inc aspeca of things was changing; for by means of a canal which they were cutting from the Danube to the Aug.,o they would $O4ll have that facility of coaveyance through these rivers, of which they were befcre de priveei. Was this then, he would ask, a time tor throwing impediments aud checks in the way ct the enterprise of British manufaCtureis ? 71. e Minister may as well take the folds irons the shepherd, or the barns from the farmer, as Alfa:l them by this tax; and as to the drawback proposed, it wouid af ford no relict whatever. It the matiufadurersut, this country were left to themselve s, they wbtilltntr all times be an inexhaustible source of wealth-to ita• but if put under such impositions, the House and the country would soon bitterly lament it. He con jured Ills Majesty's Ministers to leave the trade of the country to its own exertions, without imposing clogs upon it. Were our inveterate enemy to plant his cannon at the mouth of every river frcm the Aeri atic to the Baltic, in order to exclude British com merce from the Continent, yet in spite of all his exertions, British commerce and British manufac tures would find their way to (Awry quarter of the globe, if our Ministers would but attend to the in terest of our trade. Mr. LASCELLES said, he hoped the Noble Lord would proceed with caution in this business. He was afraid the operation of this tax might be attended with very serious and mischievous conse quences to this country. Ile had see is statements, which said that foreign markets were selling the same articles at levier rates than our own, such, par ticularly, as the grosser iron wares that are made in Sheffield. If this be the case already, a tax upon the raw material here would raise the price of the .several articles of manufacture ye mach, that the German markets would be able to undersell us. He wished any other mode might be found and re sorted to, of raising money, rather than this, as the sum received would by no mean, counterbalance the ineonvediencies that would at ise from it, and the risk we were likely to run of the loss of our menu failures, from the extravagance et the price that must necessarily he laid ou them. if this tax were laid on. Mr. WILBERFORCE concurred entirely in sen timert with his Hon. Colleague, and others, espe cially the Hon. Gentleman who spoke last but one, and who had delivered his opinion in a strain of such impressive and unaffected eloquence against this tea. It was impossible, he said, to deny. that the ' situation of a Finance Minister, in this country, be. tame every year more difficult ; and he was sorry to be under the necessity, at any time, of objeifing to a tax, and thereby throwing difficulties in his way : but he was convinced this measure was, in the highest degree, objeCtionable, and ought not to be persisted in. If we considered this as a raw mate rial, and the vast numbers who are employed on it. and who compose a class of men of athletic make, strong bodily frame, and robust habits, it became an obj!ct of most serious and important concern. They had been estimated, by some, to amount to between 3 and 400,000 ; by others, to 4 or 3U0,000 men. Every fall grown man had long since been reckoned, as a taxable commodity, at 101. a year; and, when you consider the great increase of taxes on malt, tea. soap, candles, leather, and other ne cessaries of life; if you consider, also, the immense numbers employed on this article of iron, it became a very great and impoaatit consideration, in point of ft iaece, as it •refilatre amounted to some millidies ; end the utritost care should be taken, to avoid doing an injury to such a body of persons. The sum to be raised by the tax, bore nn proportion to vielat those must amount to ; and, therefore, it was not an ob ject deserving such a risk. 'MS tax had been men tioned to the House ten years ago, when not 40s. but only eos. a ton, was proposed to be laid on ; and then his Right lion. Friend, who is no more, the Noble Lord's immediate predecessor, after great consideration and consulterion, found it necessary to inform the House, that the tax must be given up. The magnanimity of his greet mind was sucletbathe was never ashamed to give up any thing whicli he thought would be i*rious to the interests of the count; y, though he had before proposed it as a proper tax ; and he hoped his Noble Friend would shew an equal degree of magnanimity on the pre sent occasion. It has long been a common prin ciple in taxation, that you should not tax an article in its earliest state ; nor iii such a manner as to fall heavy on the people, witheut greatly benefiting the Exchequer. In this case, there is an immense charge laid, which never gees to the Exchequer — there will be 900,0001. or, perhaps, a million paid, and the net receipt to the Treasury will not be more than 200,0001. which was an immense dis proportion. He deprecated also the necessity that the tax would give rise to, of extending the power of the Excise, which would be liable to vex and in irate the people, and if extended to every branch of the manuteeture, would become like the bed of Procrustes to which it was necessary tither to cut the limbs shorter, or stretch them longer, in order to make the person fit the bed—so you must either relax many of your laws and regulations in this departaient, or you will drive many of the present menufeelurers out of it. This trade, which has doubled its consumption in the last tour years, will ' be so much injured, that foreigninations will be able to undersell us ; for when you compare the making of iron from ore, as it is done in this country, and in others, the.great advantage we have had, has been in the machinery, and the operation of this tax cn machinery will fall so heavily, as to endanger .our only advantage, by strangling the mother that gave it birth. lie said also, that the diawback proposed was far too small to countervail the ex pence of making up the article; and it our iron be so. inferior, that it will not make steel, it will operate as a premium to foreign markets, and an 'injury to our own. This valuable and important class of men, the iron-workers, look to the decision of the House, this night, with fear and Alarm. In the calculation of thh drawbacks, there were several Errors; where it was 40s. it ought to Le 51. ; and where 31. 10. •it owrlit at least to be el. in order to - • ,enable us to meet tee manufaetures of other coun tries,—the total difference was very great—the draw backs intended,' amounted to 15;,0001.—the iron Merchants say it should he 266,0001. It had lately been found, that every foreign country was rapidly advancing upon us. Some time since, there was an order troth Portugal to this counriy, for ore to the amount of 2COI. ; and the same House sent I an order to Krem, or some town in Germany, for 1 hardware goods, of various sorts, to the amount of ' 20001. The ship was detained in the Channel by einie of our cruisers, and it was found by the in voices and •Bills of laden, that all the articles were cheaper than we sold them at. Brighter prospects might break upon us, if we do not throw impedi meets on the progress of this manufeaure. It was almost beyond the invention of man to say in how meny ways it is used, and, therefore, it is dan gerous to meddle with it. lie hoped, therefore, his leloble Friend would take it into consideration, and peovide a suestiiiire for it. Sir R, 1314 lON said, he was in favour of the tax, because it tell equally on all. Mr. Vs 7 ILBEIthORCE explained. Sir W. YOUNG differed with thnae who opposed the tax; the true principle of taxation was to lay taxes on such articles as were of most general consumption, otherwise a tax could not be produc tive, and it must have another in aid of it. He should therefore vote ler this tax. Lord A. HAMILTON said, he could not but consider the princiele of this tax as unwise; for though it will eperate generally, it will not be pro dative. He considered the article of iron as in its infancy, anti not yet ripe for any tax; but af ter what had been so ably stated from the other side of the I louse. by the Hon. Members for York shire, and others, it was not necessary for him to take up the time of the House further, than to say, that it his Noble Friend persisted in it, though he should be sorry to oppose a tax proposed by one in whom he had so great and so systematic a confi dence, yet be should, in the present instance, oppose it in every stage. Mr. CA LeRAFT could not agree with the Noble Lurd who stated, that the Iron Trade was not yet ripe enoegh to produce a rote. nue ; indeed, he was astonished, when he considered the tales which had been already laid on leather, and on salt, and the enormous tax on incomes, that iron had not been before now the object of di reel taxation. With respect to what had been said of the tax proposed last Session, on Husbandry Horses, be certainly allowed, that it was bad, but he could not see that it furnished any argument in the present case, as this was much more universal, and therefore pi eferable. He allowed that the argu ment,with reaped totheinsufliciencyof drewhacks,was important ; and if he could be convinced that this tax would injure the sale in the foreign market, he would not vote for it, but of that he thought the Gentlemen might despair fiord mire of heat ! hear !) as the foreign trade depended entirely on the excellence of the articles, in which there was not the smallest danger that they should be rivalled. Nothing could prove this more clearly than the flu Ructions which the trade was liable to ; it was at times 20 per cent. higher than at other times, so as this had no effete on the foreign market, it was evident that the sale there depended on the quality of the goods. He con cluded by saying, that it was not seemly in Gentle men to oppose this tax. which would diffuse itself into every man's house; and as having amore general operation, was fairer and would be more produaive. Mr. F RANCIS declared, that any thing he had to say was not by way of objcdtion, but merely to gain information. Government, be said. was the great consumer, and therefore would pay a great part of the tax ; now he wished to know, whether it would net be a great waste of the public money, to - go to t he expence of colleaing OIL tax, w::::!, c 0.11.1 atterw,trd► be of no geiii-tal seivicel ; the only objeftion lie had to the tar, and it it could h•_ answered satisfaCturily, he wculil support t:ia \lie stet. Mr. VANSITTART observed, minutely, on all th e arguni - n i s which had been made use of in the course of the debate. It had been stated.4te said, that the House had always abstained from imposing taxes on the raw material. and particularly iron. It was but lately that iron came to be manufaCtured to any great extent in this country, but the taxes on foreign iron were multiplied session after session ; and, in fad, there were many other taxes which aded as a dired tax on iron, and which never were opposed—lie meant the taxes on wood and coal.. He could not allow that it would destroy the great iron works, the roads and bridges; the same argu ment would apply to that, which applied to the foreign trade, namely. that the ilk/dilation in the price never put a stop to tt.ese great works; thou it differed so much as to be in toe year 1799, lc: a ton ; in 1603. 191. ; and immediately after that to fall to 141. The Right Hon. Gent. then went into a calculation of the effect (if the drawbacks. and could not think there would be any difficulty in te. gulating them in snob a manner, as to encourage the exportation. Gentlemen could not complain that the harshness of regulation, which pervaded the other systems of finance, existed, in this ; in deed there was not so much occasion for it ; and the neanufaCtiner would find, that he was treated with the greatest liberality. The Right Hon. Gentleman then observed, that it was the Wird of Government to allow every opportunity for consideration ; a mass of papers hat been laid on the table, so that evere gentleman might make himself master of the stic jed, and come to the House with their eyes open, to reject or approve of the tax. %Vith tesped to Coe question put by an Hon. Friend of his (Mr. Fran cis,) he had only to say, that the quantity of Inar stated to lie consumed byGovernment was consider ably over-rwed.9o,ooo tons in the course of the year, had been mentioned ; bat cu reference to the papers on the table, it would be found that the average Ira not more than from 15 to fn,ooo. His Hon. Friend • (Mr. Wilberforce) had stated, that a Tax on Servants would be more ad vi•eable ; but he was con vinced, that if attempted, it would he the cause of the greatest complaints throughout the country. Fee these reasons, he hoped the Hon. Gelitlemen would withdraw their opposition, and suffer the Bill to go into Committee. Sir R. MILBANKE said, he would not oppose the Speaker's leaving the Chair, as he hoped, is the Committee, it would be altered in such a mea ner as would please all parties. Sir J. Witt/ fTESLLY went over the whole of the arguments which had been used in the course cf the night. He was glad the Debate had beta postponed so long, as his lion. Friends had by Oat means an opportunity of making up their eniraa and offering such ateuments as could rot fail to convince the House. The fluduatien in the mice of Iron, he acknowledged was great, but that soul ark have had any effed at the foreign market, as when Iron was dear we exported very little, scarely any, being imported. on account of our hostility with the Northern Powers. At this time, the demand -was so great at home, that, to use a tradesman's expression, the pigs were not allowed to be cold before they were taken away. This demand of course raised the price of the %OM. modity ; but some time after it was lowered eons. derably,oit the suggestion of the menefaaurers,wisa declared, that they would be unable to proceed wah their business, unless they had the raw material con siderably cheaper. Mitch of tte flourishing atate la which that trade now w as. should be attributed to the ingenuity of the persons concerned iu ,it, who found out a method of carrying on the business with out the use of wood ; and As the manutaaure: never could have afforded to male this improve ment if a tax had been formerly laid on, if it were now persisted in, it never could be expefted that we should have any improvements hereafter. Time Hen. Bart. then, after making use of many other, arguments, said, that it was not the qua- tity of lrua aeeessary for husbandry horses which was in be considered, bet the cpstntiry that we; meal in making all implements of agriculture, so much. that lie thought it should be allowed this:seed as* di red tax on agriculture. The admitted gross plc• duc o! the tax would be 610.0001. . • but as the die s tacks en account of exportation of the manufacture, mid the Goverunient consumption, would ameunr to 320,0001. only 290,0001. would remain in aid ef :he national revenue ; and *mild the lioble Lord. for such a suit). crush en important manufaaure He (Sir J. Wiottesley), thought it would be pw friable at once to abandon the tax, and propose a subsiitute, as there would, at all events, be a si,b :•iency to provide for by some new 'measure, de: Noble Lord having taken credit for 100ea001. as 64t: produce of the tax. Sir R. BUXTON and Mr. VANSITTART ei plained. Mr. Alderman PRINSEP saw no (Ai :ice 0 ' the tax. Ile thought the raw matetial wits the stn t proper objet of taxation, at. when it became highlr wrought, the original tax was not felt by the tea sumer. The increase of the date on silk, trom to 13s. had not operated to the diminution of thus manufadtue, and he anticipated no ill consequences from the tax on iron, which, he thought, was prin cipally supposed by interested persons, whose opi nions, therefore, should be regarded with jealousy• Mr. WILLIAM smmi opposed the tax as a: present proposed, jut had no objeaiors to its geiieg into a Committee, for the purpose of being modifies:- The Hoa. Member, at some lengths surveyed the principles of the Bill, and particularly objeaed to the application of the excise laws to the maaufaahrta which it affected. Lard HENRY PETTY declared, that he con tinued to press the Bill, not from any pertinacity of opinion, or a thorough conviaion that the tax was unexceptionable, but as pteferring it, its the choice of many evils, as the least. Its effea upon the ago cultural part of the community had bees much ex aggerated ; he would adduce a single instance hear an authority upon which he eceld rely : farm of 200 acres of arable laud. io the le' t ik yid of Castle Dowling, in Scotland, the who:e sin; noel expense incurred for iron a: tachml t o the ire. Lt menu( including cart wheels. ploughaar Jo , heavy article) arnoauted only to 7 J• • P!!! -;