The Sun. — London, England, 1801-02-19 00:00:00

s • ~. • a used by the, lower orders of the Community. If the - Committee should agree with me, even after .the imposition of this 'Tax, every cot tager and person of inferior order will have their tea cheaper than they had it twenty years ago. it is a matter of public satisfafflon to state, that the increase °Nile Tait has not given 'encourage ment to smuggling, for in point of filet, the Saks of the East India Company' have increased since the last Tax. After what I have stated, the Committee will not; rhope, think it is improper to lay on an additional ten :per Cent. upon all Teas which are abdve 2S. 6d, per lb. and this ad ditional duty will, I estimate, produce 300,0001. gs The next article I have to propose, is one whic)t is certainly not - an article of necessity, al ;bough iris that sort of luxury which ought not in reality ; to be discouraged, but which will bear a considerable, addition without any public in convenience. I mean, to double the Duty . at Pr"e4t paid on all descriptions of PAPER, except in a few• instances, to be afterwards enu merated, stack as Papers used for Hangings ; those used in the - Export Trade ; 'Glazed Paper, and the like in.this article it will be necessary to have some measures of 'regulation, and, to avoid difficulty, I should propose to do what was done in the last case upon this subjea, by way of al.. 'Awing discount on those Papers which are now . extremely interesting to Gentlemen of all de actiptions, by which it will be made unnecessary, and, I hope impossible, for those who are, most immediately interested in the sale of them, to oake any• difference in the price of those valua ble articles of intelligence. This .Duty must also aired, -in a slight degree, same other parts of literature, which, without disrespeel to that which I have already mentioeedonust be the ob. Jett of our eate, so that they be not illierally.dis couraged. In considering the use of a modzrn Newspaper, and in refleffing how much superior it is to former produaione which came beforeelle Public under that title, that is is - not now con fined to•the dry detail of by-gone events, or What *ay be called a Daily History, but that it ranges into a wider field,`and takei in much speculation, so that it may not be considered much infefior to t h e g reater. part pf a modern Literary,: and itself /snakes up a great deal of modern Collenions in the Literary World : we should be extremely ten der, lest we diminish the circula;ion i _ or cause to decline in the Public_ Favour, these useful works. I hope the Duty • which 1 here propose will not be considered as bearing. too heavily in this instance, or as .likely to diminish the !um ber of those Gentlemen who - frequent Cotfee_ biinses chiefly - far the perysal of those POblica lions, and with wham, indeed, a Newspaper is an article or necessity. I estimate thisiOuty on piper at the sum of t 32,0001. gr There iv an article of another aescription, which is under the survey of the Excise, and re , rues to a very important branch of lour Manu- Etdure ; but it is not a Tax which will bear, in arty material degree, on that manufaiture, and • is, indeed; applied - fitly to that part of it which may be called a luxury ; I mean that of PRINTED COTTONS. An additional Duty of 214. on all. paying 34d. -per yard, allowing' drawbacks on whatever is ex ported to Foreign Parts. No part of that ar t i c l e cut be considered in any other light than an arti cle, of Luxury, at least in some degree, and the Duty which I propose on it, Ido not conceive is liable to any fair objeaion : this I estimate at the, sum of rs4,oool.—The next article comes limier the head of Customs, and which I have already mentioned ; I mean the article of tittijA, As ti) ttoiOs :e should he some addition to the Dury lbSed•is a proposition to which, I appre sry Gentleman in this House will assent. 4stinaion-should be made between Horses Pleasure and those that are kept for use which are by •far the greater number .hing.may be deduced, as common to all keep Horses, which is, that wherever ads himself able to keep Horses of either an, it is a proof of his having means to le expellee of a moderate Duty, and I under the general exigency of the cannot say we are making an unrea. Al on them, 'to bear their part of the Public aurthco. The very circumstance of a man's keeping Horses, is a better proof than any thing else can be of his ability to bear that which I am about to submit to the Committee, .as it to he imposed on them. I propose, that for Horses of Pleasure, where only one is kept, there shall' be imposed a Duty of las. which I expel will produce X.63,35es On all above one, zos. which I ex peel will pi'oduce - 73,000 -. 136,000 On each Horse kept for Husbandry, I woul d ' propose the sum of 4s. which I think will produce 170,000 306,000 " The next article which I have to propose to the Committee, is an addition to those which arc now collecied under the management of STAMPS, and , they are under three distina heads—Bills and Notes of all descriptions. I will not now go into the particulars as to the rates of duties, but they will, I am co n fident, b e found to be such as the Country can very conveniently bear, as they have been borne now for some years. I mean to include under this article all Policies of Insurance, or Adventures by Sea ; and I propose that the Duty now payable be doubled. I mean also to include all sorts of Deeds engrossed on Parchment, the present Duty of which is los. I propose to add the sum of 3s. each skin. The whole of which I expet will produce £.3p,000. " The next article is one in which the Revenue is raised in a 'way, which is the -most satisfadory, ; in a way the most consistent with the interests of the Public; and it is one which, whenever there is a necessity for increasing the Revenue, will be a fair objed 'of Duty, provided it be kept within the spirit of the institution itself, for it is only a Duty on that which individuals find more conve nience in than they could have by any othep . made they could adopt, and for which they p a y, in pro _ portion to any other, very little indeed ; for by paying to the Public in this article, individuals arc paying infinitely Jess than they would be Obliged to pay if they were to take the thing upon themselves; I mean the Duty of POSTAGE' ON LETTERS. No Duty has been more moderate, nor any that has kept so little progress with the advance in articles. There has not been a sufficient attention paid to the distinaion which ought to be made, between Letters 'according to the dista n c e th e y are con ,veyed, the increase of the rate has not been made to bear in any thing like a proportion to that distance. .1 should propose that this branch of the Public Revenue should be classed under these distinaions of distance, of so .much for too, and so much more for 'so miles, and so on, without increasing that which at'present pays the least. Letters. and Packets to Ireland also I should in.. clode in this Duty, as well as Foreign Letters, %AA by some accident, rather than any prin ciple I have been able to discover, have been hitherto exempted from additional Duty ; whereas those which are sent to our own Colonies pay an additional Duty. Letters for Foreign pat ts have not had an increase of Duty imposed upon them for near a century past. I propose also to make some additional charges on Communications made by Cross Posts ; and also that the Revenue should have some benefit from the compensation to be given at different Towns and Places, for the de livery of Letters at the houses of individuals, instead of leaving those individuals to call for them at the Post-Office. 1 mean also to make some regulations in these particulars. The principle is not new on the subjea of Foreign Letters, although the addition itself in that particuliir article is new, for a • regulation was lately made on the subjea of Merchants' let ters sent in Merchants' ships, and which has been found to answer the expeaations formed of it, without any inconvenience. This is,a subjea which will, of course, require some attention in the detail. There is another branch of Postage remaining, on which I find some difficulty in the statement, arising from the name of it. I know not how, without exciting a smile, I can propose to make an addition to the Penny -post ; but although it be difficult to describe, it is not dif ficult to understand the subjea, and indeed it- is now received only under common parlance as the Penny-post, the sum paid being in many cases larger than a penny ; the sum which I ex_ pelt to produce by this particular part of the Postage is about 17,0001.. The whole produce under the head of Postage, I would estimate at i 50,0001. Gentlemen will perceive how the Ar ticles of Taxation stand, and the heads they are under, and what they are .expeaed-- to produce, and which I will now recapitulate. • Paper - - - ,C.r32,te Tea - - 7 300,000 Printed Cotton .. - 40 , 154,000 Sugzr - - - - 160,000 Pepper . - rig, - 04)o Stamps .. I . 350, ,000 horses - - - 30 6 ,000 Post-Office - - ' p r ow) Timber - 95tocnk Raisins - - - IgyNDO Lod - - - 1 i,cili • it% 1,794,cc0 ' 1 And the sum to be provided as Interest oldie Loan is 1,7 8;,000l. or thereabouts. " I sa id, I did not hope that Taxes to this amount would'be totally without objeaioh ; and yet, al. ter 'having enumerated 'them, I own I am san. taint. enoughl to hope I did.' not say too • I imch *heti i sash ttiek trontd .nab interfere with the prospelity — Of the Country, either.as to its Resources, or as lo theirbeating on the LoWer - Classes of the People of this Country, I . have also to say, that I have great Satisfadion in discharging this part of my duty, because it affords as a consoling prospect. Having done so, I feel it necessary to say a few words, and I am not , desirous to _detain the House by saying ,rnan7. The tulq lyAsiften of late, to raise' Taxes equal to .•the whOle Loan, by its operation for . a given time, ' 'and which was by raising a large sum of . money With. in the year. The. first general reasccn 'for not following that ik3;eltl in the present in. stance, is, that notwithstanding every exertion that has been made or could be made, the at_ . tempt to raise so much of the Bupply within the year as that of the last, has not succeeded to its lid! extent ; the great, and indeed inestimable set. vice which has .been rendered .by that system, however, will induce us, I hope, to adhere to it, when that. Can be dane without lad much ' pressure, ,bin not to . carry it fur. than the consideration of ,the public expedie and safely require. I did hope to have car:- ried it further than we have done. I was san guine, but I was mistaken in my calculation, for which I do not think I ought to take much shame to myself, considering how new - the sub_ jell. was ; I did hope, that considering how. the Country at large received the idea of the Tax upon Income, that it would produce to Millions ; bet, now, from the experience I have had of its effeets; I cannot rely on ias•producing more thansiXMil lions. But we must consider that this was adopted as a War Tax in the first instance, and: one that was within a moderate time to repay the excess of Debt which bad been contraCled,. or Debt Ow. went beyond a_given amount. Now, I thinic,if we were to pial that to its full extent, and con tinue it, although a War Tax, to a time. which might make it partake of the quality of a Perpe tual Tax, so as to leave no probable interval be tween the time of concluding a Peace and the pos sible Renewal of Hostility, from causes which cannot vow be foreseen, it would totally destroy the real purpose for which the Tax was adopted, 'Which was - that of making it availing as a matter of energy fur the pressure of War. For this reason,. I would 'not prolong the period for which that • Tax is at present mortgaged. But there are other • points which on some future occa sions I .shall state more particularly, but which I would now state as shortly as 1 am able.-- In the first place, let us suppose the whole amount of the Income Tax. to be equal to my sanguine. expeeiation e there, is one circumstance Which has rendered it unneeessary.to mortgage it to the ex tent el the original proposal, to produce the Ile duaion ofethe Debt, which was then expe&ed as the operation of this Tax. rf hat operation.. was, that the Public Debt should never be more than it was at the period of i793i Now, Sir, since that . time,. there has been discharged . of ' the Capital of the . D.sbt, Eighteen Millions by. the Redemption of the Land Tax, and it does not appear to me, to be necessary for us to keep ,the Debt the sine as it was in the year 1798, at all events, and under all pressure, especially when we consider the. t..ceatiuti of the "Sinking hue-1 — nor do 1 think it would be wise :to mort gage the income 'fax beyond its original. period. It Is indeed, necessary to adhere to the principle on which that Tax was adopted.—The original principle we had in view by the adoption of the Income. Tax was, to give vigour to our Supplies, by keeping down the Debt and preveet ing its too great accumulation, by raising a great part of such - Supplies within the year—That principle has been followed up and acted upon in the Income Ad, and haS produced great effects : not indeed "to the full extent of my wishes, nor even to my hopes, because the Income At has fallen short = ts estimate; but that we have gone upon t :'''''. iciple of giving vigour to our Finance, b , : g a very large Supply within the year, n. an can doubt; that we now feel much of the beneficial area of 'such a system, is evident, by the Terms of the Loan now before this Committee—we have now bor rowed on cheape'r Terms than we could have ob tained, if we had proceeded on any other system. Whoever recolletts the Terms of former Loans, will see the truth of this assertion 7 —whoever compares former Loans with the present,. wi : ~e, the effea at once : it will appear, that the : . s I S of this Loae aremore advantageous to. the Public, and more Moderate than any oat Loan, except' the first of the last War, and equal to several years of the present War. Then it appears, that this Income Mt, - although it has fallen short of what I hoped to see it produce, has uever theless, in a grearmeasure, had its effeert, One great objefl to be attained by it Was, that of keeping our Debt in such a state, that we might be able to make these manly exertions which we have, to the astonishment of surrounding Nations, for our Safety, fo'r oqr It!dependetA and - our Honour : And although it wo . : better still, if we could have gone to. • ' Which 1 originally wished, let us s' we - cannot follow the original intentiOn-; whether. what has been doge may not serve us as' a guide it Instead of saying. that• at no period: of the War shall ow.Debt_be larger than.it wail in the year 1798, would it not be better for us to say, that in future . we will take the'oprration . of the Sinking Fund and the. Income Tax, in the same way as they have been mode to apply to the vigour and stability - of our Credit, from the year 5798 dowft- to the present time, and that we , shall pursue our system until the Debt shall be reduced again to the - state it was 'in at the period of 5798 i A system we hare the best pro6f of the wisdom of, .since vig have found by emaerience that tine have risen 'in every advantage over all the Na tions of Europe, and, thank .God, arc nosy in a state of progreisive prosperity.—Many topiil to prove this assertion I may hate to' submit at a future day, but they form no 'pare of the business of the present day—l propose that. the Income Tax should remain until that Tax i toge ther with the operation of the Sinking nip& shall reduce our Debt to the state in which it ... : . • .. • stood in taleyear i-)93 - irid We hait the ebnioz 1:164in ib•relleet that sif4-If - , :cu'rse is not tic* to ti's; for thecbuntry can never be in a state of Areat6r, embarrassment than that which befare arid , sinea that time we have seen, felt, knoWn; cc*,tend:(l,, with, and overcome; and that Under tosmany tilt. fieilties . , that "'think postefity will scarcely nave any it". 1111 to say we have done too little.:--' The .144 s• - of the n present cfmtlitiOn of tht Debt . will be, iliac tileie 14ill now temain . in 'afrilicie..,i, Of Twenty Milituns to its Capital; beyand'WhA' it wa.siirthe year. 1 rfi'i ; 14ine . Millionii 'are 'Pliiit off iri ' the . preseri t year, by tin: oilerati.An - df the . SirikiLi:, , -lunds, ..tlti 'r:riri ic%;% F: -, vi - i' 'F.,iglifeeti . to. Twenty IVlillipns ore reduc(•:l by the M: demption of-thc.t Lincl s fax: so that there will re. main of course, .abekit Twenty ililillioni on the present - year, which added . ..to :the Fifty:: six Millions, for which the Incornc . Tax was pledged, Will amount,. to Srverity-gix isdilli3ni4 which, on ;the calculations - of last' year, and at_ lowing for the operatiOn of the Sinking Futii!,. will not require more than six -years for the 'application Qt: the Income Tax, althotik e h it - w4s. calCulated _as. mortgaged ~for, wren 'yeats. This I conceive to be. a primixtq whi0,,,,1 holies will not appear. dicouraging to the Country. T - 71 cannot foresee what :sew r11:119 'A c-;slloll.iliave, li4- I Jill confident that , as we have had more. than ; usual experiencealreadr, if the People remain a true to themselves in time to come, to their erg:l.. : • gy of mina and body, if they ate as true to them. selves as their resources haVe been true to them;• if this Pouse is as . true in' the Country as tl.n . energy and Vigour of the Ca4htry - has been true . to them, as Well in spirit and exertinns, and every manly quality. 1)y which they- have been dbtin.: .. ;guishcel, the difficulty which eve, shilll liaive to, .encounter will not be too great for us.---The' firmness of this House, and of the Country fol. lowing the determinations of thii HouSe, will produce the same effecis as they. have done in former peridds ; .and confident I am, there ii • nothing in our general situation, nothing in the radical strength of the Country, that leads to any discouragement, or that should dishearten us 14 . the exercise of our duty in this House, or. the People out-;•-that it is now more 'than ever in, ctunbent upon us as public men, or as individills, • to exert our 'effortg, witliout shcwing Ally symp toms of distrust, if we would retain those semi. merits and public spirit, ivhich have hithertO atone belonged to Englishmen. will not 'trouble the House v'ith olu* servations on our geheral situation, but• in-the midst of out difficulties I cannot- abstain from loOking, for it is a . .satisfaetion to look shortly, - and it shall be short}y indeed, 'at two or three pints which, in my apprehension,' are two or three 'considerations, in addition to that of the state °lour pre::ent Permanent Taxes.—What has beets the effcd of our antecedent Permanent Revenue ? What is the effat of it even now, aftet much disadvantage, •which •is dearly to be attributed i to' the_Seasons, which we all know_ to have been so unfavourable. The amount Of our Permanent Taxes exceeded, on the sth of J~mnu_ ary last, that of January t Soo.; and this may be called the -Ida of our Prosperity as well ;IS Trial, and in which our Imports and ; Exportt were more: than they were in the year . 1791. 'lf you will TiOok - back to the fricrease of our gotriineree Revenue from the.end of the 1,0,t . Wat, you will' ism d they are midi larger now, in proportion to Life two periods of W'e'ar. and Peace. If we look at the State of the Debt, we have abun, dint consolation, En, - struggling as we have been . *with difficulty, arid • increasing a Debt which we could not. have avc:ided incurring, yet by an adherence, a' rigid, scrupulous adherence to the system long since adopted for the discharge of- that Debt, according to the engagement we entered into with ourselves in the year 1786 : we have paid off no less a sum than '52 Millio n s of the Capital of our Debt—a sum which, but for that engagement and our . wisely serupuloini adherence to it, would have been now an existing burtheo on the People of this Country. The total amount of our Sinking Fund is now Five Millions. —Of the burthens imposed upon .us ,by this unexampled War, more than. one half has been , .employed, not in sup. porting ourselves under engagements entered into by ovselves, but to pay the debts which were'conttaaed' by our Ancestors, and if, under such a trial and-. under such circumstances, we look-into the . state of the, Commerce and Re. venue, and the general vigbur and resources of theCoutry, we shall,, I say again, find abun. dant .SOuree of consolation, for we 'shall find this very year; in, these very points", excee t ling any we have yet knoWn. lii former times ihe,couese was'to make,comparisons of :a year of l'i'ar with that. of a' year of PeaCe, byway of stiewing hoW productive some years. of War had beci;l;.but.potir the climax is not that of. i goin4 ,from .a year of VV,ar to a year - of Peace, to thew the flourishing statenfoUr Commerce and Revenue, but the course' lutist be, : that of coMparit one year With ono., titer year ; for the War ho been attended with a constant increase pilot Cninnieree and Revedue,• so that we are indeed diAinguishedby our tiros, frit) , in Commerce, , Revelnie, and Naval Supe riority, of all the other Nations of the World ; anct it is singular, but:not more singular than true, that this very year, although: we ha veshfreted so much, and that recently, from unfavourable seasons, this }resent year is the proudest .this Country ever leneW with regard . to its ,Commerce. Ihe Exports,of' British Manufaelures have atisen to Twenty -four as taken froth the Chs: toms, but which anilune in real value to Thirty. two Millions, and the gxpottsokForei g p. Articles are' 3taied at Seventeell h both inuc . larger than that Of 'any preceding year ; and, it .compared with any year Of peace; with any other year in which the ro.perity cat the Cohn_ try waa conspiennus, this year wail present a - speakle thst wohtd, to any hut those who ate intimately acquaintedthe affairs of Nations in a ' political sense, appear asto. ni3hing, taco Ilicable, and patatioxical. It may be matter 'of wonder to ,soup i , though t is not, that An* spite of 'A the alarms, lamenta. tions, and momentary - despondency which have T• , . ' 7 . * tare period, when .the, meads- 6f t)iUgglint *ere; dPbii this , . . taken away, and the capital- employed in it di- that there verted into other channels. The success bf that now imps measure has, I confess, exceeded my most sanguine herd, evci . . expeelations. At that time, we imported not more That a.dis ~., than 6,000,000 pounds of Tea ; since then, the kept for P importation has been constantly increasing, and it b ft u a t L o a t b. th le ou 1' now . aetually amounts to zz,0p .. .,0 9 . 90 . pounds.-'-, 1 Since that period, the Country has iwice been . those who enabled to draw a Re venue f rom it by m ea n s of a man fiat? _ an ,additional Tax. Upon these occasions Parlia. description • : ' meat did•what I hope it will do now, that is, only defray tht lay ;i"ie . T4x upon the Teas of a higher sort, which think thai pre Tp4lly.articles of ' luxury, and that it will not time, the) increase the price of that kind of Tea which is sonable ea SUGAR, to which I propose to add is. rod. per cwt. ; and also that the Convoy Duty should be made perpetual, and the temporary one to cease ; which exped will produce 166,0001.—0 n the arti_ die of TIMBER I propose to :Ida one.third of the present Duty, and which, I think, will yield 95,0001.. it will he'an increase of about ,4 per cent. upon the• price of the article, and which, I do not imagine, wjlt•be opposed.--Another article is that of PEPPER, the whole Exportation of which. is in -fad in the hands of this" Country, and which will, I hope, long continue to be so • this Avill bear.a consider able Duty. It is not reasonable that those who receive it from us should be exempted from Duty. I propose that upon this article there. Should be imposed, on the Home Consumption, 3d. per*. ; and on the Exported 6d, per . lb. whichl expel will produce ic4.,Q001: • " The next Articles are those of RAISINS;. Which. I expea will procitice That of 4.10;404 LEAD, I estimate at 12,Ge)6 " "The next article is one which, under the pre. sent circumstances, the , Com - Mittee - will natur, ally► suppose that many 'would wish the Duty to hp;rarried further than I shall propose to carry it; I mean an addition to the Duty on' lioßsEs. of all descriptions; not excepting even those cm ploye4 in Aviculture: • I mein to i:ursue . a line of modern-ion, and not to go near so fir as - som,.e. persons would desire, in the waY•