The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1806-05-16 00:00:00

ORIENTAL FIELD SPORT'.
DO mad by permission, and under tha tin med!ar, pavonage
of Hi: Majesty, and His Revel tiiiimen the Prince of
141/ Rola' Frighneas Ors Duke of York, the Ho-
nourable the Coon of Direetots of the tart I odia Company,
• &v. &c
A Long-projeted Wgrk of the WILD SPORTS
of IND:A, exhibirini a novel and curious NA tURAL
HISTORY of HINDOSTAN.
Publishing in Number., at 21s. each, by Edward Orme, :A,
New liond,tteet.
A Prospectus is retdy to dehter, and 10 numbers o. the
Work. The whole will be immediately completed, without
:stir kind of delay.

IMPERL4L PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS.-.Trvuumr, MAT 15.

Soon after four o'clock, their Lordships returned from the
High Court of Pathointrut, to their own !loose ; and previous
to the admission of strangers, made an order, we understand, for
the farther proceeding with the Trial of Lord Viscount Melville
to-morrow; and that a Merve be sent to acquaint the Com-
mons therreirith.
On our admission to the Hour, their Lordships were en-
gaged in forwarding the Billa upon tiie Table, chieily private,
in their repetli‘e stages.

INSOLVENT DEBTORS' BIT.L.
Previous to the Order for the House to resolve itself into a
Comniiitee upon this Bill, being read;
Lord Viscount Sidmnuth presented a Petition from certain
persons, whose names were thereunto subscribed, against the
Bull, praying that it may not pass into a law; which was
ordered to lie on the Table.
The Howie then resolved itself into a Committee upon the
Bill, Lord Walsingham in the Chair.
The Clerk proceeded to read o'er the Clauses, iii seine of
which a few verbal Amendments were ordered, en the sugges-
tion of Lord HOLLAND.
A few words were then interchanged, in a low tone of voice,
between Lords HOLLAND and ELDON ; in the course of
which, we understood the last */ to say, he should reserve himself
for the discuessen of such Amfelinents as may he proposed for
a 14"" "age of the Bill, and itnmediati.dy after the Noble Lord
retired.
The important esswideratiee ri the fierier, -.t which the
Al is to conimenee its roarer,- -live operat,- ~ was proposed
by Lord HOl.l tiND for the •- -nit day February, 1806,"
and the blank ordered to be tiled up are•
With respect to tile highest sum. the amount of debt
upon which the 111.1 is tra operate, it eas originally ;imposed
to the same amount as, we believe, the last Insolvent Act em-
braced, viz. 1,8001.
Soma farther verbal Amendment+ being made, and the sub-
ordinate blanks fated up, agreeably to the suggestions of Lord
HOLLAND the preamble of the Bill was agreed to by the
Committee, and the !louse resumed.
On the 111(0pm of Lord HOLLAND, the Bill was then,
with the Amendments, ordered to be printed.
Mr. Carrell, attended by several Mambo's, presented the
Defence Aft Repeal Bill, horn the Commons ; which, on the
mutien of Eel SPENCER, was read a first tame, and ordered
to be printed.
After same time had elapsed, thelrish Loan and Trevisum Rills
Bills, and the Temporary Mutiny Bell, were brought up from
the Coliseums by ^hlr. Alexander • and a number of private
Bills were presented by Sirs J. As;ley, I. Frederic, W. Mid-
dleton, Mr. Chaplin, aid other Gentlemen.
The tlwoe first-mentioned Bills were severally read a first
time, on the motion of Earl SPENCER.
Some of the other Bills were read ; after which the House
adjourned till to-olonow, when their Lordships siall.l sum-
minted upon the third reading of the Slave Trade Restriction
Bill.

--•••.....
NOUSE OF COMMONS.

The SPEAKER informed the House, that he had reeeived a
letter trim Admiral Sir .1 T. Duckworth, dated off Cafes (Ca-
diz) May the. lit, iii answer to his letter of ili- 25th of March,
communicating to kim the thanks of the House on tl,e victory
obtained by hint over the French squadron, in the Bay of St.
Domingo, on the 6th of Februaty. The letter conveyed his
grateful Aeon, of the high honour csinferrerl on him.
A Mesaage from the Lards informed the Mouse, that they
would proceed further on the trial If Lord Viscount /Melville,
to-roortow.
Mr. Williams. from this Enanf of Naval Enquiry, presented
their MS Reyo.t, which was ordered to lie on the table, arid
to be printed.
Mr. It. Thornton prenatal an Account of the money voted
for the use of the Sierra Lesne Company, for the hat year.—
Ordered to lie on the table.
The Irish Loan and the Irish Treasury Bills Bills, and the
Mutiny Bill, were read a third bow and pawed.
Mr. Cony mover, for the Amount of lislances in the handy
of the Corettois of Gutamc, Lace c, Stamps. &c. in Ireland.
—Ordered.
INDIA AFFAIRS.
Mt. PAUL said, that seeing a Noble Lord (Mor-
fieth) and some of the Dire fors in the House, he
wished to observe, that on the 11th of April he
moved for some papers relative to the transaSions
of Bhurtpore, which not being returned pursuant to
order, he obtained a peremptory order for them on
the 16th April, but they had not been yet produced.
Before he proceeded to make any further motion,
he wished to know whether there were any ddficulty
in the way of their produdion ?
?fr. CREEVEY replied, that the Board of Con-
trodl never had these papers in their possession, and
therefore could not produce them. Some of them
had been detained for the use of the Consultation
Council of Bengal, and had not been yet received.
The Honourable Gentleman, he thought, had little
reason to complain, as he had moved for 98 papers
in the present session, and no one of them was refused
him. In consequence of some formercomplaints of
the same kind, he wrote to Mr. Ramsay, Secretary to
the India House, to inquire, and received for an.
swer, that some of them had been detained by the
Bengal Consultation, and that the clerks were al-
ready busily employed in Liaking out the Surat
papers, moved for by the ice. Gentleman, consist-
ing of no less than 2000 close folio pages. If these
papers were not necessary, they had a mischievous
rifts% as they interfered with the making up of the
official documents. There were two India budgets
in arrear, and now in preparation, the papers con-
nected with which would afford a much better
knowledge of the aff.siis of India, than all the mi-
nute details moved foe by the Honourable Gen.
tieman.

Mr. PAUL f►pfed. that he was entitled to these
papers to enable him to substantiate against the
Marquis Wellesley, as important charges as ever
were ►rought forward in that House. He thought
there was great delay in the produetion of all these
papers.
Mr. CREEVEY denied that there was any
delay which was not unavoidable.
Mr. FRANCIS thought, that when a Member
moved for arty papers, he was himself the best
incite of their efe4l, and therefore was not obliged
to take the advice of those who may be adverse to
his views. lie hall seen a paper signed by twenty-
three Direetors, who, amongst other things, com-
plained that the Marquis Wellesley did not register
his paters regularly in the consultation. If any of
the papers Were 1,:“. that was no excuse for not
retisruing AA many AS they had of theta.

Sir HUGH INC.LIS said, that the llonourabl- I
Gentleman could derive very little info, oration from
the Bhurtpore papers in their present state. Many
of them were detained 'in India, and the Direflors
expefted to receive them by the neat ship, as no
vessel had come from Bengal later than the Medusa.
They could not, as some supposed, have been lost
in the Prince of Warr, as that ship was missing
twelve months before these papers could have been
sent. He said, that any one conversant with the
accounts, must be aware of the difficulty of pro-
ducing all the papers moved for by the Honourable
*Gentleman, as for that purpose it would be neces
, sary to travel through the voluminous mass of In-
dia papers for the last eight years.
Mr. PAUL then withdrew his motion ; and
observed, -that had he submitted to the Board of
Controul the propriety of granting a very import-
, ant paper, to discover the sums of money extorted
from the Nabob of Oude, and ,wished to know
whether there would be any opposition to it
Mr. CREEVEY replied, he before informed
him that he believed that would be found in the
Papers already moved for ; but if not, that he
should give no opposition to the tin 36011.
Mr. PAUL then gave notice that lie should, to-
morrow, move for the discharge of the Order for
'producing the protest of Mr. Bosanquet.
Lord TEMPLE moved fir an Account of all
Sugars imported from the Virginia Islands, for
three years, ending the sth of January, 1 SOS. -
Mr. ROSE said, he apprehended there was no
sugar imported from that quarter, except from the
island of Tortola.
After a short and uninteresting conversation, the
motion was agreed to.
AR MY ESTIMATES.
The SECRETARY at WAR presented. a
Schedule of the Army Estimates. which, he said,
were those of the regular establishment of the year ;
and gave notice, that it was his intention to move
them in a Committee of Supply on Wednesday
next. They were laid on the Table, and, on the
motion of General TARLETON, ordered to be
printed:
'The further consideration of the Report of the
Tortola Free Port Bill, was deferred to Monday
next.
Mr. ALEXANDER brought tip the report of
the Committee of Supply on the Giant to Bethlem
Hospital i which was agreed to.
PROPERTY TAX

The loose then resolved irsolf into a Committee
on the Property Duty (Mr. Alexander in the chair.)
On the clause of taxing the lowest quantum of
property in the Funds, the full sum of 10 per cent.
a considerable degree of opposition took place.
Mr. GARLAND expressed his surprise, that
the Noble Lord should think of laying the tax,
in the manner he had done, upon this spec* of
property. It was, he said, departing from the
principle of former Bills on this subjeft, they had
sot begun to tax any property under 601. a-year,
this Bill begun at 501 which he thought a hardship ;
ems they had raised the scale of gradatiasu on the
lower doom, and had not touched the higher,
for the richest man in the kingdom paid no snore
than 10 per cent. and those of 1.501. a-year must
do the same.
Mr. Alderman PRINSEP contended, that Ex-
chequer Bills ought to be tonal, they amounted to
oear, if not quite, twenty milhons, and interfered
very much with the interest of other securities.
Mr. HOLFORD found fault with the scale as it
stood. He obj oaed to the quantum to be paid;
601. a-year was to pay 10s. whereas there was no
addition whatever to the tither incomes, whilst there
was a considerable addition to the 'lower. He
thought 501. a-year should not pay at all—the scale
ought to gradate more equally ; and he thought
there was great injustice in taxing the funds at .sro
or 201. a-year, *ben other property was nut taxed
till it amounted to more than 491. a-year.
Lord H. PETTY thought the argument for tax-
ing the rich in proportion to the extent of then
property, and' thus making a difference between
the orders of society, was the most dangerous that
could be suggested. All property, of whatever '
kind, should be equally liable to pay, the funds as
well as the land; for every one who had a property
in the funds, however small, had it, independent of
what he might get by labour, profession, or other
means ; and therefore he ought to pay the full sax
of ten per cent. on it, whether it amounted to 51.
only, or to 5001. On this principle the clause was
framed, and he thought it would be unwise to de-
part from it.
Mr. ‘VILBERFORCE owned that the Noble
Lord had, from his first intsoduaion of the budget,
always declared it to he his intention that every
species of property should pay 10 per cent. but till
now it had not struck him in the same point of view
it did at this moment. It bad been asked why it
was a breach of faith to sex footled property below
501. a year, as well as to tax it at $001.! The answer
WAS obvious, " Because all property of $OOl. was
taxed, but none of 501" It had always been held that
funded property might be taxed equal with other
property ; but to make it Cyst-end lower, would be
partial. He hoped, therefore, the Noble Lord would
allow further time to consider that point.
Mr. SPENCER STANHOPE thought this tax
of 10 pet cent. on ell funded property, would tall
peeeliarly heavy on many of the lower classes of
the people, but particularly servants. He would
suppose a faithful servant had saved, after years of
service, 1001. and he places it in the funds. His
master dies, or by any other casualty he became a
s t out of place, and has nit income of 31. a
year, whilst those in other different classes only pay
for above 501, a year; there was great hardship and
partiality in this. He asked if it was right to apply
this new machinery to enable us to Larry ton the
war ? He thought not ; aid he was afraid it would
raise a discontent in the country alrnust equal to ,
disaffelion. He questioned whether thane were any.
two Members in the House, not only in its then very
thin state, but when it was quite full. except she
Noble Lord awl his Right Honourable ueighboor
(Mr. Vaasittart) who understood the Bill at all; for
his part, he had paid to it all the attention in his
power, and he could not make is out.
Sir %V. GLARY thought the Bill bore too hard,
on the lower classes of the people. It was said,
that every man was, by the Bill, taxed a, cording to
his means. This was not, however, the case ; every
man, it is true, having more than 541. a year, was

.

liable in *ten.; ; min telt3 possessed 59,. a
year, with' a certain number of children, cse;d „„t
be said to have the, same means to pay the tat d.c
man who had the same property, and no child-
He thought, therefore, there ought to Le exm;n:
in that respell, as in the original a&
Mr. FOX said, the Hon. Gentleman gime ,
have mistaken the principle of the exemption ; 4
was not intended to extend further than to those
cases where the inflinion of the tax would go to
ptive the party assessed of th- necessaries of life,
Small annuitants might be in that predicament, and
therefore his Noble Friend (Lord H. Petty) had tt
cepted them; but he (Mr. Fox) thought that pm
sons having floating money in the fund-s, could ut
be considered to require exemption. Perhaps it
would be said, that the interest derived from Cie
money, did not exceed 3.01. or 401. a year ; but if
a permit were to accost another as an objeft of el.'.
city, and state that he had onk fi or 8001. in tie
world, it woul l hardly be thought to be a cogi-at
appeal to the charity of the party addressed. The
, fended property, throughout the whole of the Pi%
stood on the tame looting as landed property ;
era
he was fully of opiaidn the exemptions were carnet
far enough:
Mr. SPENCER STANHOPE. said, the tar
would operate with a severity amounting to crush.,
in those cases, where small farmers left 1001. to
their widoles- for their lives, with renaaiiishr
to theist children; it would also fall extremely bard
upon those labouring persons, who had, whilst-easusg,
provided for old age, by saving a little propetly,
which they 'rested in Government security. In this
case it would prove a. tax upon the old and infirm,
'lvbilst the young and vigorous were exempted.
Mr. WILBERFORCE said, he did not see why
the difficulty should be greater now, than under
'Lord Sidmonth's'Administratien, to allow, in cep.
min cases, funded property, under 501. a year cc.
emption. Artificers and artixans, he thought, wet,
much better able to bear the tar; than many wi.
doers and persons in a state of decrepitude a: sl
decay, who had seen better days, and who, by tlx
diminution of their little means, would be parte.
culerly onpressed.
Mr. B,shingtoti, Mr. Francis, Sir Charles Price,
Mr. Atkins, and Mr. Huddlestone, objetted to Qr.
tax attaching to small funded properties.
Mr. WILLIAM SMITH expressed his concern to
bear a Right Honourable Gentleman (Mr. EOl4
say, that the operation of the tax was wily to Le
arrested when it waild occasion a want of the no.
ceasaries of life. He felt more for those who, with
the most scanty means, were ob!iged to do what
was called " keeping up appearances in life." That
order of persons would be more hurt by the necec.
arty of applying for parochial relief, or charitable
aid. than those of a lower sphere, by, if pantile.
more severe necessities; and when their dependence
rnted solely upon a little loaded property, those
sufferings were likely to be extensively felt. Ma.
nufa.ftuters and traders could increase their prefiis us
answer any additional oatgoing ; but persons .f
limited incomes had too means of retrieving dot
deficit that would be necasianed by the tax.
Mr. FOX feelingly 'lamented that the necessities
of the State obliged the tailitliok of the ourtheas
which the tax would impose. Ho ielt the greatest
concern for the description of persons notice/. br
the Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Wm. Smithy;
but it exemptions to remedy the cid were to be
acceded to, there would be nc end to three etteti .
It would be said to the assess/ors, "I am poorer
than such a one." end •• I am poorer than try
neighbour," and the greatest imaginable dificui-
ties thrown in the way of the execution of the act.
Any man must have a heart of stone not to feel for
those whorl the tax will visit so heavily ; boa
we had arrived at that pitch of circumstances thin
was imperious. harm some consolation to hens,
however, to know that he had not contributed to
occasion the diificulies we experienced. 7he situa-
tion of Ministers had become extremely anpleasast:
whittl, on one side, they heard nothing hut, " take
care that your pacific inclinations do not betray
the honour of the country—maintain the army nut
the navy undiminished;" on the other, they expe-
rrenced objediotts to those measures which als..*,
could enable them to attend to that advice. It w..•
impossible to form a scale of taxation which wooft
embrace all the cases worthy to be considered, an!
therefore the exemptions must be in a great mea-
sure left to the discretion of the Commisssonera.
Che House divided upon the question, that the
clause should stand as it did. Ayes, 58—Noes, 14.
The Chairman then proceeded with the chases.
until

Mr. V ANSI ITART proposed. in the scale 0'
property mentioned in No. 1, Schedule A. that [l4.'
exemption should extend to " Ecclesiastical p••,-
sows, in respect of their endowments. and the s.t
pende of licensed Curates."
Mr. WILBERFOItCrsaid he highly approve.:
of the amendnamt, and the same was agreed t•+.
Mr. WILBERFORCE moved, in the surf
sch,dule. that the income of widows and single
women, not arising hom trade. afoul.' be also es.,
empued, This was negatived with .ut a divAii.r.;
as was also his motion, that persons whir inAprer
their lives, for the benefit of the,v wives and familiew.
should be allowed to deduft the premium from law
amount of their income.

lo the clause for allowing exemptions to persons
in the receipt of weekly salaries, it was agreed. as
the mutiiiii of Mr. V ANSI rfAtt.r, to leave out
tht words •t or not more than five shillings in and
one day;" and to add to the esemptions, a• the
rates or wages in husbandry rec.ived in the time of
harvest."—lt was also agreed, that a slcclataiion,
with a penalty to attach in case of proof of It.
falsity, sh.auld be substituted for the affidavit xe-
quired of the annual amount of salary or wages.
The CIALI,ei being gone through, paragraph by
paragraph, Mr. Vansittart briiught up several ad-
anions) ones, (particular!} one respecting Exclieiguct
Bilk, to com•uence on the lith OZtober nest, which
'were all read a first and second time, and agreed ti
The House having resumed, the report was order.- 4
to be brought up this day ; at the same time fsir.
V ANSITTA I* intimated to the House, that al-
though he moved for the report being received th*
Jay. yet be meant to postpone the further considera-
tion of those stew clauses until Monday ant.
The other orders of the day were then .ii•pou.!
of, and at HALF PAST 'TWELVE CPCLOCI.
the Have adjlarned.