The Sun. — London, England, 1806-05-08 00:00:00

1.,r1 • totters. to pro of till's, ire Satc that- - 2.0 or 30 tons of wiee were, in one (ley, taken openly from the e t e l es cc Deblin,: without -paying : any , Great losses were also-sustained in the Custom Du ties, by the frauds committed in, the irnportat:on . of deals,. bark, and Various, other- articles. The article of wrought iron would require : the ; greatest .Vigi lance and- attention. In the laet e year, • the duties amounted' only. to 53.„8001. which was 38,0001. less than What should be expected from the returns of the quantity exported to Ireland frOrn"Great Bri tain only ; so that the Mistake_ or fraud must have occurred either •in the Customs of Great Britain or Ireland... He .then re ferred to .:the new 'Taxes proposed this evening, .many of which he thought would not.prove very produetive... One of these was the additional dtity of -three shillings and sixpence a 'hundred .on sugar.. That. article had been, lately *subjeaed ,to a ,high, duty, which brOught 130,0001. More than : the' sum at which it was estimated ; ,but, :as the Country was.now_oyerstocked With it, "unless 4t should,rise in price, the tax would not produce a farthing. 'The estimate made, that the new duty' 'on tea; under 2s. 6d. which had a great consump tiot in Ireland, would produce only 20001. be thonght„.must be a .mistake, as the, duty on the same article, last year, produced no less a sum • than 453,0001. ; and, "on the same scale,.. this additional. tax .ought to yield 70,0001. As to the Tax upon printing presses; he did not well understand what it meant. There was 'no licence. required for any other presses but. those of paper stainers; which had no relation to arileother sort of printing. As to the balances in the hands of the different Collectors, which , were reduced from 445,0001 'to :200;0001: he had only to say, that no pains were taken to enforCe the 'recovery of ba lances from the dismissed and deceased Colleaors ; and he thought the Right Hon..aronet. would find himself deceived if he relied on the- recovery of their balances as a very productive hind. He then stated the nature of the improvements he intended to propose had he remained in office. The first was to"l'elieve the Woollen Trade from the. difficul ties under which it laboured. In, the second' place, 'if the two Countries were to be put in all other re speBs upon the footing of equality, - it should extend to the interest,of tnoney, which in England was at, and in•lreland at' 61:. per cent. .and this must be' an eternal obstacle to their possessingem equality of trade. His next object would be to. equalize the currency of both Countries, and give to Irish Mel . = charm the same advantages of warehousing and bonding their goc;ds, in- the same manner as was done in England ; with these, and some other regu lations, he should hope the Country would prosper,- if it were not kept back by: a yearly increase of the Public Debt. • ' • • Mt. I. CORRY . said, the • Right Honourable Gentleman seemed to have two distina objects in.' his Speech ; first, to criticise• On the- proposals' of the Right Honoutable Baronet ;-'and secondly, to give himself a sort of posthumous Budget of what he meant to• propose, had be remained in office. If he thought there should - be an assimilation of the currency of both countries,_ why did be not bring it .forward while he remained, in an official ; . situation ? Why had he not done the same with regard to the equalization of interest ? The fa& :Was, thdt he knew.it to be impossible,;, though perhaps he-might have made same experiment of the kind, he had . not been checked and. controuled 'by the lumin ous genius of that greft e man (Mr, Pitt)' whose loss Ire, in common with the majority of -the emit try, must for ever deplore. It-was very 'desirable; that the-House should net-.be led into any-delusion on these 'subjects. It was not the preferable 'security, but the greater interest t 6 be obtained in Ireland, which conveyed' to it a considerable 'portion of the capital of this country e and a Bill.to equalize the in terest, in which the Right, - Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Foster) was very active, had some years ago been rejected,' for these reasons, by the Parliament of 'lreland. The Right Hon. Gentlenian'also,recom rneeded:to raise a great part of the. Supplies within the year ; but he had 'made the experiment him self, and the produce of hiseown,Taxes gave no en couragement to such a proceeding. If bethought it did, why did he not do so himself in the last year ? He had also said, that it was an unprecedented thing to leaVe the Treasury Board of Ireland without one shilling of unfunded debt, any Exchequer Bills, or any salaries unpaid. This was rather strange, as, when he succeeded him (Mr. Corry) 'in office, he found the Treasury in exactly the same situation ; and one of his first measures was to revive 800,0001. of Exchequer Bills which he (Mr. Corry) had paid off. The Right Hon. Gentleman complained of too much circulation of paper, but his Bill of last year had inundated Ireland with paper currency.— It made very little difference whether the Lout was made in England or Ireland, as the stock rinfsecome to the Irish market at any- rate, and the stockholder in England receive his interest froM Ireland. "'lt was also an error to say, that the Collectors' balances Were 200,0001. when, in faa, they were no more than 41,0001. He then said, that he was willing to' confine himself to these , statements for the present, but should enter more at large into ,the subject if he should ever hear Mr. Foster repeat any similar ek pressions. • Mr. FOSTER replied, that he did not, when in -office, propose -to" equalise the coin or the interest of money, because m the. circumstances of the mo ment rendered it impracticable, there being very little gold or silver in the country. Mr. PARNELL said, that beshad a great dislike - to ' raising . . the .Supplies .only by a Loan, because, though the Revenues of Ireland' had increased, the Expenditere had exceeded them ; the Country' had now only three millions 'of Revenue to supply-five millions Of -Expenditure. If this system were to Continue, lie did not see how it would be possible to' provide the Supplies.; for future years. Since, the year 180, there were Taxes to supply the interest of 2,8 00,000 1. 'and yet the Revenue was only benefitted • 50,0001. by them. The . increase of the deficiencies. of Taxes must prove either that the resources of the • Country :were inadequate; 'or that there was great mismanagement in' the colleEtion of theta. On a comparison of the Exports and Imports, it'shoUld ' ,seem, that by the former, the wealth of Ireland Niels consiclerdbly increased of -late years ; 'and the inference was confirmed by the improvements carrying on in buildings. Fore some time past, though the export of articles of food was much diminished,' vet the import 'trade was egreatly aug mented e and when a country was enabled to retain Its fowl at liornq for the t onsurnritlon of its own inh4.:= bitants, it : , fforcled an indubitable proof of its pros perity. For these reasons lie vas inclitled to attri bute the lailtire of the revenue to misingiageMent in the colleaion ; and if the Debt of Ireland were snffered.to accumulate in the same ratio that. it had done for some years past, in 15 years hence, tvheti, by the Aft of Union, the Funds and Debts of both countries _were to be united, the Debt of Ireland would arnonnt to 120 millions, which, as that Coun try', would be unable to pay, must ultimately fall on the Finances of Great Britain. , Mr. ROSE said, that the failures in Ireland had been considerable, and he heard with pleasure of the • - means embraced for preventing their., recurrence. The policy of ,raising the , Supplies for the Public Service within the year for which they were appli cable, he thought most salutary and sound ; but the Right Hon. Baronet had not prdposed ,to raise more than 6 or 700,00,01. more than the interest of the Debt, and therefore the Civil List of Ireland, as well as the Navy and Army, remained unproVided for. The equalizationof the currency between this Coun 7 try and Ireland was a very desirable measure, and one which was not . agitated now first • but it had been' found that many'pfeliminary 'steps were neces- sary. to its accomplishment. Mr. LEE thought, that, .considering the great Debt, and the extent of the taxation, the specie of Ireland-was not sufficient for all the purposes of that Country. There'was no solid ground for taking off the restriction, on thQßank of Ireland so long as it _ . confirmed in England. If, whilst the exchange continued at-11 against-Ireland, the restriaion were to be removed, there would not, in a' short tithe, be a guinea left in that country; and, as long as it Con tinned, he thought the small paper. currency ane-. cesssary succedaneum for the common purposeS of life, in the markets, and he did'not.see how it could be said to raise'the course of exchange against 'lre- land. 'Sothe time ago the eichange was at-17.; but now the issue of paper' had Very much increased; it Was - only ti. The ,English, and high guinea and shilling - were Of the same value ; it was in half penCe that there was 'a deficiency ; and *by'sand ing over a larger 'copper - ~coin, 'the objea of equalizing the currency would . be ansWered.7-- To lower the interest of money in Ireland would be a most desirable thing ; and the great difficulty alledged to exist in effecting it, Might be removed; by providing, that all bargains to be made' should be 'only at an interest of 5 percent. whilst those ex isting previous tO the passing of an A&, might' be . .legalised, until the stipulated period of their -expira tion. The Hon.. 'Member thought that the harriers against raising the Supplies in Ireland within the year were insurrnountablei as the money, was so necessary to the trades, and manufactures ; and thought that, considering the LOan of fbur.milliOns; the Taxes proposed by .the Right Hon. Baronet were more mild and moderate than could have' been expected. , Mr. ROSE explained. Sir, J. ATIVPORT said; that heavy Taxes could not he imposed upon Ireland at the time. a Supply was necessary, consistentlywith any wise or efficient principle: This had been strikingly exemplified in, the last additional Tax upon Wine, which had ope rated so as to' occasion a defalcatiOn in the last year of 74,0001. froma revenue of about 320,0001, which it had yielded the year before. ThiS would strongly prove how delicate and caretAthetegislature - ought to be not to puSh the. Taxation to an extent which would induce the consumer to relinquish the use of the article 'entii - tily. Not 'only the reduced con sumption of Wine, but' the increased number of Absentees from-Ireland, were attributed to excess of Taxation. At present, hp was happy to state, that it. was not necessary, to resort to any great in crease of Imposts on that Country, as at the end of the last year there remained 800,0001. due to Ire land, not' drawn over from 'England, 'and which -would more- than cover the outstanding Treasury Bills; and althOugh he meant now to give the House a power of calling fbr 500,0001.. he: had reason to believe that not more. than half would be wanted. ' Mr: GRATTAN could not entertain the idea of making Ireland find all her resources in the year for which they were to be applied. Two years ago this principle had been extended to the infliction of an additional 120,0001. a-year ; and if, every second, year, the Minister, were to come to Parliament with a new system of Takation, it.would alarm the .Peo ple of Ireland, and the measures would, in all pr - bability, entirely fail of their obje6l. However the prosperity of the Country-might have increased, its wealth was not such as to encourage new Taxes. .The increased wealth arose in: part from the issue of Paper ; but every Miller \Vas. a Banker, and he feared it was a false 'capital : the aggregate opulence ;of the .Country was, however, considerably, increasing.— The'Right Hcn. Baronet was certainly right not to precipitate Ireland into the system suggested,;' but it was a discussion - not called for now, and he (Mr. Grattan) considered it wrong to introduce any ques tion on Irish Affairs' extraneous to that before the House ; would therefore, at once. give his assent to the Motion. A Desultory Conversation ensued on the proposed Duties on Iron and Sugar, between Mr. FosTEi; Mr, ItosE, Sir J. NEWPORT, Mr. CORRY, Mr. VAN SITTART, Lord HENRY PETTY, and Lord CASTLE-, The Resolutions were then put and agreed to, the Report ordered to be received tO-morrotv, . and the Committee to sit again on Friday. At the instance Of LOrd HOWI CK, Mr. JEFFERIES consented that the Motion of whiCh he had some time'since given notice, should stand for Tuesday next. - .Mr. TIERNEY postponed the consideration of. the Treating Bill till Monday. • , . Lord HENRY PETTY .moved. the Order of therDay for farther considering the'Property Tax Rill. On the. Question tfiat.it be ie7cOnunitied, Sir`H. MI LDMAY observed, that 'many Members t had been impressed w'rth the belief that. it would not come on that night, and the opinion had been rather t sanaiOned by the Noble Lord himself. - Lord HENRY PETTY replied, that: he had always expressed his intention of bringing the Question on then, if the other business before the House would permit him; at the same time, he had no objeaion to meet the desire of the Hon. Baronet as far as he could; to which end, all that he Should propose would be, that the Bill should be re-committed. Sir H. Mii.DmAY said, that to his certain know- ledge A betttbet ot Menibetg back left the 1-Pause iin d+r the iMpression.he had stated. Mr., IVM. SMITH rose:,--Howerer much re luaance he felt - 'to oppose a'measure of his Big)) Hon. Friend. (Lord H. Petty), he certainly ha(, great objeaious to this Tax ; and he could not but feel for those who brought forward a Bill Whicii he was sure they must,. condemn. The Properi'. Tax, as it was called, Was certainly altered from the Inconie Tax, but mote in its 'denomination than in its effeEt ; and he could not but consider this new name as something like hanging out false colours, to avoid, the odium . the old'Tax had„acquired, whilst the new one was really almost entirely the same.— The principle of disclosure, which rendered it so ob je&ionable, and which only the almost omnipotent poWer of the Right Hon. Gentleman by whom it was first introduced, could have . reconciled the House to, . was still a feature of it, and vitiated the - cshele. But there were other obje&ions: the Tax, he thought, if tolerated- at all, ought to :affeEt more those better able‘to bear it, and lesS those whose means were moderate. He feared, from what he had learned, that this was a radical defer.. With what propriety could it be called the Probity Tax ? Could trade and professions be called a property ?—lf a man had 5001. a year, ' which he derived from his buSiness and his industry, should he be taxed for that in the 'same proportiOn as' the man who enjoyed 001. a year from fee-farm, tents ?—The teart . " Property" was only.a disguise, whilst the. Tax was really one on capital. The system of disclo sure; detestable in any case, applied principally to thOse to whom it - was most grafting and ,injUrious those who most wished thaftheir concerns should not be known to all the world ; and whilst this con- tinned a commeftial • country, that was au objec tion that would also continue. He knew 'not into what other hands the duty could be placed, but it was a ••Inost unpleasant circumstance that Govern 7 ment were: obliged to employ so many Inspe&ors and Surveyors, who were ernpowerea to inqUire into the circumstances of every maii, and of ten exercised their authority from motives for which industry, zeal, - and fidelity, were terms: that served only:.for a cloak. •With respect to raisinO.he duty to to per cent. he had very little obje&ion to that,- more than that in proportion to the amount of the Tax ,an en couragement was offered to attempt* evasion: It was of very little consequence whether it Was five or ten per cent. because it was known that the money must be raised; - ,but the objection was, that the Tax operated unjustly, int - EL:ling an equal bur . - then on the man who had a business worth three ,years' purchase and the man . who had a capital worth 30 years' purchase: -He.worrdered how such a measure could be tolerated, and much wished the Noble Lord (Petty) 'could, in his ingenuity, devise a Tax less fundamentally objeaicnahle. Sir ROBERT BUXTON thought the Tax un just. - On a former night it had been said, that it should operate as a Land Tax, under which no ex emptions were to he allowed. The policy of this principle had been formerly confuted, having been acted upon and relinquished.. The, Hon. Baronet particularly called the attention of the House to the situation of Country Gentlemen of about Wool. a year, who would feel the Tax, beyond all others, and would be driven hy its pressure from their coun try seats into' towns,' where they could not be useful in the eminent way which the antiquity of : their families, and their capacity as Magistrates; rendered them ill their Paishes ; Where, by their presence and long residence; ,they gave to the Law a weight which it would not otherwise carry.• No man, at any time more warmly supported. the War, or saw more clearly the necessity of its vigorous prosecu .ltion now, than the Hon. Baronet ;• he wished to give all the support in his power to the Ministers, and said thus much now Only .with a view of inti mating, that he had some obje&ions to offer' to the Tax in a future stage. Sir' a.MILP...44AY objeaed to the partial ope ration of the Bill on • the landed, property of the Country : - he did noEmean to say, that the - landed interest were not able to .support* The Tax; and much more, if the .wisdom of Parlianient should deem it right to intlia,it—but it was extremely de sirable. that property should be equally assessed. The small landed Proprietors with. large funnies would feel the Act With particular severity, as there were no. abatethents allowed for 'Children. The great Va riety of expellees incidental to the support and education of large families, would, he hoped, point these Proprietors out to the House as :fit objets to have abatements extended to. The Hen. Member _pointed out some other things which he thought• required improvehlent in the Bill ; but as they will . be .repeated in the Committee, we. abstain at 'pre sent from following him into all the'branches of his- Speech: - • Mr. pERCIVAL.stated, that he had always been a friend to .the Tax, and thought he should best evince-Ms disposition to assist Government by stating, that lie would not mye moment oppose . the Speaker's leaving the Chair, in order to this important Bill being .direaly, discussed, and passed into a Law. The Tax would 'fall 'more evenly and justly upon the people. than any that could possibly be devised for raising such a sum as it was calculated to pro duce. The allowance of abatement he thought was: dquiestion which deserved to be well considered ; but it •the Noble Lord • (Petty) found that any ex tension of indnlgence, in that shape, was really in compatible with the :efficiency of the Bill, he- would not press. it. . • Mr.- WILBERFORCE said, • be rose not for the purpose of opposing the Speaker's leaving the Chair, but to say he would ernbrace•a futurempportunity of arguing the necessity of allowances to persons lifting large 'families. It should be remembered . that the fathets of those families had to insure their lives, as the only way of provii•ling'for their widows and children. He should also press upon the House; in proper time, the situation' of subaltern. Officers in the Artily 'and Navy ; and particularly of Cler gy-men *subsisting upon small incomes, and widows lea . with small proviskons which they could not augment. -He highly approved of the principle of raising.:a gieat sum wi,hin the year to answer the exigencies of the State; it was that. lalbrie which would 'afford us security in Peace, - or success in War. Mr. Et.i.isoN - made a few observations in favour of the Tax. Air. SPENCER STANHOPE thought,..hat to admit of no eienaptions was a bad principle of taxa tion ; and that-it was neither politic nor humane to Aow,tbe cent to ; to can t , e 'way of a in lard eases. d'Cla -d: h3wever, that . never known a Mi,!i t e r iii ;tje cituation of the Ti , rd ("e ty), who had not set h's face against al exemptions. Lord H.eNfl ;JAI .said, that the -opposi tion which ha t been' that night expressed to the Bill it was 'not necessary then to ans':t er he did not mean to say that the irr,..4sure was .the" most equal, or the rnoit perfect,. that it-was paaibl for human ingenuity to _devise ; and perhaps a TaX 9n capita 4 or a variation of the Tax, as applied to :the different specie's of property, would. be,preferable ; but, under the present gin u•nstances of the Country it - vt ould . he wrong to relinquish a fried syStern for the sake of embarking:into a new au& complicated arrangement. The principle . of exemption,. he was convinced, was one 'by which the individual. gained. least, and the Public losr most—and,' in propor tion as the operation of an. AEt by great and general rules, its produce was se , cured. It would become' his duty, -however. pain - • ful, ,to oppose all exemptions proposed ; and When Gentlemen 'were told that by acceding, as he had j , to •the representation made, as far as garded small Annuitants, the ilos4 to the Country would be 350,001. he trusted they , would Lo longer press exemptions, which struck at'the root c f the Tax. • Mr. WILBERFORCE, Mr. Rost, and Lord,,,. H. PETTY said_ a few words in explanation, after which the Bill went through a Cominittee, pro forma. Progress' was reported, and it was or Meted that the :Committee should ,sit' again 'on . Mcznday next. The Committee on the Bill for the Repeal of the Additional Force Aa wai postponed until to-mw row (this . day). Adjourned' at half-past Eleven o'clock. TITS Ili] IBURGIH 11TAIL. AuossuaGn,, .great part of, the French 'Grand Army has left Ulm to Strasburgh ; and it is hOPed that .tho reMainder will follow ~ ;., i thin a few days. Advices relived by the last post from Italy make no mention of'the,evacuation of Cataro by the Russians; "on the contrary; the Letters from Trieste state, that the English and Russian Ships on the Coast of Dalmatia increase daily. The report circulated at this moment is, that .Marshal Souur has received orders to march with his Corps with all haste to Italy. VIENNA, APRIL 23.-7!--Tbe French are at Bran nan the Regiment of STARRAY, and of the Arch duke FRANCIS,C4ARLES, hare quitted Vienna,-the one for. St. Hippolite, and theother for Lintz. Part of the corn and Money.. which have been given to the Emperor by the. rich individuals of• Hungary will be distributed among those inhabi wits of the Country which_ have suffered most ; the, remainder will go towards forming de completing the military magazines. The - Archduke Jon xis re turned here from the tour he made for the - purpse of examining the,principal Fortresses of the. Empire. FLORENCE,- APRIL 12.--Gaeta still holds out, by which the further operations in Lower Italy are much retarded. It is- about to be cannonaded by 100 ;great guns ; but the situation of the Fort 'upon a bill so advantageous,, that the bombardment produCeS but little of eel, and it will be Very difficult to take it so long as the communication by sea is open. It is therefore, that a French and Spanish Squadron is ex.- iieded to blockade it.. The Prince of I-lESSE PHILIPS THALL has sent away ill .persons who cannot be of Use in the defence of the place. ITALY, Aran: 16.•,-It is said, that the Icing of Naples is about to embark for Barcelona, but that the . Queen and Hereditary Prince will' remain in . Palermo. • HA . MBURGIT, APRIL 2.—According to accounts in' the Franconian and other public papers, it is stated, 'that the Duke of .BRUNSWICK, in a formal deed, -bad surrendered all his rights of succession to Hanover. We can assert, however, on the best - authority, that his August Highness never .entertained such a thought,' but that the report is wholly unfounded.— (Idan/burgh Correspondcnten.) ' CONSTANTINOPLE,APRIi 2. --The coolness which subsisted between the Ministers of the Porte and the Russian Envoy having become serious,' the latter,• by, order of his Sovereign, transmitted a Note to the Subline Porte; by the ReiS Effendi, in Which 'he says, "- That as the alteration in the disposition of the Porte must proceed from a groundless mistrust, and an unjust suspicion which it may .have . Conceived, that the military dispositions made by Russia for her own security were direded against the Porte, he again declared most solemnly, by order Of his Court, :that His Imperial Majesty had never entertained any such intentions, and that he pledged himself anew • to fulfil all the Articles of the Treaty of Amity which had just been conckided with the Porte, in their fullest . extent ; and to give: the most convincing ,proofs of the purity of its sentiments, and the pro bity of its 'intentions, the, Court of Russia had de-. .termined to remove every'objea that might be .ca pable of again exciting the suspicions of the Parte, by withdrawing every Corps . which it .had on th e frontiers of Turkey, in the Crimea, Moldavia, and Wallachia, and that it had already given the neces=. 'say orders for that purpose." The Porte has replied to this Note : " That all its Wishes were confined to the preserv-, • ing its Neutrality ; that it also pledged itself to. fulfil the Treaty which had recently been concluded ; and '' in proof of its pacific views, it would iffirnediately countermand all the military dispositions which it had made, with the exception of thbse which were direEted against the Rebels in Servia.". • APUIL 30.=:=We have an account published here of the affair of the 23d between the Swedes and Prussians.:—.lt states, " That the Prussian Corps destined for the occu pation of Lauenburgh consisted of two Battalions and.four squadrons of the Reesen Regiment of Cuir rassiers. On the 21st, the Swedish Count, La- NyENHIELM, protested - against the advance of the Prussian Troops ; but as the strength of his Corps was not above five hundred men, it was not supposed that, any serious opposition to the Pruss,ians would be made. COMA' VON REESEN informed the Swe. dish'Comrnandatit, that the Prussians had no orders to.commit hostilities, and mentioned 'to him, that 'they had dire&ionslo proceed to the Cantonments in