The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1807-06-29 00:00:00

IRISH CUSTOMS.

The question being put, urns the motion of Mr.
FOS I'ER (the Chancellor of the Exchequer for
itelanc), for the House ;cling into a Committee
upon the I tisli Customs web, _ _

Lord HOWICK called the etttention of the
House to the situation in which public business was
brought by the late dissolutir.n of Parliament. The
Bill in question, by which two miil!ons were annu-
ally colleard, would -spin, on the Oth July next,
and another Bill could nut, by tii,y possibility of
means, be passed throug:t its various stages, sa as to
give i: effe2, before the Wednesday following, so
that the couotry V/di I:1 t 1.4 pirdicstnent, that for
two or dime (lays. at least, this impoi tent branch of
the revenue could not he co:ie.:kJ at all. or if it
was collecied, it must necessarily be without the
audio. i• v rit Pti ham. nr.
Mr. replied. that t!-.e inconvenience
could be very trifling. as the Bill could be con
veyed to Dublin in a Jay or a day and an half
alter it had received the Royal AMIlt.
Lard HO NICK said, this how. ver great the
power of expedition or of iLvehttun of be Ilight
Hon. Gentleman might be, he knew of rd way it
would be so rapt tined, except he meant to do it by
means of an air balloon. The Lift was, this branch
of the revenue could not be coliated at all. or must
be colle3ed contrary to I IW. Every ship coming
into the port of Dublin, or any other port of that
kingdom, subjea to pay the duties. had a right to
land their goods with ,ut eot ling them in the Cus-
tom-House, or being liable to pay the duty. He
wished to know what expedient the Right Hon.
the Irish Cnarkeller of the Exchequer would invent
to remedy this evil. This was another illustration
that they nad taken the most proper opportunity for
dissolving the Parliament, and suspending the pub.
lie Liminess.

Mr. ROSE said, that t:;is was by no means% new
thing, nor could a:-.y great inconvenience arise from
it, for Cie Officers of Excise will have the oppor-
tunity of taking an account of the stock on hands,
and the Aft Parliament will afterwards autho-
rise the Consm.ssioners to cone& these duties.

Mr. FOS LER said, the Bill he proposed to bring
in would cm-Arnim the duties from the sth rf July,
And when it had passed the House. the duties would
attach from that time. The only quest:on was, how
the Officers were to cokes those dunes? mer-
chant will not take the trouble of taking away hi,
goods without examination by the officers, when he
knows they may be brought hack afterward:. Two
circumstances perfealy similar to this took place
before, which arose from adverse winds, and nu ma-
terial inconvenience occurred.
Sr JOHN NILVVIVRT said, the precedent in•
triduced by the Right was a full
iliusvation of what Isis Noble Fliend (Lord Ho-
wick) had said ; and front the uncertainty of the
sea voyage, this AR would not arrive in time to pre-
vent the all effects arising horn its not being pre-
viously passed. tut this precedent proved more, for
he reconciled on sz former occasion alluied to, that

a mast respectable merchant of Dab (Mr.
kinson), t te fatber-indew of one of its pie.ont Re-
presentatives (Mr. :Shaw) positively rehired to pay
thTse duties so levied nnuer an alleged Aa of tne
Legislature not then in existence ; he defied the
Conunissioneis of Customs to force him by any pro-
cess of law ; and the result was, that the duties were
never paid by hint, nor any suit, or any mode of
compulsion inst:tated by them. Had Ministers
caber foreseen the difficulty, or were inclined to re-
medy the evil, it was in their power, alter the disso-
lution, by nuking the writs returnable three days
sooner than they did. He himself was well aware
of the inconvenience that me:chests suffered by
being sobjea to a retrospeaive tax when their goods
were temoved froth the keys, and a great diffi-
culty arose in charging that tax on the consumer.
Upwards of one thousand instances of this kind oc-
curred within his own kaowfedge. The more it was
considered, the more Would be seen the disadvantage
under which the merchant, mem labour, sad they

mnst be in a great measure precluded from selling •
their goods at all.
Mr. M. A. TAYLOR and Mr. HIBBERT ob.
jelled to the violation of the constitutional principle,
which said, that TO money should Is• raised od the
suhje& without a specitiC Aft of Parliament.
Mr. PARNELL. observed, th - the great danger
of this espc•lient WAS, that the person tattini tl e
goods might not be a person suficiently responsible
for the payment of the duties, and consequently the
revenue might be a considerable loser, auJ the pu'a-
Lc interest of course suffer.

Mr. HUSK ISSON referred to a precede .t
which the late Ministers themselves had made, in the
first resolution of the Committee of Supply, relating
to the duty upon Foreign Brandy. The resolution
passed tt.e Committee on the tO:h of February. And
the duty attached upon brandy, in Scotlanri, on the
19th of the same month.

Lord TEMPLE, in answer to this observation,
said, 'the Hon. Gentleman should have recollefted,
there was a material difference between duties upon
excise and customs. The former were the heredi-
tary revenue of the Crown, and might attach, the
latter was quite the reverse.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
could not sufnr the debate to cone:lid:, without
making a few observations upon the impot tent and
great inconvenience which was stated to arise out
of this transaction, by the other side of the House.
By the manner in which it was introduced, they
made it a most momentous and important .s.
tit)°, whilst the result of all their observations 0..1y
went to establish this, that the expedient on wh.cli
they themselves had aCted in a Bill of Excise, WAS
no expedient on a Bill of Customs. Anxious as the
Gentlemen opposite were upon this subjea, he was
sore they would see the futility of such objfnions,
and having some time for reflection between then
and Monday, they would view the question in a
tiifferent light by that time t particularly, as from
tthning it over in dick own excellent understand-
ings, theri minds would hive time to coo:. and the
feculent which was naturally excited by :he di...us-
sion, and the events of the last night, would have
in a great d-gree subsided (.4 kiwi busgh).
Mr. HIBBERT and Mr. ROSE severally ex-
plained.
Viscount FOLKSTONE totally differed with
the Right lion. Chancellor of the Exchequer,
in thinking this a care of so little importance. For
his ty.vo part, he was little acquainted with sub.
jests of this kind, but the more he heard, the more
he was ctnivinced that the greatest inconveniences
must necessarily vise in paying a retrospective tax.
Mr. ELLISON said, that the most trivial ir.-
, eonvenietwe an sing from the dissolution of the late
Parliament, was on every occasion magnified, with
peculiar sagacity, by the Noble Lord and his friiinds.
the truth was, it WAS not from the inconvenience
which arose from the dissolution, or to the remedy
proposed by his Bight Honour able Friend, that their
objeSioils arose, but their hostility to the measure of
dissolution prevailed every thing connefted with
that measure.

Mr. CALCRAFT for his owe( part could answer
for himself and many of his friends in the late
Parliament, that the dissolution was not so dis-
gusting to some of them as it must be to genii--
men on the other side. They were sent to their coo-
stitueins only to receive fresh proofs of their attach-
meat and approbation for their conduit in Parlia-
ment. He thought. indeed, that the measure should
be mote disgusting to the Gentleman who intro-
duced the sub) A, and who was, very unexpectedly
to himself, bailed (even wish all the support his
friends could give him) of representing a great and
populous county ( Lincoln). With respeet to theqles-
tion more immediaiely briar. the House, he should
only say, that he was one of those who laved the
code of the constitution too well to suffer a violation
of its positive laws, Lonely to gratify the Chaiiccllor
of the Irish Exchequer. in r4ising the money upon
the subj,A without legal an hinny. To him such
a violation of the coioaitution appeared highly im-
proper, however toiling it might appear to that
Hon. G:ntl man. the house, therefore, had a
duty to poloist], in not suffering the constitution to
be invaded, merely to answer t ie particular pur-
poses, and to remedy the evils of an Adnaiuistration
formed by a black intrigue.
Mr. ELLISON, in explanation, in a pointed
manner retorted on Mr. Calcratt, and seemed to
impute persosal motives as the cause of his opposi-
tion. Here Mere Ito* a loss.! e.y of Ceder I Onkel)
Mr. CALt:RA FT rose to order, and said the
language of the Honourable Gentleman was both
nocisol and unparliamentary.
Aster some further explanation between Mt.
Smith, Mr. Ellison. sod Mr. Cakraft, the House
went into a Committee upon the several Irish
Reveniie AEU, when it was agreed they should be
further enntinucd.
The House having resumed, the report was or-
dered to be iirceived on Monday.
Viscount Castlereagh attended at the Bar of the
House, with a message from the King. stating that
His Majesty being desirous of conferring some
signal mark of his favour upon Major-General Sir
J. Stuart, in consequence of that spirit, valour, and
skill with which be attacked and defeated the enemy
on the Plains of Maida. His Majesty requested the
House would consider the best norms to enable His
Nlajesty to grant an annuity. not exceeding 10001.
per annum. to that gallant Officer.
Oo the motion of—Viscount CASTLEREAGH.
this Message was ordered to be taken into consider-
ation on Monday next.
The following Eleition Petitions were then pre•
seated. and days appointed for taking them into
consideration :--
Bmough of Sabath. en the grounds a Bribery sod Ces.
reposes to be taken into conddsrausn on Tuesday. July le.
Smougb of H ashen, on Thursday, July IC
Chest Grimsby on the same d.y.
A second Petition ft ..n Saltash, complaining of a double re-
turn, en Thunday. Anguu 13.
Earl TIIMPLE asked if it was intended to
make any arrangement for the decision upon rec-
ta= Petitions
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
answered, that being in eapodation that this would
be a very short liessicm, he would advise that such
Petitions as could be decided upon a shoat investie.
tiou. should have the preference. and those who h
were likely to create much delay, should stand over
until the next Session.
Several Private Petitions were then lwraiglo up,
after which the time adjourned until Wailer.