The Sun.
London, England, 1806-03-29 00:00:00

Were several which he might avail hiinself of at a
future oppoxttlnity tirmake some- trifling.comments.,
What now 'called hint up was, to express his soft6w.
that the 'i\loble Lord IRA insinuated that--the late
Aelthinistratipri had allowed the pechlation in- the
Wose Indies to go on unchecked, when the fail was,
that a,13111 had:beembronght in by that Adininistra—

tion to,appoint Commissioner's, I.vho were -sent out
to the NVet Indies to investigate these abuses. Their.
Re porty as laid be tore the Law Officers of t he Crown,
who mold explain why they were not proCeeded on.
With: re and to • the publicity of the Finances,, of
which the Noble Lord had said so mdch, was it pos-:
sible that he could make them more, public than they
had hitherto beep—than they had, indeed, been
originally made by the Great Man whom the Conn-
try was yet lamenting ? He would just ask' the
Noble -Lord a single question ph one part of the new
impositions. He had .mentioned his intention of
increasing the per centages on CnstomS from a
• fourth to a third; which Would materially ihjure our
. martufaaures,- unless certain drawbacks were alloW-

ed. Nothing had been said about these draWbacks;
did the Noble Lord mean to grant t.heni ?
Lord HENRY PETTY, in reply, said, that- be
had ititimated his intention of allowing' these draw-

backs. With regard to the charge made against him
by the Hon. Gentleman, of having insinuated blame
on the late Administration, his- answer *was simply
that he had never named them. He could not be
_ _

supposed as yet to know much of the efforts that
had been used to check the abuses in' the West In-

dies • but this he,knew, that therstill existed.
Mr. ROSE and Lord H. Pwrry severally explained.
Mr. PERC.VAL wished that the subject of the
West Indies' had been excluded from the Noble
Lord's speech. If no dire& charge had been hatei►_i-
ed, a
pretty,considerable one had . been insinuated
against the late Ministry. The Reports of the Com-
missioners • had beets laid before him in his -official
,situation, but they were
.so loose, that,it
,was impos-
sible :to institute any proceedings on 'them.. • He
`thought the House much indebted to the Noble Lord
for his luminous statement, which had given him,
for one, much. pleasure; and he would only hint at
some parts of it which were in a certain degree ob-
je6tionable. The most prominent was,' his having
'"proceeded to vote the Ways "and Means before .the
Supply ; and on this subjea he Wished that the No-
ble Lihd had treated the system of his Honourable
Friend (Mr. Rose) more kindly. He had, however,
allowed the Ways and Means to exceed the Supply
several nailliOns. The Noole Lord's Right Hon.
Friend, by his. side, (Mr. Fox). could tell him 'how
Air this was a constitutional pra&ice. He approved
of the, general spirit of the Budget, but thought that
some parts Would not be adequate to what was ex-
peeted from them. This remark applied to the ex-
emptions from the Property Tax, which he appre•
'herded would require modification. There was
another tax which he thought it would be extremely
difficult.to :carry into •effea he meant that. on .ap-
praisementS ; his supposition on this head atiose from
his knowledge of the manner in'whicli the tax on
au&ions is id frequently been evaded.'
Lord HENRY PETTY. re-stated some of the
items of the Supply and of the Ways alid Means,
and contended that the former exceeded the latter
above seven millions. With regard to the-exemp-
tions on the Property Tax, he thought that the new
mode by re-payment to small annuities, &c. Would
.be attended with much facility ; because, having
once obtained their certificates, on producing them
in the succeeding years, they would be entitled to
the same adVantages.
Mr. PERCEVeIL ObserVecils' that the Noble Lord
in his calculation had not included' the War Taxes,
the produce of which, though certainly they were
not proposed this 'day, ' was necerttieleSs forthcoming.
to the Exchequer. .
Lord HENRY PETIT replied, that the 'War
Taxes reqqlred a specific application, which they had.
not yet received, before they could be fairly calm.;
hated upon..
Mr. 110.ST:still contended that the Ways and
Means 'atforded •a large surplus beyBnd the Supplies.
'SECRETARY FOX allowed that the Ways
and Means ought not to surpass in extent the Supply.
But it .was' the. principle of this rule which ought to
be attended to. The War TaXeS were an anamoly.
They were' not applicable to theleneral exigencies
of the year. If the situation of the Country permit.
ted it, they might be devoted to the reduction of the
National Debt; o to any other purpose that the
gislature -might think fit. At the same time, he
could not but confess, that a considerable inconveni7
ence was incurred by opening the Budget before the
amount of the' expenditure bad been ascertained.
This was an inconvenience very similar tothatwhich
took place last year with regard to the Subsidies. It
was an inconvenience, but no more • it did not 'trench
en the principles or the practice of Constitution.
As to the blame which his Noble Friend had been
'accused of casting on the late Administration;'he re-
.colleCted having heard him distinaly praise one pro-
jcti that originated in that Administration, he meant
. the Sinking Fund. In that praise he heartily ad-
purred. But it seems his Noble Friend had censured
the apparent inattention to the disorders and abuses
iu the. West Indies. It .certainly did appear extraor-
dinary, that in'a period of ten years-0 cry of Aro
no from t/ie Opposition Benches)-=well then, that
in a period of eight, six; or fire years, hoth ing..elfeanal
had been done on that
.subjea. It was`very possible,
however; that difficulties might have arisen in it not
easily obviated. As to what had been said on the
different modes of taxation, bethought that the duty
on apiraisements would either be produ&ive itself,
or render that on Au&ions much more so than it was
at present. The exemptions from the Property Tax
would, he confessed,. be• attended with some diffi-
culty. At present, great frauds were praised,
and often little relief obtained. 'This was a inea
sure that had been not lightly considered,
.aild he
trusted that the House would afford their assist-
ance in improving it still farther. . With regard to
the ambunt to which the Property Tax was propOsed
to be raised, he thought it much less obje6tionable to
bring it, to a-large round sum at once, which should
be understood to be its limit as a permanent War
Tax, than brgentle gradations to induce the Public
to apprehend that it might ultimately he carried far-
ther. He confirmed the statement of hiS Noble Friend
with reFpea to the determination of Government to
ready as much as possible the abuses that had been
discovered, or that should be discovered,' by the dif-.•
fcreut Boards of Inquiry, and .deter ded iiun from.