The Sun. — London, England, 1803-04-22 00:00:00

I understood it was intended 'by the measure about to be proposed to the CoMmittee, to furnish ways and means .to pay the interest of the money ex. 'vended in the present armament. Before this Was done, it was material to, consider whether these duties were such as applied to War or Pe:tee, for there was a material distindion_ in this relied. Duties might be objedianable in \ Peace-which might he submitted tp without objedion in, time of War. How far that was the case here, he could not now attempt tasay, but he thought it would be better, at all events, to' delay the measure' for a day or two, and until .after the promised communication of the Minister on the State,of Public Affairs was made to. the House. It was not his intention to oppose the principle .of the measure at present, and be wished it robe perfedly understood,that he should take an opportunity of hearing the opinion of'those who were best qualified to form an opinion, and for whose interest it was his wish to ad in particular, as well as for the general interests of the Empire, before .he look any deoaive course whatever; all that he 'asked now was , that the Minister would - not press this Imitative in any of. its future stages without affording ample far considering it. The C HAAT ALL() R qf the . EXC.' HEQURR said, that the Hop. Gentleman' who had 'just sat down, had, as it appeared to him, very wisely changed his . intention as to the subjed now about to be submit ted to the House, as it related to : a part of His Majesty's most gracioua Speech from the' Throne in the month of November last, and which he'had now the ,honour of submitting to the House. The Honourable Member had said, that from a Sche. dole he. had seen, the present objeft•was that of an increase of the Public Revenue:-..in this supposi. tion the Honourable Member was completely mis taken ; 'that was not .the,objed of the Measure—its objett was to si mplify the collection of the Ditties of Custom's, and thereby, also, to make some addi. tion to the' Public Revenue, in the same manner as it was made in the year 1787, when the questiOn of Peace and War,to which the Honourable Gentleman had referred, did not in any degree agitate the ,feelings or the interests of the Public. . The Hon. Gentleman had said, that on a former day, he (Mr. AoansaTost) gave. the House reason to' exped, that in a 'few days he should make a, cornmunica. Sion on an important subjed. - He certainly did say he had hopes of being able to make a conimuni.: cation on subjed interesting to the feelings of the House and the Public, in the course of a few days ; • but he also said, at the same time, that it was int posSible for him to pledge himself, and that he did not pledge,- or commit himself upon that subjea. His object then was to take care not to endanger the Public Interest, either by a premature discus sion, which must have been the case in the absence of comMunication, or to endanger the Public Ince. rest by a precipitate communication : but, from the very nature of the thing, it was impossible for him to make any pledge upon the subjed; nevertheless the ,Honourable Gentleman had seemingly inferred, and others had industriously propagated as well as inferred, that what was represented by him on that . occasion was, that which would give satisfaction to the House' and the Public on the subjed. He did not say a 'single word to that effed. He said, he should, he believed, he able in a few days to make a communication to the House, and that he thought would be necessary, because he felt the inconvenience, and more titan inconvenience of sine. pence ; but as to the. natue of "the Communication which it,. was probable he should be able to' make, he not only did not say any thing, hitt he was nor able to say any thing. He should not now say eny thing more upon this snbjet, but propose, that the Hotise should go intoei Committee on the s'objea he had moved, and' if the House should iissrnt to that, he should shortly open the outline the Measure he had to propose. The Qeestian was then put and 'carried, and the HOuSe resolved itself into a Committee of the whole ;iouse accordingly'. The CHiiNCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER ellen said, that the objet he had in view, ,was piJimir, to the consideration of the ComMitteei means to simplify, c .iistilidate, and amend the' mode of colleelieeb the Duties'of Custems, and be wished to ponforet to die communication of His Majesty, to graciotoi Speech from the Throne, in the month 'of November last. He wished the Committee to p s oderstand, that the 'proposition he had to submit, vete ,part of a system already adopted by the Le. K iElaiare, the objeft of which was to consolidate, simplify, and amend all the Laws which relate to Revenue from Customs,. in every branch of 'that roblie Revenue, and to remove every oliscuri. 'ty, embarreesment, or difficulty in its colle'tion, to fender the 'appropriation of each part of it, clear, precise, and uniform, as well as tolaeilitateethe neele of its colleaion, both with regard 'to those celleaed these Duties, and - the Public. The ttneasore he had to submit to the Committee,, was 'founded ori•the same principle as that whiCh pro. dueed the Aa . of 1787. After giving a short ae.. 'come of the mode of colleaing Duties, as esta. We.hed in the time of 'King William III.• and the establishment of , the Consolidated Fund, and also tif the appropriation of a -- certain Revenue to pro. Vide fur Services within the year; lie proceeded to observ., that what he had to suggeit was, that all the Duties of Customs, which are now raised under, no Jess than 170 Aas of Parliattrent, should be consoli. ; t tulip some cues where a consolidation rook liface, there shoula be a fraftional sum payable on a particulat oracle, ieshould he raised to an' integral eurti above it, and in others be rehced to an in. tegral sum below it. Some articles in the book of rates of Duty, which having become obsolete were ea be omitted, and on others an ad Tolarear Duty Was td' be imposed ; and also for the sake cif regu. Pity' in the ehiFies, i irc. a very small Duty. W‘kS proposed to be laid on all articles which at 'present were iMPorted Duty free, With respea to the d e . jail oldie measure,' he should like to spare time by jaa,,sifig it over for the present, unless it wits the teishlof the Cemmittee that he should enter into it, he «as de..irout; that every Member should ).e`iri jutsstss,ona mite micaule, which the Hon. Gen. lasi; 'iickntrivledged he had seen, t,kfo r ,, o hket. dele , il; feet to the priAciPle. of the measure", he 4itl cone 01 . 1: citilretiOn The.. ' . W 611113 Ilave'beett rt 4 'difference ti • it. t: Clet ~ %...I. • ,rs of opinion upon it.---i There might indeettlie some difference of opinion on the quantity; and on that he did not ask for any.opinion untilevery Gentleman had an opportunity of considering it. withoniouteness. It was proposed that most articles imported lota the East Indies, with the exception of sugar, should he charged with the same Duties as articles trotnother quarters. Asa() the West Indies, to use. the phrase of " his predecessor, it was oroposed,to put a mark, but not an invidious mark of preference to those of the West, Indies, but not such a preference as might have the ef. feel ,4di.-couraging the'produCtions bfanY other part of Flit Majesty's dominions. Another. objea of the present measure was, that of ettithetsounteraaing the pradices of Sning,glers, which, ntotWithstanding the . prohibitions and heavy penalties attached to them by enasfiments in our Statute Book.s, still continued. It was his objed not only to 'discourage this, by regulations of - Dories, but 'also'to afford more ample: protedion to our Trade and Commerce. Gentlemen had said, it was material that Merchants should be consulted on this sohjeet before it should be proposed to the CoMmittee—that it was too itn. portant to the interests of the ,Country' to be adopted without. submitting it to the judg. .merits of those who bad the best experience upon the matter. He understood the Hon. Gentleman who spoke last. to have said `so; bait whether that understanding was right or not, he thought it ma terial .to-statelo the Committee, .that •he had en. deavoured to obtain the• opinions of - the greatest , experience on every part of the measure which he was now about to submit, and that had it not been for his having waited for such Opinions, this mea sure would have been long ago submitted, to Par liament. It had also been submitted to the Boards of Customs and of. Trade, and he had reason to he, lieve, that although some difference of opinion had arisen on' a . few articles, yet on the outline very little difference of opinion had been entertained in. deed, for it was to simplify the regulations of arti cles, the number of which was near 6000. As to the precise amount of the Duties, lie had nothing to say at present, for that was, to be the result of communications and conferences with persons of the first abilities upon the subjedi. Much labour had been already bestowed on. this. snhjett, and he trusted the Committee would allow him to adopt' the course which was formerly adopted by his predeeessor in the year 1787, and also in the AA.of Union be. tween this, Country and Ireland, namely, that of introducing the several heads' of regulation in the form of a Schedule, instead of proposing u distiat resolution On each separate article, for, in that course the House would have to consider little less than 6000 resolutions, whereas, by referring to a Schedule containing them all in their different claases, they might he comprehended in a few votes. But here.. it was tit for him to observe, that be should not do justice to the labour and abilities that were cm. ployed in the fontiing of this Schedule, if he were not 'to acknowledge, that the merit of it was chiefly owing to a Gentleman of great knowledge and indefatigable attention, he meant Mr. FRE- Wi N, than whom, a more constant, accurate, and faithful servant, was not. in His Majesty's em. ployment. He wished the Committee to under. stand, that this measure, if the House ihould coun. tenance and .adopt it, Was preparatory to another measure of which he gave notice before Chri;tmaa, on the subje.o of Warehousing and Bonding. If this measure should pais, as he hoped it would, it was his intention to propose also a measure for that •purocase. The examitiation of the Schedule, and the investigation of many points to which the attention of the Committee would he •called, had impressed him with sentithents• of admiration of the extent and vigour of the commerce of this Country ; growing out, as he knew it had (although coma mented upon, if he might he - permitted to say so, irrationally), of Capital that was unexampled in its amount—out of Laws and Regulations for promoting and encouraging industrious tiaffic, and out of a Credit which was founded on good faith and personal integrity, .upon the true cha. rafter of the People nf this Country, that good faith between man and man, which was the foundation of its wealth and main cause of its prosperity..,, It was, thus that our Commerce, while it afforded large • and liberal aids to the exigencies of the Public Ser.' vice for the last ten years, had. yet continued to' in. crease so rapidly, that the Revenues of the Customs had nearly doubled in that time, and the other branches of Our Commerce 'Were increasing - , particularly our Navigation. This shewed:us the abundance of our resources, and manifested the radical strength, gf the Country; for we find our resources increasing under the pressure of unexampled 'difficulties, and before unheard.of trials,. This she wed the confidence which we were all warranted in feeling, and the Pub. tic. Credit Which might warrant us in triumph....- He then read the first ResulutiOn which he'uitended to move upon this subjed for carrying into efFeit that which he had stated, and then said, he wished • the Committee to understand' that he was iltriir nor. suing the same course as that which was propo,eal by' his predecessor, and adopted by the Legislature, in comprizing the different heads of articles intend. ed tube regulated, in,a Schedule. Should the mittec approve of this course, he shoot(' propose that an interval shoulyi be' afforded to consider the Sche a dule, :and then chef the Chairman-should ask leave. to sit again ;'and therefore, if the Committee should approve of this Resolution, he should move that the Chairman do report progress, and ask leave to sit again—but he should not propose that the Commit. tee shoUld sit again before this day se'netight. The Ikon. Gentleman (General Gristly rte) seemed stir. prized that' he should prOpose eatly a day for that ,porposeo—but the Session Was .advancing, and this and other business could Mat be pass .Over to ano. ther:—bur if the interval,. now stated should be found insuflicient, he should not only . be ready, bui desirous to assent to a proposition for further tim e , As to the Toun t age Duty,' he shOuld he extremely sorry to he thought wanting in candour .towards Worthy Magistrate (the Lord Mayor of Lond on ), in proposing that which might be the subject of his fiicition ; bat he had put off, becomingl, if he might be allowed to'Say so, the investigation of a queatiOn which, in one way oetteCiiling it ; might operate to the diminution-Of'theEPublit Reveotti;• was it therefore fit 'that lie .should exch.* from Ins plan that whi c h 'hid been the sitbjed of public notice, - and had Oonstituted'it gr'carpart of Ws astentior, far the last st months? Besides, that worthy Magistrate, as :well as every other Member, would have ample opportunity of delivering his sentiments on that very subjel when it came t o h e di s e usse d a s a part of - the .measure now proposed part of it could pass Without being •canvas,ed, and the very step he was now taking, was for the very purpose of atrord.- ing a proper. opportunity of discussin every part of it ; anti this he did the more readily, because there was no point to which he should not wish to . call the attention of the Committee, in the whole Schedule which he was about to submit to its con. sidt!ration. Mr. BUR . DON said, he hoped from th e import.. ance of th e subjea, • sufficient time would be allowed to consider it, bepre the House was called on to .pass the tottethe best information . he could .get on the subject, he thought some amendments might be made relative to the Tonnage Duties : it was highly necessary that the Schedule should un dergo a fair investigation before the sannion of the House was given to the measure proposed by the Right Hon. the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER. GentralG ASCOY NE said, notwithstanding what the Right H,n. the CHANCELLOR'Of the EXCHE QUER, 110 said,' in answer to his observations, he was surprised that the. present measure was pro. posed .to the House, before some, account relative to the state of the Country had. been given, in or, der to satisfy the Public Mind, It had been said, that Schedules have been cirthlated throughout the kingdom, but he had only seen one, which had un- . dergone many alterations ; and he had been inform ed by his Constituents that they had not received a single, Schedule. He must again repeat, that he understood the Right Hon, the CHANCELLOR of the ExctiEQUe tt to have said, that he hoped to give the House a satisfaaory • account relative to the state of the Country ; and he was sure that many Hon. Gentlemen had received the same impression, from the language the Right Hon. the CHANCEL. LOR of the EXCHEQUER had "used a. few days back. But as far as related to the consideration of the pre sent measure, he thought it would •be better to postpone the tiinc,for going into. a Committee on the Bill to this day fortnight. . The CH ANC ELLO R of the -EXCHEQUER said, that the question now before the Committee was, whether they would agree with the tesolu: tion which was proposed ; and the period when the Committee was to sit again, could only be deter.. mined after the SP BAKEK had taken the Chair. If the Hon. Gentleman would assure 'him bona fide (and he was sure he would not assert in any other way), that the addition of a few days would enable his Constituents more fully to investigate the sub jea, he would not be Unwilling. to accede to a de. lay of a- few days. The Hun. Gentleman seemed to suppo.c that he was desirous ofprecipitating- the Public BtisinesQ, with a view of a speedy proroga. rim of Parliament, but he could assure that Hon. Gentleman that there was Public. Business enough before the House to afford a prospea of its sitting as long as he could wish. General G ASCOY NE said, his Constituents had certainly not seen ; the Schedules, and he thought 'it Was necessary that they shOuld have time enough to consider the nature - of the Schedules, atter they get possession of them. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, he begged the Hon. Ge nt l eman an d t h e H ouse to understand, that he had in no degree varied on this occasion from what he had said upon a former day, respecting a Cotnmunieatio n. to the House-- The Schedule of the Duties had been made and cir. culated three months ago, but some alterations hav ing been made in it', it was reprinted, and the last ,Schedule , had been in circulation above a month. If the Hon.'. Gentleman's COnstituents had not Olen it, 'it was not . the fault of His Maje.tv's Mini sters ; he would not take up 46 himself to'say with whom the fault rested. With regard to what the Hon. Gntletnanr had said about the Duties being raised in some instances higher than to the next tegral sum, the Committee nuts( be aware that he (the • CHAMcttr,t.oa of the EXCH iQII R it) could Nave no intention deceiving them upon the snlijeas because the whole subject was- minutely detailed in the Schedule. In some few instances the Duties were raised higher than to the next integral sum, and in other instances they, were reduced much lower ,but in general the whole plan was founded upon the principle adopted in 1787. WI/ ANS ITT:4 Id' said,. there were only four instances in which the present Schedule' varied from the one which was printed and circulated three. months ago. The four articles• in whiCh altera tions had been. made, were Pimento,. Sugar from the East Indies, unmanufattUred Articles, and Horses imported from the East Indies. The Resolution was agreed to, the Chairman re.' ported progress, - and the Committee was ordered to sit again on Monday , seinnight. The Report of the liish Revenue Law Bill was -- brought up anti agreed to, and the Bill was read as, third time and pasSed. A Message from the Lords stated, that they had agreed to the American Commissioners' Bill. • The Lunatic Property Bill was .read, a second time. Mr. .FITZCERALD said, he begged leave to call the attention of the House to tee Bill now tit. der their consideration. The present connecti on between the two , Countries had induced him to ex press a wish, that the measure this Bill had for it s - etas should extend to Ireland. He hoped that the Chancelimed' : Ireland .would take the subjed in to his coniideration,, and. that the Lunatic Bill would have erred in that Country. He knew of no cha racier si, well calculated to conduel such a measure as the Chancellor of Ireland ; a Gentleman whose great were admired by ev er y G ent l e. manat ql tlle lift "B7ir ti in " that Country. The Hon. Gen. tleinan paid many compliments to the talents and virtues of the Chancellor of Ireland, and concluded by saying, he hoped the Bill u s ould have effdt in both Countries. Itir..PANSTITART said, he was sure the Noble Lrn' . Would attend to any suggestion that cam - t from that Non. Gentleman. Th e :gill wai 'then oftiered to he committed to a orriliiter . of tile whole HOuse. Adjourned ae§ix o'Clock. MA I I.S. ..... AUK 14 Holland r - 4 French I I aniburgh z Lisbon o • PRICE OF STOCKS, THIS DAY AT TWELV Consols • • 66k 1 THE SUN. •01.1111 QUIS DICIRL VALIUM AUDiAT • D 0 N, APRA' 22, 4? 3. Y THE public expedation of a pacific CUMULI ICA. tion to Parliament in the course of a few days, seems to gain strength, though perhaps few have been at the pains minutely to scrutinize the grounds upon wtich such an expedation rests. We have heard horn many quarters that it springs, not ra much from any positive athendrnent an the general aspeft of affairs, within the last few cloys; and the end of the negotiation for the return • of Mr. riTT into power, with .which„the question of Warints been most improperly coupled, as from'what fell (rum the Minister on Tuesday night in the House of (Ain ' mons. Upon what circumstances the more favour able asped of affairs is supposed to depend, we wi ll not inquire, as these, we apprehend, must be merely matter of opinion _; and we know that the issue the Negotiation with Mr. Pm had no concern whatever with the great question of Peace or War. The public expectation then seems to be c hiefly raised by what fell from the Minister; bur if What he said be dispassionately and thoroughly examinetl, we presume it will be found that his meaning has been misrepresented, and tha - ihe isiupposet,l to have stated more than he either meant to state, or (14 state.—He. said, "he hoped to have the satisi . a" - 'tiOn"—and here, having made use this word,l-1 explained, " that be diet not totem to pledge b;mitlf to any thing"--" of 'making a communica t ion in the course of a few days upon a subject on which the feelings of the House and the Public were so deeplY involved."—Upon considering what was the real meaning of the Minister int the few words which he uttered, we apprehend it will be found, that the hops and the red;rpraioN, both applied to the corn. munication which .was to be made being of a de/"i• tine natmse—such as should put an end to the state of suspense in which the Country has so long bee r) placed, and not in the most distant degree it) t he nature , of such communication. It is certainly con' trijy to the titi4gestteinti of common sensed" ft ' s "'Minister bhuuht tread 'to give an opinion upon event most, probably still doubtful, and which. i f . no loner 'doubtful, it would be his especial thO r promptly to communicate to Parliament and ti ll.- Public.. The general opinion seems to be that the present dispute with France will be so compromi sea or settled, that an immeLliate Wir will riot be t he consequence.—The general opinion may in this tea aped be right, or it may .00t be so- T -that is pat at O F present moment so much the objea of inquiry,.as the grounds upon which that opinion is founded ; and we will venture to assert, that if , what fell from the Minister be the oily groun d which it rests, it is as.uncertainai ever. The Fobs may be entertained that an amicable adjustment 104 be made of the, points under discUssion; and that hope may be tl:Appointed, The issue de; ends 11 10 n more than one party; and till the final, answ er is given to any propositions that may have been 0 311 e, there surely can be no certainty that that h,oralrt it w ie i l be realized—Besides, it may be, sureli', - ic to the Minister to say, that he Would even deli ° . . s4trrjraaion from being enabled to make a filta l ' a ' n ' munication, though that should annpunce War. --.144 must be as much alive as any man .tb the inconvc. niencies under which the Mercantile Interest iab °l° from a state of uncertain and protritaed Nego i/ : . lion, and there is no indifferent person that w° L ' not even.prefer War to the continuance of 5116 state ; and why, we ask, should not the Mini ° be permitted to feel satisfadion at being able s° . - terminate that state which every man readily a4' knoWledges appears worse, to him than 'even itself ?, Upon closely examining this subject it be fgaind that more has been inferred than was tle anr ' ' a w n i c t l ic t h ha a t r g ea ro l u u n n t d ls e .rsotfanedxipenstiaotfioltahleiaysue bbieeaenwfnarill'ic,o`lic warrant. These refizaions arc not only strengthened, but c confirmed rLL oi b ‘r y t the he E e x x c p u l a r n Q a u t iotßti himselfw th e ti) n ecessary to make last • night in the ilonseoleum mons upon this subjed ; in .which. it w ill. be se 611 t hat his own interpretation Of his expressions jusn' fies our conclusions , tha t the ratifiadiz,N• which 1 11 expressed applied to his being a ble to make can' munication of a de/7isk/4. issue of the Negotiations and not at all to the nature,of the communication which, aware Of the more than iNconvenientet suiting from a state.of suspence, h i e hoped soon to be enabled to make to Parliament and the 4tio, 1,1