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

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF PEERS. WEDNESDAY, MAY 7. BREACH OF PRIVILEGE. • _ ,Their Lordships were engaged for a considerable time in examining into a Breach of the Privileges Of the House, committed by - Broadhurst, a Clerk to one of the Judges,.whb had beenL guilty of grossly abusing Mr. Dike, one of the door-keepers of the House. The offender was brOught to the Bar, and the charge'being substantiated, he received a severe reTwimand, and was ordered to be' disChanr ed upon paying his fees. MISS SEYMOUR. The Earl of ROMNEY presented a Petition from Lords Euston and Robert•Seyniour, Guardians of Miss Seymour (an . infant), and Respondents in a certain Appeal from the Court of Chancery, stating. the circumstances of the case, - and praying that the cause should be heard with all convenient Speed.— It was' ordered to he iaken into cOnsideration on this day fortnight, when the Agents of bdth parties were also ordered to attend. • . SLAVE IMPORTATION PREVENTION BILL. Petitions wer6 presented against the ahove-men 7 .tioned Bill by His Royal Highness the Duke of CLARENCE and the Earl of WESTMORLAND. On the Motion Of hiS Royal Highness, that the Petitioners should be-heard by themselves, or their Counsel, a long discnssion took place, in which Lords - 'GRET:CVILLE,,. ELLENBO!IOUGH, ST. JOHN,: DERBY, AUCKi.,ANiii and the . Bishop of ST. ASAIH, expressed their disapprobation of admitting Petition ers to'be heard by Counsel at their. Lordships' Bar on every occasion, and particularly on subje&s of great national policy:, 'fl eDuke of CLARENCE, Lords ELDON, HAWKES BURY, and WESTMom,ANo,.eontended for the right of petition, - and that the - Petitioner's . should be - al.' lowed to support their - case by Counsel. The dis cussion at length.terminaied in an order being made that Counsel .shoul&he.Called - in ; when Mr. Adam and Mr. Scarlett were severally heard.upon the part of the Petitioners from Jamaica: and the- Bahama Islands. . , _ . . Counsel having withdrawn, Lord GIiENvrLLE moved, that the Bill be read a second time. • His Lordship exßiained, and . justified the general prin ciple:of the 'the.objea of which was. nothing less than the proteaion of our Colonies. The Duke of CLARENCE ,and the Earl of WEST- : =ALAND objeked to particular parts of the Bill ; which was read a second time: Lord HAWKESBUR stated, that lie would reserve :116. objeaicns to one part .of the Bill, until.it Should go into a Committee: , • The Bill was ordered to be referred to a Com mittee on. Friday, and an order made for summon inE; their Lordships on that day.- 'Adjourned till to-morrow. HOUSE OF COMMONS. WEDNESDAY, MAY 7. • Alderman COMAE presented 'a Petition. from the Coac4 and Harness-niakprs of the eity of. .I".nndon against the Bill for making Alterations in the Aa of the 43d of his Majesty. Ordered to lie on the Table. The Cork Jail Rill was, on the Motion of Mr. HUTCHINON, read a third time and passed. A Person from the Tax Office presented an Ac count of the Amount of all Exemptions to Foreigners on ,sums in the .Public Funds; under the Property Tax A&&.—Ordered to lie on the Table . , and to be printed. . . Ordered, on the Motion of Mr. MAGNS,after a Short conversation. between Mr. Foster,. Mr. Corry, and Mr. Magens, that there he:laid before the House an Account of the Quantities and Value, real and official, of all foreign Linens imported into Great 'Britain froth the Ist of Jan. 1790, to the Ist Jan. 1 80G. Also of the quantity exported during the same period, together with the Rate and Amount of Duties and Drawbacks thereon, distinguishing the Several sorts, and, each year. The SECRETARY at WAR, for' the .purpose of throwing light on a part of a comparison, which had been made in some late debates, moved that there be laid before the House a Returi - of the Nurriber of Recruits raised under the Additional Force A& that had volunteered from limited to imlimited ser vice from oa: 1804, to April, Igo6.—Ordered. The, Account was presented by the Secretary at ‘var. Mr. W. SI‘.ITTLI postponed till. Friday his Motion for taking into consideration the Report of the Com mittee on the Petition of Mess. Cowie and Chalmers. Mr. HUSKISSON gave notice that lie EhOtild, to morrow, move ror,the produ&ion of a Lett,-.-c written by order of the late Board of Treasury, to Messrs. Cowie ,and Chalmers, sigted,he believed, by himself, relative to their claim. 7 IRISH BUDGET. Sir Jolizt NEW PO RT moved, that the House should resolve itself into a Committee of Ways and Means, .and that the several. Accounts presented, relatike to the Revenue of Ireland,should be referred to the said Committee. The House having resolved itself into a Com mittee,' • • Sir JOHN , NEWPORT said, that if in attempt ing to lay before the Committee the statement of the Revenue of Ireland, he was possessed of the abi lities and eloi - prence of his 'Noble Friehd near him (Lord H. PETTY), be should not 'feel' at all em barrassed at the task he had to perform, because he should, in that case; feel a confidence• in his own powers, and by a luminous and perspicuous arrange ment of the subjeet be had to state, arrest and en gage the attention-of the Committee ; but as he was not possessed of those powers, he could only pro mise to lay before 'the Committee, in simple and unadorned language, the Supplies and Ways and Means fgr the Service of Ireland for the present year. Although in some respects hecduld,not con gratulatd the Committee on- the state 'of Ireland; yet he was bound to attribute • the deficiency -which existed in the-Revenue of that Country to. the -want of arrangement which prevailed in the - colleiition of its 'Revenues. It must be the wish, as it certainly , was the duty, of the Go vernment of Ireland; to adopt as soon as possible the ,same excellent mode and ,plan for the colleCiion of .• the Revenhes that - existed in - this Conn thy. ,He felt, however; great satisfaaion that in spite of many obstin&ions which the Trade of Ireland had experienced,. and still experienced, tbat-Country'dis 'played powers of energy and resource .which, under regular and proper management, must render. it a source of strength, instead. of toding,..,as, he, was afraid,.it did in sotne-histances, to the weakness of . 1 the Empire. The Exports of Ireland amounted Lest - ' year' to above 5,200,0001; official value, that is above 30,0001. more "than the preceding year. The Ex ports'Of Linen had also increased last year. It .was 5,500,000 yards, .and the, Import of Flax-seed 1677 hogsh*eads. in fact, the . Exports of Ireland were: greater last year than any, year since.l792, .Ano ther proof of the increased state ,of the,Exporti of Ireland might be drawn from the state of the Course of Exchange, which, without any extrane ous assistance, had been lower, and more fixed, 'for the last four months than it had. been for several years. But the terms of the . Loan lately contraaed in Ireland.afforded a still stronger proof of'the grow ing prosperity of that Country, and of the' increased Confidence of the People in the Government. . It certainly was a most-flattering circumstance that the Loan negotiated in Ireland should be ,on more favourable terms than- the Loan negotiated in this Country, and he believed-that no Loan had been contracted on. such favourable terms since the year 1790: In the Loan agreed far in Ireland the-31 per cent.' stock was taken at 711. 19s. and it was ob— servable, that on the 19th of April, before the terms were sent over from this Country, that stock was at 711. and two days before the Loan was negotiated, that is on the last day that the stocks were open be fore' the contraa was made,, they were at 7i ; so that, in lila, - the Loan was' taken'at 19s. per cent. more thanlll4 'market price of the stocks on that day ; an&there was this further advantage, that the Leah being contracted in the ai per. cents. niece was not so much stock created'as if it had been in the -3 per cents. .He - was sure that the Com- . mittee Would consider this, as a good criterion of the' growing prosperity of that .Country, and of confidence in' the.Govermneot. In making this Loan, it was singular that two lists should, without, ,any Fevious communiwien whatever, contain ex- . .aEtly the same offer for 'the Loan. The third list being 4L higher, the two parties who had offered the same.. terms agreed to take the Loan between them.' He would now proceed to state to the, ComMittee the Supply for Ireland for the service of the present year. ' The joint 'charge upon Ireland being two-17ths of the general' expenditure of the Ernpiree amounted in Irish money to 5,738,9881. the separate Charge as it stood on the 5t4 Jan: 1806, fot interest of the Debt, Bze.' &c. was 2,922,3461. He begged leave to State, that he should not have found it necessary'to propose to the Committee so large a-sum by way of Loan if the Taxes imposed last year bad in their produce fulfilled the'flattering expeelationS which had been held out ; but that cer tainly had not been the Case, and he could in many respects 'account for the deficiency which had taken place. The Charge. on' the Loan for the present year was 313,8661., inclUding the dis Count and Management. This was the whole of the Supply; and amounted in Irish Money to 8,975,1941. The Ways and Means by ' which he proposed' to raise these Supplies , were as follow : Thorp remained of the Loan last year in England 192,3391. which had not been drawn for,, which.of course was applicable to the service of the present year. There was a surn i of 140,0001. advanced in the Autumn of 1805, .by the. Treasury of, Ireland, for-Ordnance Services, and since repaid. One-third of the three Lotteriei for the service of the year, 205,0001. 'Two-seventeenths of the Prizes which His Majesty had been graciously pleased to grant to relieve the 'burthens of the People, 127,4501. There was due from Great Britain- to Ireland a sum of 50,0001. for seamen's wages. The Loan for the service of of Ireland, contacted -for in England, , amounted to two . millions British; or in,lrish Money to 2,166,0001.• The Loan negotiated in Ireland was two million,. and he proposed , to raise the sum of •500,0001. by, Trea-' sury bills. The Revenues of Ireland for the present year, including the new duties which he shouldino pose, he estimated at . 3,800,0001. These various arti cles 'of Ways and Means amounted altogether to The Supply, as he had before:stated, WAS . 8,075,19.41. consequently - there was a surplus :of the Ways and Means above the supply of. 206,26 tl. He had taken theßevenues for the year at 3,800,0001. and he would state shortly to the Committee his reason for so doing : the produce of the P.evenue up to the sth January was 3,35 . 4,00-01: and -he had -reason' to apprehend there remained 'about 160,0001. not colle&ed ; and these two sums,. . added to the duties which he proposed to lay On for the - present year, amounted to rather more. than 3,300;0001. In proposing the new'Taxes to defray the interest of the Loan, he had endeavoured to press as lightly as possible upon the necessaries of life', or upon those articles which might, press severely upon the lower order of the people. The first Tax which [ he had to propose wasan augmentative of the duty on SUGAR, of .3s. 6d. per cwt. -This Duty . was the same id every ,respeci as' thiltlaid on in Great Britain in the last and in the present Session, but was to be con solidated with the present Irish Duties. He esti mated the amount at 60,90G1. He also proposed that' the Dpty upon East India Sugar should be carried on. rateably, as it was at present upon the Brown Sugars. The next Tax he had to propose was one which he should have been glad to have avoided if possible ; but when it was considered how' small a duty the" article bore at present, and that there vas an addi tional Duty-laid on it this. Session in Great 'Britain, he trusted the Committee would concur with hiM, that a small additional Duty was unobjealonable. The article to which .he alluded was IRON. The Duty he meant to propose was 52 s . per cwt. which was not above half a farthing a pound. It was to attach upOn Russian and other Foreign Iron, slit, • hammered into rods, or drawn less than three quarters of an. inch square. The" Com mittee would perceive that British Iron was left free, and as that was convertible to all agricultural put-4 poses, he hoped that the present duty woad not be severely felf he estimated its produce at I 5,0001. The next article upon which he had to propose a duty was TEA. • This duty was intended principally for the purpose of regulatio.4 and to prevent evasion. The duty he .1-noposed. to lay on was r , ..) o per cent. upon Tea undoe 13d. per pound, ifulhe estimated the produce at about 520001. He carnemext to the article of STAMPS. lle meant to propose an entirely new modification of .the Stamp Duties of Ireland, and he should pro _pose,,,,to_repeal the existing Stamp Duties, for the purpose of substituting a new Aa,. in' which all the Daties . should . be brought into one . point of vieNx. He expeded as much,from the effed_ of the new re gulations which he meant .to adopt as from the in crease of the Duties. This great objeei was to pre vent the evasions which were constantly . pradised, The Stamp Ditties were in a considerable degree'af feded by Attornies, with, in case's where, the proceed ings did not go beyond the second stage, did not issue the Process' upon StampS; though they were charged • to the Client. Now ,it certainly was right that Whatever was paid hy. the Public should be received by the TreaStiry. There were several °tiler regula ,tions to prevent evasions and frauds The other Stamp Duties were uponteases;upon Bonds (Which - 1 for small 'sums 'was - very inconsiderable;' . and in creased according to the amount of the•Bond';' but in all cases- it. was considerably lower' than the Duty on Btitids in Great Britain), Deeds :of. Sale, AWards, Agreements, and ,ReCeipts for Legacies stnall Duty of to .per cents was proposed up- • on Legacies' •to Children, where . the 'such exceed ed 5001. ; ~and - UpOn thet•Licences fur Attornies who; had not practised ,three :,years 11.5' and 21. upon those' who had praised rourrer..,' The various regulations and tid:iition:; to 'theS b tatnp clusiye of the•Duvies upon Entries, 'he estimated at 80,0001. The Duties upon Entries inwards,' begin - 'lli* with. Duties amounting - • to ,51. and carry ing them 'on proportionably, and doubling theni on of view and store, except on coffee and tobacco, he estimated at .20,00 A He now came to the subje& of the Distilleries. He had to state to the House,, that precious to the last Session,' stills of 200 gallons might legally be, worked, and durina that time, in order to encourage large stills, could not so easily defraud the revenue, because they could be more easily watched, a bounty was allowed on stills of 500 gallons of 81. and 161. on those of 1000 gallons. But in the last Session all stillS under 500 gallons were prohibited, but the bounty upon 500 gal lon stills continued ; so that, in fad, there was a bounty given to the distiller for -working a still which 'the law dire&ed him to work in. The consequence 'of . this was, a'considerable redudion of the:Revenue, for the distillers reduced their stills to that standard .which was more :advantageous to them, because from the facility of working them more liquor, could be distilled in two stills of 500 gallons than in one of 1000• gallons. This &minty, therefore, aced in 'a dired-inverse-ratio to the original intention of Go vernment, because it encouraged the small 'stills. He therefdre proposed to take away the bounty , upon stills of five hundred ,gallons, to reduce the bounty upon stills of one thousand gallons one half, viz. td 81: and to grant the bounty.. of 16 per cent. upon stills 0f.1500 gallons and upwards. - This alteration he. calculated would produce 70,0001; The next proposition' he had to make was to • put the malt-houses in the country on the same footing as those in Dublin and other towns. This regulation he calculated would produce 60,0001. He did not mean to propose any additional duty 'upon HatS, Auctions, or Paper, but rpork , some regulations in the colleEtion of the present duty, which would pro duce about 50001. There was..a small sum paid to Captains of Ships, as portage, which the Commissioners of Inquiry recommended to be abolished, because almost all of it went into, the .pocketS of. the Agents of the Captains. This amounted to 50001. These were. the se, veral duties and regulations •which he ; meant to propose for raising the necessary Supplies for the service of the year. The amount of them; according to the estimate he had made, would be,.317,8001: I -from this stain ova:, to be dedu&ed, on 'account of old Duties given, 10,1451., viz. for wool licences 1451. and for the as. house-tax 10,0001. :There would, then remain 307,6651. It might be askud,why he had not looked to a fund which he had pointed ' out last year as a resource—he meant' the ba lances of deceased and dismissed Colleaors: He could assure the ComMittee that' from the. time he came • into . he • had not been in attentive to 'this subject, and be was sorry to say that in the last year- a. very considerable augmenta tion of those balances had taken place. In 1804 .they amounted to - 1 88,0001. and last year they were 220,00101. which wasan increase of 3%0001. besides 19;0001. balance of former years, which had been' colleded; so. that 'the real 'increase was. above. 50,0001. If ,they were to continue -to increase at the same rate, they would abs Orb the whole Re venue. He had repeatedly stated in that House,. his opinion, that a considerable portion of this ney was recoverable, and he now.felt himself war ranted, after a correa examination, in repeating that assertion. Upon investigating, which he had done minutely, the Returns made by the Solicitors employed .for .the recovery of these balances, he found that proper Means had not been resorted to to enforce payment ;, that in many instances insufficient sureties had been resorted to where good ones ex isted ; that men of opulence, who were able to pay, had been' let to pass ties', while poor men • had been sued. He had felt it his duty to state his opinion upon every article of th6e Returns; and he had sent over direetious for the .adoption of effeaual measures for enforcing payment; and he certainly would persevere in his attempts to accom plish that objeci. He was aware that many of these balances were not recoverable; some were due al most a century ; • but he was convinced, as• he had already stated, that a considerable part of them were recoverable—not less, in his opinion, than 130,0001. If it were due to him, he was sure he codld.recover it ; and with the facilities Miich. the laW afforded for colleding the Debt of the Crown, there . could be very little doubt upon the subject. He really should not have felt warranted • in• asking for new Taxes if he had not , been able ,to state the means Which - had' been used for recovering this money dde to the public, and . he Sincerely hoped that the Committee would continne their inquiries every .year, and that they would take care that every part of these. `balances which were recoverable rnight be recovered, and the remainder done away - for ever, There Was .neon the Table a Report from the Commissioners of Imprest Accounts with respea to the' Linen Board ; it stated adefi ciency to a considerable amount, It was not in tended that this Report 'should ternaiti 'a dead letter. Directions have been given to the Law Of , ficers of the Crown to take.the most a&ive steps for the recovery of the money, and if any delinquency should occur, that the necessary Measures shouldbe taken for punishing . it 3 because- it appeared to him that where any delinquency existed, the bare reco very of - the money was not - Sufficient -: for if persons could keep public motley for many years, and then when the circumstance was found nut, merely be called 'upon to pay the money, it would realty be giving : something like encouragement - to such con, , duCh There WaS another .sum' 'which he hoped to haVe looked to thiS year, in aid of the Ways and Mean; Of Ireland and that was, the bl - 14 _lance due to Ireland upon the joint contribution amounting to 860,0001. -But upon examining the accounts for last year, appeared that the excess of payment on the part of Great Britain was 560,0001, and the remaining 300,0001. was absorbed by the - money-advanced by EnMarid for the payment of the' Lottery. Prizes: • He- would not,. trespass any longer upon the time of the 'Committee, and he begged to return - his - thanks!' for the attention with which he 'had been fiveured.., He then concluded with movj ing the first ResolutiOn. . • • , Mr. FOSTER 'said, it, may naturally be expeaed that he should" make some- observations on a subjed with which' he was lately so much . conneeled, and even alluded to in the speech of the Right Hon. Ba-. ronet. He e: pressed great satisfaelion in hearing that theFinanceSand Trade of Ireland. Were now in the flourishing siturftion repte-ented ; but he felt re gret; at the same-"time, in having to state,- that till within these fonr -years the-exports had produced ,there, and therefore left the balance against us. • If, however; 'it was true, that since the year 1792 the exports were never greater than in the last year, and that' the - imports were also increasing, they would be likely soon to bring - back the balancein ortr fa- Our. The Right Honourable Baronet said, that , his intentions Were to raisethe*hole quota of Ire land, for thepresent year, by. Loan, without any War Tax, or means of raising any considerable por tion 'of the Supply within the year. If so, there was an alarming ,prospea of . the growing Debt, -which he feared .the Country Worild be unable to support. In- the year 1797 the Debt of Ireland was 7,000;0001. and, proceeding in the same ratio of in crease, in the year 1807 it would be 64,000,0001. The be very striking, if that increase were compared with what- took place in the Debt of England since the Union. When that event -oc curred! the Debt of :Ireland was only 32,000,0001. and this year it was double. The. Debt of Great Britain was 460;000',0001; and was now no more than 548,000,0001. Which the House must perceive not to be by any mean's in the proportion of seven and a half td one, which was :the quota settled for the, contribution of Ireland. It : was therefore the in terest of -.Great •Britain, as well as Ireland;' to take the best means - of keeping down the. Debt of Ire land ; as W , llCil the period of equalising. the joint contribution should arrive, that Debt' would fall upon the-finances - of this Country. .This he only, stated - at present, for the purpose: of shewing the 'necessity of raising,a great portion of the expense by -taxes within' the year, In the present year, two millions 'were raised for the service -of Ireland, by 'limn, but it. must be reinetubered, that one-half of it was supplied: by- agents going over there from British 11071SeS, and • purchasing from the funds of this Country. He congratulated the :Right Hon. Bart. on the circumstance of thelrish Loan being raised thiS year' at 7s. per cent. less than the Loan for-England, whiCh was certainly a symptom of the groWing presperity of the Country.- As one means of continuing and increasing , that prosperity, he would rest mmend to the Ministers et that Country, to take measures for eqealising the 'exchange.— : Mich,. however, done by the condua of the late Board of Treasury, which left it on the sth of January , last, .without one farthing of Unfunded debt or Treasury bills ,unpaid; a circumstance he believed which scarcely ever happened in. that Country,be , fore. The bad consequence complained of, as arising from the too great issue of paper, was ia some measure remedied by the'condua of the late' Trea'sury in sending over silver tokens. The quan tity so transmitted was to the value of 250,0001. in silver, and the remainder in . copper, making in the whole 369,4391. But even that was far from being sufficient for the wants of the Country, which would at least require a circulation of silver to the amount of one million. :He had already stated, 'that When the Members of the late Board left the Treasury, not a farthing remained due to any one person on the establishment; nor did their successors find any, arrears. whatever or any balance due. In the year Were that, there wasin the hands of the Receiver - General a - balance of 350,0001. all of which they re covered, except about the sum of 11,0001. It was true, however, that they also took off all the emo luments before, attached to-the office of Teller of the Exchequer, for which it was their intention to make a .c.impensation, after having recovered from him a balance of 150,000 k SUch were a part of the pracli cal effeas of the'new regulatious he introduced into different departments, but they were nipped in the bud about the close of the last Session, notwith standing that the most material of them were sup ported by the' Commissioners of -the Customs. By the. estitoate • made in last June_ twelvemonth, he cal culated on -an increase in the Revenue of 800,0001. to which he expetqed to acid 400,0001. by the duties on distilleries and malt; but as these articles did not rise in price, the last calculation was not realized. — He then-entered at large into a justification of the measures adopted in his Administration,. and into the produce of the various taxes in different periods ; from which he inferred, that in the last year and a half there was an increase of one - million and a half, which would skew that the resources of .the Irish Revenue were not misconceived by him. The Right Honourable Baronet bad stated, that there was of the produce, of last year, 2,4 0 000 1 . remaining in the hands of the.Colledors, which, however, Would be made good,; but he might also have added, that there was a great defalcation in the colledion itself. For instance, the entries on coachmakers and bra- , ziers were not collected at all, and the smuggling of tobacco in Ireland_was too notorious for him to be under the necessity of proving it. The wine duty also, which in 1800 produced a revenue of 200,0001: • IA as in a great measure lost to ttie Public, by allowing merchants to place 'the. cargoes in warehouses, by which they evaded. the payment of the duties; at the sane tine that. they charged them to their cus-