The Sun.
London, England, 1805-02-19 00:00:00

attending It, that it sfiewed the may to loon- in.
c:r ; that it established a precedent for resum-
ing the augmentation; and that: when cOn'sninlition,
the legislative means of raising revenue, failedi,,the
familiar use of,thia,sorr of proceeding, woold give
a santlion to take the property of the in
),:sll'a'ieVer "way it may lit thought fit, and Wherever
it May- be found. When the liMits which con.
somption could not exceed should have arrived, it
Would be held fair to double this Tax,- to triple it,
or to extend it to whatever amount, so as to take
the' ProPerty:of the Subjeei without any limit what.
&Geyer. He had alsoian objeetion to this Tax, that
though it was less unequal than the Income Tax,
it was still very. unequal. Landed property:my!,
property in the Funds contributedfitirly. But. the
other descriptions' of property, such as arose from
'commerce arid intitistry, did nor pay in any 'propor.
"don., If that was so, he .ere fled for the extreme
injustice of going on inereaoieg this
,I;ax,. If a Pro-
perty" Tax were allowable, even in time of war, it
would be only on the ground of its being regular
and moderate. If thislvai"to continue many years,
and constimption,' so far as yielding a .tevenuel 'to
be at_ an end, it was likely. the .Property,Tax: would
be considered as a land tax, and those other.....*xes
that are voted annually as 'matters of course. 'lie
did not suppose this crisis was near ; God forbid it
were. Hi was far from thinking we were far
advanced towards it as 0111CIS,. ,WllO were more
apprehensive, but still he could not, help thinking
we were going the dired wad towar*ls
we could not go on the old Way, we. would go
and take the 'propetty of the SubjedWherever we
Could find it, and if the profits were not sufficient
for 'our purpose we would seize the principal,He
wished, therefore, that some other Tax
.had been
pubstituied which would have yielded as,muds, tie
had never approved of this Tax, nor of the principle
on whibbit was founded; and he thought that
should be. set.to it which should not be exceeded.
He was net satisfied With this addition. If it were
doubled he should be 'more dissatisfied ; bui if it
should be still further increased, he would think
the Country hadno security whatsoever in the pro.
perty of
,the, Subject. He did' think the other
Taxecalso exceptionable,.particularly.tlnit on Salt,
and be hoped that others who were more conversant
with the several subjefts than he, was., would ex,
plain the operation of
.the. Taxes more fully, as he
suspe4ted they would fall extremely heavy,
The' ellelNc6iLLo4 of the EXCHQUER
agreed in the sense which the Hon. Gentleinail laid
dawn' of the vote which he asked of the. House.
No man'was'eOnsidered as pledged to the Subsidy.
When the whole subject should be before the Mouse,.
the time, the` circumstances, theamount, -and
~the
probable benefit to the Country, would be open to its
full and fair judgment;. It was thought proper, for
many reaooris,, to bring fot Ward the Ways and Means
at an early period of the year, and to include in
thein'the amount of the Subsidyot hiclt could eot be
so well provided for subsequentlyor separately. A
late Loan would have been more inconvenient and
less advaniageoui. The interests acentstolatitig on
the.Stoeki would have destroyed the aced of the.
Sinking Fund.' The're were other re,nris a:so for
',tinging forward, before late in•the year, the dis.
tints points to which the Hon. Gender/nos nail first
adverted; When the day should come on which the
point of the Subsidy would be to be discussed, the
lion. Gentleman and every other Member would
be as free as ever. He had further to say, that there
was no informality in, the course now proposed..—
The Ways and Means proposed would not exceed
our own necessary occasions above e,000,0001,....
Thus, he, was not only careful to preserve the free.
• dom of opinion on all parts of the question of Sub.
sidy, but to prevent all objetlion even in, point of
form. For if the House should not be of optnioo to'
allow the Subsidy, the five midions designed fur
that would remain to be applied to nom Services,
With respea to the 'l'axes, the Honourable- G:title_
man'wished to reserve the More particul3t.
aion till the Bills shoUld be. before the !I ,use ; but,
even in the present instance, he larnefiltd that 'the
Taxis proposed should be —so much dit tet, and '4O
little-,on consumption. These Taxes would out,
• however, fall so directly on the general prosperity
of the .Caoatry. The Salt Tait; ae the Hon. Gentle.
man allowed., fell direaly on consumption., The
Horse,Tax fell. al use and luxury, and in ,another
reipeet. on what formed a part 'of the itner3l nroS,.
peritY.
,The Pestle also bore on the incro4st,
wealth, and was one among many dther instances of
the flourhbing state of our resources. Thu's', it ap.
peered, that eleven.. • millions of the Ways and
Means of every description was raised" on use
and consurni;tien.' The War Taxes. of 149 t
which were all on consmnption, bad rodaeed eight
millions ; and taking the whole view of the War,
there' never Was a period at which they could be
expeded to he less prodnetive. It therefore this
produced such an amount ar such a time, without'
shy inconvenience, the result' confirmed, his more
sanguine expettatiO rather than the 'more appre.
berme* one of the Hon. Gentleman. A Tax

on Property was of all others the most econonije,
and that which those writers, ton the subjedi,
whose authority was most respeeted, had described
as difficult, to render available, rather than as an

unjust subject nfßevenue. The great Revenacwhich
bad been derived fram it here, WAS 4 proof at
once of the spirit of the people, of the facility of
availing ourselves of our ReSAlfeeS, and of tha
Wealth and Prosperity upon which these Resources

_ .
refl. But the Hon. Gentleman nonceive4 that the

advantage did incliac pellOnS exercising COM*
name and industry, and that a larger proilortion of
property was exempt an personal iliac on real, it
may be so in same degree, but it was not so attoge.
then arid that the contribution had been brought so
near equality, was aground of approbation. Agit)
th• degree of exactitude, or approach to it, that
was not in the, power of any one to ascertain.—
Whether the Tax was on the whole moderate and
justifiable, was to be ascertained and determined by
.circumotances, the lame as in a Horse. Tax, or any
other. The disproportion between landed property
and commercial property' was not, ho‘i;ever, such as
the Hon. Gentleman supposed. Frain the more
particular and more stria deseription of property
in the returns, under the late Ad, it had been dis.
covered that a touch larger portion of the property
of the Country cunsioteti in land than was imagined