The Sun.
London, England, 1803-08-06 00:00:00

1111REAML PARLIdIVIENT.

HOUSE OF PEERS,

FRIDAY, AUG. 5.

Trig Bills before the House were forwarded in
their reweetive Stages,
The Ein itf WisTMORLAND moved that the
Standing Orders of. the +louse, Nos. 25 and 155,
•
be takenioto consideration ,stn Monday next, and
the Lords summoned on the occasion, which was or..
clued according#.
• The House resolved it-cif into a Committee, por_
suaitt to the Order of the Div on the Inipme' Tax
• lord WAU.srtvcrtnrt io the Ch:tir.
7tibide of NUR FOLK called the attention of
their, Lordships to a particular Prtvlsion in'the Bill,
%Odell went 10 render Paria-hes liable to defictenciet
in the amount of the..Tax' them in cersoin
eases ; such, tfor instance as defalcatiOns arising
from tie absconding. of ColleCtors. Ste.", He •thought
a provision should be introduce-. 1 to enable the
Prishes to get Securities,froto those persons ; as,
otherwi4c Parishes may he sufferers to to very great
amount. He was iriloioned of 'at) ittst:!llo of this
during- the operatioreof the late,lncothe Tax,' in a
certain Parish': in-,WriiMinstet, which in eonse.
(picric* of one;
,f the Colkat)rs running away, the
l'arit.h red coosideraide amount. He thought
•theParishesslould he rendered as secure possible.
Grace,-, however,' made at..thiit Time no soeCific
proposition on the subjeti,
When the Committee came 'to the consideration
of that Clatise which goes to exempt the Dividends,
4rge..of Foreigners fropi the operations of the Bill,
The Dide of NORFOLK, in pulAuance of 'what
„ening.,.rose to deliver hip send.
he said iesterdiy
,meaty on this point: He was guided, he observed,
by no motive
,whatever to impede the measures,of
GovernMent, especially in such a period as the pre.
gent. On the contrary, his view was on grounds
• „ which lie thought fair and proper to render the pro-
:l.-posed Tax ?fibre produetive', and ;o facilitwe its
operation. With respeet to the provision before the
Committee which went to exempt the Stack held by
Foreigners, he could conceive but three grounds on
.which .Such a tegulation., could be proposed :—First
With a view to an improvement of Revenue : se-
condly, from motives of policy: and thirdly, on
the ground of National good- faith. The first
ground carried its own refutation so obviously with.
in itself, that it would almost be a pocket.), to
argue against it. certainly the exception of a
' given quantity of Income must diminish the amount
of tits 'Fax:,' As to the 'second point, oil principles of
well founded policy, he entertained strung doubts,
lie would suppose the motive to be the apprehension
that taxing the Dividend of Foreigners would give
such a drgree*of umbrage to whatever Nation they
belonged, as might lead to a rupture between it and
this,Couotry, It did not Strike him in that light.
He would suppose that the whole amount of the in-
terest paid fur the National Debt was ao
Op; of which he would suppose that one-tenth, or
two millions wss paid to Foreigners scattered over
different parts of the world. He thought two mil.
lions would be found to he the greatest sum paid in
such a way. Of these Foreigners, he thought the
greater part were inhabitant's of the Republics of
Holland and of, France with these' Countries we
were engaged in War at present, therefore no argu.
anent of that kiral could amply as far as it respetted
them, , The last ground of all was certainly the
most serious and important, and tie' should be one of
the last meal in the kingdom who would think of
Orgi, g any proposition which he 1114;1 would,
the slighiest-degree, derelid from the National
not and good faith: that he halted their Lordships,
the other iloe,se of Parliament, and the-Government
of ti,e wary, would he always zealous to uphold
and Maintain : hoWeyee, he was not aware, at least'
from his view of the subjot, that non-exemption,
of Vciatne: of that description would bo a breacii of
• National Faith. At any rate, in the way in which
he should propose to amend the, Clause, such an
ie4iota could not lie; the tendency of his 'Amend-
met4t would be to aubjeet future Foreign Purchasers,
or Proprietors, to the operation of the Tax. There'
Was' one very great ohjeCtion to such an exemption,'
because it would. afford ad opportunity of fraud
.and collusion to an almost incalculable extent.--!.
As he understood the Bill, Foreigners may be made
Trustees,' how easy then would it be 'to enter a
given quantity of Stock in the. name' of a Foreign
Trustee. Suppose such a ruin of produced
30001. a year, there would be an annual defalcation
of revenue of t col. Upon this part of the sub.
jeet, the Noble Duke argued somewhat in detail,
and touching upon the objeaion, "that Foreigners
bought into the British Funds„ upon the 'good faith
of their receiving the current interest, but after
this m should be passed, the case would be altered.
Foreigners would know the altered circumstances
under which they purchased, and under that gene.
ral.idea, what he should propose .pr.-ceeded. The
Noble Duke concluded; by•.moving for the intro.:
dalion into the clause, by .way Of amendment,
1! that Foreigners purchasing after the passing of this
Alt, or such as should become proprietors through
begOrsr, or in the case of Atburnistration, should
be liable to. the operation of the
On the question being put,
Th, LORD CIIANCeLLOR rose.and observed,
that much no he respetted every thing propoSed by
the N dile Puke, the pre,ent was an occasion on
whioh Itr rt whit not coincide with him. His Lord.
ship principally considered- the question on the
troond of National Gino, Faith, anti he alluded to
In idea which had. gained ground, rather-improperly,
tharit was a breach of good Faith, to certain ex-
. tent, to tax the Funded Property even of the %Irish
Subjeel ; ;,gaitist this he would urge the plea, that
-tht, General Safety was paramount to every other
consideration, !laving ably argued this point, he ,
came to the consideratioti- of the' Foreign Credi.
t o ith whom the case war essentially 'different,
which involved questions of equal delicacy and
ir,"waner, the degree of ,interest whielt the'
F t e y.r Creditor had in import of the State, was.
e rti'lrfibUtote, with the amount (Idle sum which lie
It d (sued in our Funds. In addition to this, was to
Inc ed the of which, taking or the excsp,r
tion, would have: on what hi might call tficiromign