The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-21 00:00:00

lected taxes, there is above one million over the sum esti-
mated. This result has, taken place, though, in conse-
quence of the alteration in the quarters of the year, the
present year contains five days less than the estimate was
made for ; and, as the receipts would amount to about one
million a week, the difference of the five days is not unim-
portant. I now call attention to this result, as showing
that, notwithstanding the burdens which unhappily it has
been necessary to impose upon the people, and notwith-
standing the disturbance of trade and industty and manu-
factures which a state of war must necessarily produce,
the revenue that has been received, and that will, on a safe
estimate, be received, including the new taxes imposed in
the last year, exceeds the estimated amount by more than
a million. (Hear, hear.) I shall now proceed to estimate
the expenditure for the ensuing year. (Hear, hear.) The
expenditure for the financial fear, ending on the Ist of
April, 1851, that is to say, the last year of peace, which
included a small military expense for the Kafir war,
amounted to 51,198,0001., and the expenditure for the last
year is 65,692,9621. I shall now, with the permission of
the committee, state the estimate of the expenditure for
the present year, judging by a mode that with tolerable
closeness approaches to the truth, inasmuch as all our
military estimates have been voted, and some progress has
been made in voting the miscellaneous estimates. The first
item is the charge for the funded and unfunded debt,
amouutiug to '27,974,0001a in which a saving has been pro-
duced this rear in consequence ;of the reduction of the
Three-and-a-Quarter to Three per Cent. at the end of 1854.
The other charges on the consolidated fund, which have
been now somewhat reduced in consequence of the nume-
rous transfers made from the consolidated fund last session,
amount to 1,750,0001. The charge for the army which
has been already voted amounts to 16,214,4771. ; the charge
for the navy, which has been also voted amounts to
16,653,0421., and the charge for the Ordnance amounts to
7,808,0001. ; and I propose to take a vote of credit in aid
of military service for the year amounting to 3 000,0001.
(Hear, hear.) The charge for civil services amounts to
6,500,0001., which makes a total for supply service of
50,175,561/. I further include an estimate for two instal-
ments of the Sardinian loan, one of which is now in pro-
gress of payment, and another may become due before the
end of the year. That produces a total of expenses of
80,889,5611. (Hear, hear.) I beg leave to state that the
charge for the funded debt I have stated includes the addi-
tional expense for interest of the loan which has been con-
tracted this day, and which now awaits the approbation of
Parliament. (Hear.) The committee will probably think
that the sum of nearly eighty-one millions, which I have
just stated, may be excessive compared with the propable
wants of the ensuing year. I fear that any such anticipa-
tion will be very sanguine when we advert to the fact that
during the last quarter, consisting of the months of Janu-
ary, February,,and March, of this year, the sum actually
expended and disbursed by the Exchequer amounted to
19,474,000/. This great expenditure, as the committee
will naturally conceive, has been owing almost excursively
to the additional expenses of the war. Perhaps you would
wish to know, and I shall therefore state, the expenses of
the present year as compared with the expenses of the last
year of peace and of the previous year. The total amount
voted for the army, navy, and ordnance, constituting the
military expenditure for the year 1853-1854, was 16.487,0001.
The similar expenses for the last year amounted 30,121,0001.,
and the sum estimated for the corresponding expenditure
of this year amounts to 43,615,000/. I shall further state
the progress of the expenditure within the six last quar-
ters. In the quarter ending January, 1854, the expenses
for the supply service, which includes the expenses of the
civil service, amounted to 4,650,0001. ; in the quarter end-
ing April, 1851, they amounted to 5,610,000/. ; in the
quarter ending July, 1854, they amounted to 7,445,000/. ;
in the quarter ending the 10th of October last they
amounted to 8,500,0001. ; in the quarter ending the sth of
January last they amounted to 8,600,0001. ; and in the
quarter ending the 31st of March last they amounted to
11,664,0001. (Hear, hear.) I shall now proceed to state
the estimated, income of the next year, upon which we
may rely to meet the estimated expenditure whict I have
laid before the committee. It is estimated that the Cus-
toms for the present year will produce 20;500,000/.. in
which sum is included that portion of the tea duty which
would have been abandoned if the act passed this year had
not been passed. The amount which it is 'estimated will
be received from the Excise amounts to 17,071,000/. ;
stamps, 6,815,0001., exclusive of 480,0001. stamp duty upon
newspapers; laud and assessed taxes, 2,920,0001. ; property
tax, 13,535,00/. ; Post-office, 1,150,0001., to which I add
288,0001. for newspapers; Crown lands, 260,0001.: miscel-
laneous, 800,0001.—total, 63,339,0001. (Hear.) The esti-
mated expenditure, as I have already stated, amounts to
80,899,965/. ; and further I include in the estimate for the
expenditure for this year a sum of 1,000,0001. for ways and
means bills issued in the last year, and redeemable this
year • and owing by the Commissioners of the National
Debt consequence of the sales of stock belonging to the
savings banks, and which we replace out of revenue. I
further propose to take, in order to guard against those
contingencies which may not unreasonably be expected, a
margin of 4,440,0001. The vote of credit will be imme-
diately applicable to the military service; but, in addition
to the vote of credit that is so applicable, I propose to leave
an unappropriated margin of surplus revenue for that
amount. This will make a total estimated expenditurefor
nextyear of 80,339;00J/. I have already stated that the esti-
mated revenue arising from the existing taxes amounts to
63,339,0001., and we have therefore to provide in the ser-
vice of the ensuing year for a deficit amounting to the diffe-
rence between 86,339,0001. and 63,339,000/.—namely, for a
deficit of 23,000,0001. The question now arises for the
consideration of the house, how this deficiency is to be sup-
plied, and it will be my duty to submit to your considera-
tion the ways and means by which we propose that the de-
ficiency shall be met. It has been stated at different times
that the entire expenditure for the war should be defrayed I
by taxes levied within the year. And it is said that it is
not safe to entrust the Government with the power of effect-
ing a loan, or of borrowing money and mortgaging the re-
venues of posterity, for the purpose of defraying the extra-
ordinary expenses of war. I shall not enter into a long reca-
pitulation of the opinions expressed on that subject, but
shall take the liberty d reading a single passage from the
celebrated essay of Mr. Hume on public credit, in which
ho states his opinion upon that subject :—" It is very
tempting to a Minister to employ such an expedient, as it
enables him to make a great feature during his adminis-
tration, without overburdening the people with taxes, or
exciting any immediate clamours against himself. The
practice, therefore, of contracting debt7wi will almost infallibly
be -abased by every Government. It would scarcely be
more imprudent to give a prodigal son a credit in every
banker's shop in London than o empower a statesman to
draw bills iu this manner upon posterity." This is a plain
statement of the doctrine that it is not expedient, under
any circumstances, to attempt to defray the extraordinary
expenses of a war by a loan, or by any other means except
by taxes levied within the year. (E-lean) But the expe-
rience of this country and of other countries; at all times
shows the impossibility of realising this attractive theory.
It is impossible, with a large expenditure for military pur-
poses immediately to be met, to raise by taxation the sum
necessary for defraying the whiSle additional charge within
the year. (Hear, hear.) And even if it were found by
experience to be practicable, the encroachment upon the
savings of the industrious classes, which would be caused
by excessive taxation, would be a greater evil than the
abstraction of capital by means of a loan and its ex-
penditure. I apprehend that nothing can be more
certain than the effect of excessive taxation in making
inroads into the savings of the industrious classes. (Hear,
We can see that to a certain extent in the diminution of
useful projects of various sorts that has already begun to
take place in this country, and which exhibits itself in the
diminution of the private business of this house. That is
well known by the diminution that has taken place in the
number of bills for new projects of different kinds which has
been brought before the private bills committee, and by
the fact that many projects which had already received the
sanction of the house, have been suspended during the past
year, because the calls upon the shareholders have not
been paid up. (Hear.) Taxes which cripple trade and de-
range industry, or interfere with the ordinary distribution
of capital are more detrimental to the country than loans.
The practice of raising loans was resorted to by Mr. Pittand
his successors during the last war, as it hadbeen previously
resorted to by his predecessors. The practice was every
year to defray the increased charge upon the Exchequer,
partly by loan, and partly by additional taxes ; and there
is not a single year, or one exception, during the American
and French wars, in which a loan was not granted. (Hear.)
Our experience, which has been purchased at the expense
much hardship upon individuals, and much privation en-
dured by the public, must warn us against the attempt of
meeting any large temporary deficiency exclusively by
taxation. (Hear.) Her Majesty's Government therefore de-
termined to take steps for negotiating a loan for a portion
of the deficieacy of the year, and ia so doing they felt that
they were fortified by extensive experience, and by the con-
stant example of their predecessor,. Before I proceed with the
explanation of the details of the loan, for which her Ma-
jesty's Government have made a provisional contract, I
would take the liberty of asking the committee to listen to
a short statement of the progress of the national debt,
with a view of making them perfectly aware of the nature
of the proceeding in which the Governnient has now em-
barked. (Hear.) At the beginning of the last century, in
the year 1702, the debt consisted of 10,000,000/. ; at the
beginning of the reign of George 11. it had risen to
53,000,0001. It had been reduced during years of peace to
46,000,0001., and that was its amount at the beginning of
the French war in 1739. During that war it rose to
72,000,0001., at which amount it was in 1748. At the be-
ginning of the seven years' war in 1757 it amounted to
76,000,0001., and at the end of the war and at the peace of
Paris in 1763 it amounted to 135,000,0001., at which sum
it remained up to the commencement of the American war
in 1776. In 1786, three years after the termination of the
American war, it stood at 259,000,0001., and in 1793. at
the commencement of the French war, it had risen to
269,000,0001. In 1800 it amounted to 491,000,0001., and
in the month of ' February, 1816, it had reached
816,000,0001. It had since undergone somereduction. and
on the sth of February last the funded debt amounted to
751,000,0001—the decrease since the peace having been
64,000,0001. The details which I have read to the house
show the continual tendency of a great national debt to
increase. They show that we bequeath to our succes-
sors, with the advantages of Government, religion, esta-
blished institutions, arts, and sciences, a debt which is
almost a mortgage upon our latestposterity, and they show
also that the additions that take place during war are but
imperfectly removed by the slight reductions which have
been effected during a period of peace. (Hear, hear.) It
therefore becomes necessary, in consequence of the exist-
ence of the war in which the country is now engaged, to
resort to the practice of borrowing, and it is certainly in-
cumbent upon Parliament to take such means as are at its
disposal to prevent us from imposing a perpetual burden
upon our successors. (Hear, hear.) It is thought that the
creation of a perpetual debt is merely the one-sided expe-
dient of improvident and rapacious Ministers, and that by
proper attention to finance, and to the mode of providing
for the extinction of the debt, this perpetual charge may
be prevented. (Hear, hear.) But it would be found, on
closer examination, that the mode of borrowing is forced
to a great extent upon the Government by the interests
and preferences of the lenders. It suits the lender to pur-
chase perpetual annuitiei, the capital of which he can al-
ways realise by going into the market, and at the same
time he is protected by its perpetuity from the dangers of
redemption, which so greatly influences the valueof public
stocks—those stocks which are least exposed to the danger
of being redeemed being those that command the highest
prices in the market. (Hear, hear.) I will take the
liberty of mentioning that an actuary of one of the insurance
offices, Mr. Newmarch, has examined the question of
ewhs
loans ffected during the last war, and he successfully
that those loans wereobtained upon terms much moree. d
Our
tageous to the public than a person would supphoes
predecessors, while thus creating this. enormousa,in-
debt in successive years, were notwith t
osterity, and they
scions of the evils they entailed pp P fuirlydenconof.
took at different times means
efficacious for preventing tnt
~homes were p roop_o
ed
nf
From an early period diff heti they believed the
learned for the extinct.ion fth
;Continuance of thateevior
the creation of a sinkning
_tight, to be of great maintained
awains
tional debt, and a ri bought
devised by Mr. Pier' during the
who
ed
in the efficacy of
lanofmthe late war.
one form or doubt carried in 1786,
There 13
fund for the extinction eloifetvle debt, while it was
the kin
ain* nog doubt that Mr.rittb

itself created by borrowing, and the conclusion he came to ; posed to be effected. In the first place we propose an ad-
was, that by some contrivance of keeping up a nominal dition to the present duties on sugar of 3s. a cwt., to be
sinking fund supported- by a loan, and by some machinery varied accordingto the quality. That additional duty, we
for the collection of _compound interest, it would be.pos- estimateovill produce the sum of 1,300,1001. The crop of
sible at no disiant time to extinguish the whole of the na- I sugar, at the conclusion of the' last harvest, was 51,899
tional debt. The idea' was fondly cherished by Mr.PitV— I cwte.; at the same time last year the stock was only 42,120
he died, as he lived, in the belief of its efficacy, and did owls. In consequence of the last year's importation the
not think that he had left the means of entailing burdens short price, or price of sugar without the duty, was lower
upon posterity, the end of which it is scarcely possible for from 3s. to 4s. a cwt. than it was a year ago. I will now
us to foresee. There is another class of cases in which Par- state the prices of sugar in two years since 1844, by which
liament has recognised the inexpediency of perpetual loan, the committee will see that, notwithstanding the addition,
namely, in all those cases in which money is borrowed' for now to be proposed to the duty, the price to the consumer'
subordinate purposes. I may refer, for example, to cases in is at present considerably lower than it was at that period.
which money is advanced to boards- of guardians, to the In 1841 the importation amounted to 4,129,000-cwts ; the
justices of the peace, And to other subordinate authorities, price in bond was 335. Bd., and the duty 255. 2d., making
duty 14e.,
.
who are entitled to charge theratesof their districts with the the full price 585.10,1. In 1846, after the alteration of the
the importation was 5,220,000
andoe thei a
bond
nd
payment of loans for certain purposes. I may state, for in- duty had taken place, :
stance, to the committee that the expenses for repairing cwts.; the price in bondwtaos.,34; s.
the 3d.
p,
ri
county bridges, prisons, town-halls, must be paid off ac- making the full price 435.. 3d. In 1854 the consumption
cording to ant of Parliament within 40 years. (Hear.) had risen to 8,090,000 w
There is a very long series of acts of Parliament in which only 255., the duty was 125., making the full
powers are given to subordinate bodies to raise loans upon price to the consumer 37:5. Under the netwodtuitoytoatoo,is. present -
the security of taxes under their charge, and in every case the price in bond is only 235., the new duty is 15s.y, and
tho creation of an annual sinking fund is made compel:- the price to the consumer is only 385., b
sory upon them. (Hear.) It is required of them to ex- more than the price of last year, 10s. less than the price
tinguish the debt within a limited number of years, and of 1816, and-20s. less than the price of 1814. (Hear, hear.)
that practice' sanctions the principle of not permitting the We further propose an addition of Id. per lb. to the duty
existence of a perpetual-debt where the body raising the on coffee,, which is at present 3d. per lb. That is an ex-
loan is under the control of Parliament. (Hear.) With tremely moderate duty ; we propose to increase it to 4d.,
regard to railway companies, the rai 1 ;vs y clauses for con- and we estimate that this will yield an additional revenue
solidating acts provide that unless a time should be speei. of 150,0001. I have alleady stated that the reduction of
fled for the repayment of the money lent on mortgage it is the duty on tea which would have taken place this year
to be payable after 6 months' notice shall be given by the was stayed by the act passed at the beginning of the year.
parties—thus , distinctly preventing the possibility of the I propose also to make settle addition to the duty on tea. ~ .
debt being perpetual. (Hear, hear.) Another means of (Ironical cheers.) In 1853 the duty on tea stood at 2s. 24d.
preventing the existence of a perpetual national debt is per lb. ; it was reduced in the first year to ls. 10d., and
to effect a loan by raising the money for Government on next year to is. 6d., at which rate it now stands. I propose
terminable annuities. This plan has been recommended to raise it to ls. ;;d., which will be Id. less than the rate
by many persons, and unquestionably offers great advan- at which it stood in the first year of the reduction. That
Cages with respect to the inoile of creating debt. The addition to the duty on tea is estimated to produce
committee 'are doubtless aware of the nature of terrain- 703,0001. This will make a total addition to the revenue
able annuities. ( Hear, hear.) An annuity is granted by derived from Customs duties of 2,100,0001. With respect
Government fur a limited number of years, and it pays to to the stamp duties' they have undergone recently a sys-
the annuitant annually not only a elan calculated as in• tematic revision, and it is my nointention to propose any
e terest, but also a certain portion of the principal, so that alteration in them, with one 'xcep ' tion that of the exemp-
at the end of the term, whatever it may be, the entire debt, tion applying to cheques drawn upon bankers. These are
both principal and interest, is dischareed. (Hear.) The now exempt from all duty in the case of persons drawing a
advantage of terminable annuities, so far as Government is cheque payable within fifteen miles from their place of
concerned, for securing the extinction of debt, is this—that abode. This exemption is the means of diminishing the
the repayment of the principal is made the matter of spe- duty on receipts, inasmuch as Unstamped cheques in that
cific contract between the Government and the person en- manner frequently perform the duty of stamped receipts.
titled to the annuity ; and without breach of faith the Go- I propose to withdraw that exemption, and it is estimated
verninent cannot omit to pay every year a portion of the that this duty will produce about 200,0001.' I come now
,principal. But although Government finds its hands as to the head of Excise. The only duty of Excise upon
it were tied up, and are bound to extinguish a certain por-
which I shall propose any augmentation to the
committee
tion of the debt, unless they were guilty i
of a breach of s the duty •on spirits. My proposal is to
assimilate
th
faith, it is found in practice that a terminable annuity is duty on Scottish spirits to that upon English. (Hear.)
to little extent a marketable commodity that a person The duty on English spirits is now 7s. lOd.ah tigallon ; the
will not desire to hold it, because by receiving annually a duty on Scottish spirits is 6s. a gallon,
splirdiofsroin ols7p.roa-
part of the principal he is thereby diminishing his capital, equalise them.o .The present duty
.o(nuleroixs.h)
unless he reinvests it in small portions as he receives it. gallon. I
circumstances
tofpropise to raise it on account of
(Hear.) - The objection to it I therefore find is great. and the . Ireland—(loud laughter from the
general, and at no time in this country has it been possible Opposition). onaccountear, of the circumstances of Ire-
for the Government to effect a loan on terminable annuities land regarding illicit
tdistillation.o
only. There is oo example of an entire loan having been pose to equalise the rates
them.-
duty on Irish spirits to Eng-
effected on that species of security ; and the terminable lish,. but I propose to raise (lronical cheers from Irish
annuities, which now amount to a considerable sum, have members.) The additions which have recently been made
in every instance been combined with a loan for a perpetual to the spirit duty both in Scotland and. Ireland have not
annuity, and are formed of the aggregate amount arising produced any increase of illicit distillation, nor have they
from the different loans that have taken place. They dithinished consumption, I will state to the committee
are formed of the aggregate of loans on terminable ennui- the consumption of English, Scottish, and Irish spirits
ties similar to that which the Government has this day during'the last two years. In 1854 the consumption in
effected. (Hear, hear.) Therefore, however much the England was 10,350,000 gallons ;in 1855 it was 10,=;000
Government may have desired to effect the loan that is gallons. In Scotland the consumption of 1854 was
necessary for them on terminable annuities, they have no 6,531,000 gallons • that of 1855 was 6,553,000 gallons ;
option in the matter. It was impossible for them to ob- thus showing a slight increase of consumption, notwith.
tain such a sum as they required for the service of the standing the addition to the duty. In Ireland the con-
year on terminable annuities without giving a price which sumption of 1854 was 8,136,000 gallons ;in 1855 it had
would be justly considered as exorbitant and unjustifiable. risen to 8,443,000 gallons. It can hardly be disputed that
It seems to be supposed by many persons that terminable if an increased duty, producing a considerable sum, can
annuities—as was at one time thought—are to be con- be obtained from spirits without increasing illicit dis-
sidered as a sinking fund, acting by some mechanical and tillation' smuggling, and all the evils which go in their
stupendous process for the extinction of our debt. It was train, it is as legitimate an object of taxation, during the
considered that the nation thus obtained value without heavy expenditure of a war, as can be conceived. (Hear).
equivalent or security, and effected a reduction of their I estimate, not on a sanguine conjecture, the produce of
debt without an expenditure of taxation ; and by some this increased duty on Scottish and Irish spirits at
mysterious and occult process, which certainly no one has 1,000,000/. sterling. The additions I have already stated
been ever able to describe, the national debt might be to the Customs, Stamps, and Excise duties will amount to
reduced and ultimately extinguished, without any bur- 3,300,0.001. In order to raise a sum sufficient for the ser-
den being impoied upon the people. (Hear, hear.) Unfor- vice of the year, it is still further necessary that we should
tunately, nothing can be less well-founded than this state- propose some addition to the direct taxes. (Murmurs.) Last
ment which is wholly chimerical and baseless. Terminable year the additions made to the direct and indirect taxes
annuities consist of the repayment of principal as well as were in this proportion. The indirect taxes were calculated
of interest, and although at -the end of the time the debtis to produce 2,600,000/. ; the direct taxes, 6,557,0001., there-
extinguished, it has been extinguished by avoluntary mode fore the great increase was on the direct taxes, being more
of repa.yment of principal and interest, and those repay- than double that on the indirect. In the plan which I
meats have been provided for out of the annual produce of have now the honour of submitting to the house it has
the taxation of this country. Under the circumstances I been thought desirable to throw the excess on the other
have stated the Government find it was necessary that ' a side of the scale, and to levy the larger sum by indirect
part of the loan they were called upon to contract should taxation, and a less sum by direct taxation. (Hear,
be effected with some perpetual stock. That is to say, the hear.) We, therefore, propose to raise 3,300,0001. from
only means by which they could have avoided the creation the indirect taxes, leaving '2,000,0001. to be raised
of a perp:itual stock would have been by borrowing the by direct taxes. Now, the number of direct taxes to which
whole amount on stock of a terminable nature, and thus it is possible to have recourse is not great. It is well known
leaving the whole amount borrowed to be repaid at the end that the land tax in this country is an impost which is fixed
of a fixed time. For instance, if the Government had de- at varying rates in different localities, and which is subject
termined to make a loan on stock terminable at the end of to partial exemptions, so that any increase can only take
thirty years, when that period arrived it would be neces• place to a limited extent, and under conditions with which
sary for the Chancellor of the Exchequer of that year to it is not necessary to detain the house. The only direct
provide a surplus Of sixteen millions for the extinction of taxes of arty magnitude besides the income tax to which our
that debt, aria we all know from experience that nothing attention can be directed are the house and assessed taxes.
is more improbable than that a provision made by a pre- With respect to the house tax, its produce is not very con.
vious Parliament for the payment of a sum of 16 millions siderable ;it is' between 700,0001. and
800,0001. a year,
for the extinction of that debt would be carried into and even if the tax were doubled, and some extension
effect when the time should arrive. (Hear.) If such a given to its area, it still would not produce above
mode of creating terminable stock was resorted to, it would 1,000,0001. of additional taxation. The house tax is,
infallibly, at the conclusion of the period, end in disap- after all, only a species' of indirect tax, and the same
poiutment, and the nation should resort to some method may be said of the assessed taxes which fall upon a
of re-borrowing like that adopted by railway 'companies, narrower class of persons than the income tax, and are
who, having barrowed on debentures payable in five or subject to the same objection of being partial in their in-
seven years, simply Continue them when they expire, and cidence as well as not yielding the increased return within
scarcely ever extinguish the debt. (Hear, hear.) The so short a period. liar Majesty's Government, there-
Government thought that any plan that created terini- fore, after consideration, have come to the conclusion that
noble stock, the whole of which would become payable at the best form of direct tax which now exists is the income
the end of a certain term, would be an ineffeetand mode tax. It reaches on the whole the largest number of per-
of obtaining the object they had in view ; and I, there- sons, and its operation falls with fairness on different
fore, propose as a means—to far as lies in our power— classes of incomes, whilst an additional sum can be col-
of preventing the creation of a perpetual burden, to lezted through the existing machinery, thus obviating the
insert in the loan act a clause which will render it necessity of imposing any new tax, of creating a new iii-
incumbent upon the Government for the time being npection, or of extending the machinery to meet an expeu-
at the end of the year following the signature of a dltora which I hope wil 1 not be of long duration.
treaty of peade, to set aside, one milli.on sterling annually Qn the whole, thee, we propose that the additional
until the whole of the perpetual portion of the debt which suns of 2,000,00/. shah he raised by au augmentation of
they propose to contract shall be extinguished. (Hear.) the income tax, by simply adding one per cent., or 2d. in
In that manner a legal obligation will be imposed upon the the pound, to its present amount. (Hear.) With this en-
Government of the day to provide one million sterling an- !lanced rate of income tax I calculate that au addition of
nuallv for the reduction of, the debt now about to be in- 2,000,09 N. will be secured for the service of the next year,
curred. (Hear.) lam aware that any act of Parliament 1,00),010/. of which will be received wi thin the presen tyear.
we now pass may be repealed. (Hear.) All similar acts, The addition to the income tax, therelore, conjoined with
I must be allowed to say, have been violated, and it is im- the additions to the other taxes already specified, will pro-
possible to make any law which our successors can be pre- duce a stun of 5, -t00,090/., which, together with the loan,
vented from altering; there is no irrevocable act of Parlia- and the still] of 3,000,0001. in Exchequer-bills, for the issue
ment. But we cho pass an act which will produce time of which we propose to take a power equivalent to that of
only effect it is in our power to accomplish, namely, to a vote of credit as taken ir, former years, will yield the
render it incumbent on the Government for the time be- sum necessary fertile service of the year. (Hear.) With the
ing to provide funds for the extinction of the debt, and permission of the house, I will now state precisely the ways
to render it obligatory on the Chancellor of the Excise- and means by which we propose to meet the estimated ex-
quer for each successive year to include that amount in his penditure of the ensuing year. That expenditure, I have
estimate of expenditure, and to provide the funds necessary already stated to the house at 86,839,0001. ; the estimated
for the extinction of the debt, unless Parliament should revenue from existing taxes I have given at 63,399,0001. ;
deem it otherwise expedient. Sir, it appears to me that the the loan will furnish 16,000,0001., and the new taxes re-
only effectual mode of discharging debt is that Parliament ceivable, in the year 1855-56 will be 4,000,000/.. I say
should agree, upon the return of peace, to create a special 4,000,0001., leaving out 1,000,0001. of income tax, which
revenue by taxation, and -to set aside annually a certain, will not be receivable within the year, and, in order to
portion of revenue for the reduction of taxation. If Par- avoid the appearance of over-sanguine calculation, I have
lia,mentlwould again return to the policy which it pursued also omitted 300,0001. of indirect taxes. The issue of Ex-
after the peace, but which unfortunately was soon after- chequer-bills, for which I propose to ask power to the
wards abrogated, of erecting a sinking fund of 5,000,0001. extent of 3,000,0001. will not,. under any circumstances,
annually, and applying those five millions to the redemption take place until the last instalment of the loan, payable in
of debt during times of peace, then we should be making December next, shall have been paid up. All these
undoubtedly slow but steady progress towards the extinc- means will produce a sum available for the service of
tion of the debt. If, unhappily, another war should arise, the year of 86,839,000/. To enable the country to bear
or any other circumstance to create an extraordinary the increased charge, the items of which I have now
demand on the Exchequer, it would then be in the submitted to the house, all that is necessary is, that its
power of Parliament to release the .government from the resources should remain unimpaired, and that the vast
obligation of the extinction of debt, and to apply that creation of wealth which has been going on without inter-
margin of surplus revenue to defray the extraordinary ruction for some years past should not suffer any diminu-
expenditure for the year, thus rendering the imposition tion in consequence of the vicissitudes of the war. ' Now,
of new taxes unnecessary, and affording a reliable sur- sir, there is one cause of favourable anticipation, to which
plus to fall back upon. (Hear, hear.) When those ex- I think hardly sufficient attention has been paid in this
traordinary demands shall have been met, the way house, and to which, as it seems to me, scarcely sufficient
would then be prepared for the extinction of debt by the was given by the Government which prceded that of my
only sure means by which it can be extinguished, namely, noble friend near me. It is well known that during the
by the creation of a surplus of taxation, and not by any late war a large portion of the disturbance of trade and
imaginary expedient of a sinking fund. In the "Essay on interruption of manufactures was" owing-to the unwise
Public Credit," from which I have taken the liberty of retaliatory measures adopted by this country against the
reading an extract, Mr. Hume remarks that either the na- Berlin decrees. This measure led to great disturbance of
tiou must destroy public credit, of public credit will destroy the trade with neutral nations, and created an amount of
the nation. Now, sir, I beg leave, with great submission loss and disturbauce.of commerce and industry, which it
to so high an authority on questions of this sort, to dispute would, perhaps, be no exaggeration to say was equal to
both branches of this bypothesis. We see, by long expe- the entire detriment and suffering created by the increased
rience, that the nation has not destroyed public credit, for taxes. From that form of national loss the country has
dui-ing the exigencies of the most disastrous wars—during been fortunately saved by the course which the present
that period of great depression which followed the Ameii- contest has taken. In consequence of the measures adopted
can war—during the Irish rebellion, and other occurrences in former years by the legislature, as wellasof the measures
tending to shake the stability of our institutions in the taken for the protection of our commerce since the war,
course of the French revolutionary war, the sacredness of hitherto with success, it appears that a vast increase has
our public credit was never for a moment shaken. (Hear, taken place ist the amount of our foreign trade. As a pioof
hear.) . On the other hand, I may equally venture to of the present power of the country to bear increased-taxa-
question the other dictum, that public credit will destroy tion, I will beg to draw the attention of the committee to
the' nation. Notwithstanding the rapid increase and a comparison of our imports and exports in the year in
vast amount of the national debt, the magnitude of which the French war broke out, in the year When peace
which I have laid before the house, there has been a was concluded, and the present year. In 1793 the imports
perpetual growth of prosperity since the conclusion of the into the United Kingdom were valued at 17,350,0001., in
last peace and the proportion which the wealth of the 1.815 they were valued at 33,187,0001., in 1853 they had
country bears to its means of paying taxes and affording a risen to 123,099,0001. Theexports in 1793 were 18,486,0001.,
revenue to the Government has been perpetually augment- iu 1816 they were 58,659,0001., and in 1853 they were '
ing. Moreover, annual means have been found, in con- 212,373,0001• (Hear, hear.) These measures, sir, present
sequence of this prosperity, of lessening the interest of the incontestable proofs of the enormous increase
t of th
national debt, and thus making the debt a smaller annual trade of this country since the beginning of he French
tat
charge ou the country. In the year 1816, the charge of war :,and since the last peace ; and they Pro"
the national debt was 30,458,000/. ; in the year 1854 the au enormous mass of wealth exists in the country,
charge was 26,521,0001., being a decrease of 3,937,0001. in from which an additional amount -of taxation can
cos:
the actual charge of the debt. (Hear, hear.) The in- be raised to defray the extraordinary
come tax in the last year of the war, which then stood at country. (Hear.) I fear that it has
.bdeeeeruxenpieeencleesesgartyh,fobra nitit
10 per cent., produced 14,880,000/. ; the income tax of 6 to detain the committee at very.contsei b
per cent. in the last year produced nearly 14,000,0001., preferred running the risk of being
withheld
illmillseir
showing how great has been the increase in the income of jecting myself to the charge of h
information necessarf r,
nfootice is
the country since the peace, and how, far, therefore, the knowledge of the committeei
have introduced to
their
interests
ability of the country to bear taxation has been aug- guidance. The platn I
of fairness to all the
ho evaawriteh the confi-
mented. I see nothing in the present state of our na- proposed in a spin
the --esisderation. I will
tional debt, with all the burdens it entails on us, -concerned, en,adisiv
lereceive impartial st
ec:the ways and means
jttuidetaehwmahtenoolftiott h..
to cause any well-ginunded feeling of despondency deuce that iet
in ofediyear, and meeting th
at our future prospects ; but I see ample ground for only observe iitsieieteitaoasePcowmviillblaigtniaoekudes
it will not single out plan
parti-
xieencies
confidence with a good management of our finances. (Hear, for defraying
hear.) Having stated the grounds on which her Majesty's exigencies '
t° onsideration at once that
some practical
of
sttttel Ihhh'eeeelYe attreilel nsl[tueirsc nsoitnh conclude expenditure
s the
Government have determined to effect a loan of sixteen
, by bewGovernment, keeping
millionsobserve
tfhoert
ttheh serviceey ne negotiated
scheme proP°s°- -tenge any part of the ia
they in-gbt equally objectionable m alternative,
nnow proposed,
e look ~
to some
otoiaftetdhesuperhesernetrtyieoahr,
ofl wiitllams etrheelyy Inelearedetails of it,
tbout
species of security, recognising the value of the onion 0 thought they could obtain in terminable annuities
riinnctihpaiet
that the nation should bind itself to discharge :_laPswellas it. r lap !
-perrticulars with respect to
debt of stock house would wish for
the loan by the annual repayment of .princip I
oartion, of the somteeliethis morning. The
the loan which was con.
interest. With respect to the remaining
ip
n a perpetual tin
i.° proosing
for the loan
occurred during the late war,
Governmentshould required that the
loan, they think it necessary to borrow
for every 1001. stock created • give 100/. in money
stock ; but, at the same time, they paerop
h year, after the 0
of things which sometimes ,in order to avoid that state
obligation to repay
wholel,ooo,ol.4.iLepaja
off. ,As, onoth6 onedefray
of a large
elusion of peace, until theth e
lan of attempting to taxa- vernment received • being created, for which the Go.
mane for every 1001. of stock created. I willjust
eansofr constantlyelathning
ha.nd,Government rejected
the p
annual
defray. which has been an imperfect equivalent. By the mode
the whole expenditure of y
d, they rejected
the plan of
money, 100/. in me [adopted the Government will receive
tion, so, on the other han
' strace -
f that expel] i /be exam Pie or former what was
ing the whole o .
dent to follow
of the war were In 170 done during the late war in this respect.
and they j ridged it pru
ex eases 8 a loan of '"'
in which the extraordinaryl t es of the year as
ear out of°
34 0 --i ,000,P001. was contracted for, to meet
well as which 0(1,000/. of
years ,n to tme ax .stock was created ; in 1801 there was
defrayed by
on addition
the permission of the house I a loan of -()
by an annual lo'an• 1 '•has been made by tax- loan
progress which
d'ture out of borrowed
28, 00,0001., with 39,200,0001. stock ; in 1813 a
of 37,000 000/ • , with .45,000,000/. stock ; and in 1815
will briefly state the ' With the system then adopted, a loan ' •
• the late 'var. of 36,000,000 a, with 62,210,000 a stock. By adopt.
ation during founded upon the defrayment of the ex- ing
although it WM .
part by loaa—the loan having been the course we have this day followed, we at least secure
e of each year in . to the public 1001. for every 1001. of stock issued. That por-
P uses al though sometimes even two loans were
contracted Anna , tion of the price of the loan necessary to make up
year—it was, notwithstanding,
in one ye .
found the price of Consols for the day, is contracted in a ter-
to make a considerable addition to the annual
necessaryminable annuity of 14s. 6d. which will necessarily expire by
taxation. In 1793 the sum raised by taxation wasWe have every
17,656,000/. ; in 1801 it was 35,329.0031. ; in 1808 it the end of 30years.
annual paymerits at
hat loan are fair be•
and that-the e public.
was I reason to believe that the terms of t
the great addition which was made to the annual taxation has reason to be sat
58,390,000 a ; in 1815 it was 69,684 000/. •
, thereby showing 1 tweet the contractors and the publics
• fied with the rate at which it has
of the country during the war, not •th which the loan will be taken
sums raised by borrowing. We tat standing the large 1e in taken. The manner in
propose, therefore,
, sir, to is this :—.A. provisiona • • I contract is entered .into between
make an addition to the public t • a ' Then. ite Government
taxation this ear of a sum the Government and the len ers.
amounting, according to the estimate,of the loan before Parliament, and asks
murs.) I will now, with
th to 5,300,0001. (Mur- lays the terms lt will oe lIIT ellt •
state to them tho my% • e permission. of the house, 1 them to agree to the loan. y immediately
wo, and ask 9aein o agroo o a rosols.
. tutor in which this addition is pro. Ito submit to the ho - - -- -
tsebeto"dertake auf poi:hilt:dr tPheiart ai:P