The Sun.
London, England, 1803-04-22 00:00:00

I understood it was intended 'by the measure about
to be proposed to the CoMmittee, to furnish ways
and means .to pay the interest of the money ex.
'vended in the present armament. Before this Was
done, it was material to, consider whether these
duties were such as applied to War or Pe:tee, for
there was a material distindion_ in this relied.
Duties might be objedianable in \Peace-which might
he submitted tp without objedion in, time of War.
How far that was the case here, he could not now
attempt tasay, but he thought it would be better,
at all events, to' delay the measure' for a day or
two, and until .after the promised communication
of the Minister on the State,of Public Affairs was
made to. the House. It was not his intention to
oppose the principle .of the measure at present, and
be wished it robe perfedly understood,that he should
take an opportunity of hearing the opinion of'those
who were best qualified to form an opinion, and for
whose interest it was his wish to ad in particular,
as well as for the general interests of the Empire,
before
.he look any deoaive course whatever; all
that he 'asked now was, that the Minister would
-
not press this Imitative in any of. its future stages
without affording ample far considering it.
The C HAAT ALL() R qf the. EXC.' HEQURR said,
that the Hop. Gentleman' who had 'just sat down,
had, as it appeared to him, very wisely changed his
. intention as to the subjed now about to be submit-
ted to the House, as it related to:a part of His
Majesty's most gracioua Speech from the' Throne
in the month of November last, and which he'had
now the ,honour of submitting to the House. The
Honourable Member had said, that from a Sche.
dole he. had seen, the present objeft•was that of an
increase of the Public Revenue:-..in this supposi.
tion the Honourable Member was completely mis-
taken ; 'that was not
.the,objed of the Measure—its
objett was to simplify the collection of the Ditties
of Custom's, and thereby, also, to make some addi.
tion to the' Public Revenue, in the same manner as
it was made in the year 1787, when the questiOn of
Peace and War,to which the Honourable Gentleman
had referred, did not in any degree agitate the
,feelings or the interests of the Public. . The Hon.
Gentleman had said, that on a former day, he (Mr.
AoansaTost) gave. the House reason to' exped,
that in a 'few days he should make a, cornmunica.
Sion on an important subjed. - He certainly did
say he had hopes of being able to make a conimuni.:
cation on subjed interesting to the feelings of the
House and the Public, in the course of a few days ;
• but he also said, at the same time, that it was int-
posSible for him to pledge himself, and that he did
not pledge,- or commit himself upon that subjea.
His object then was to take care not to endanger
the Public Interest, either by a premature discus-
sion, which must have been the case in the absence
of comMunication, or to endanger the Public Ince.
rest by a precipitate communication : but, from the
very nature of the thing, it was impossible for him
to make any pledge upon the subjed; nevertheless
the ,Honourable Gentleman had seemingly inferred,
and others had industriously propagated as well as
inferred, that what was represented by him on that.
occasion was, that which would give satisfaction to
the House' and the Public on the subjed. He did
not say a 'single word to that effed. He said,
he should, he believed, he able in a few days to
make a communication to the House, and that he
thought would be necessary, because he felt the
inconvenience, and more titan inconvenience of sine.
pence ; but as to the. natue of "the Communication
which it,. was probable he should be able to' make,

he not only did not say any thing, hitt he was nor
able to say any thing. He should not now say
eny thing more upon this snbjet, but propose,
that the Hotise should go intoei Committee on the
s'objea he had moved, and' if the House should
iissrnt to that, he should shortly open the outline
the Measure he had to propose.
The Qeestian was then put and 'carried, and the
HOuSe resolved itself into a Committee of the whole
;iouse accordingly'.
The CHiiNCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
ellen said, that the objet he had in view, ,was
piJimir, to the consideration of the ComMitteei means
to simplify, c .iistilidate, and amend the' mode of
colleelieeb the Duties'of Custems, and be wished to
ponforet to die communication of His Majesty, to
graciotoi Speech from the Throne, in the month
'of November last. He wished the Committee to
psoderstand, that the 'proposition he had to submit,
vete
,part of a system already adopted by the Le.
KiElaiare, the objeft of which was to consolidate,
simplify, and amend all the Laws which relate to
Revenue from Customs,. in every branch of
'that roblie Revenue, and to remove every oliscuri.
'ty, embarreesment, or difficulty in its colle'tion, to
fender the 'appropriation of each part of it, clear,
precise, and uniform, as well as tolaeilitateethe
neele of its colleaion, both with regard 'to those
celleaed these Duties, and -the Public. The
ttneasore he had to submit to the Committee,, was
'founded ori•the same principle as that whiCh pro.
dueed the Aa.of 1787. After giving a short ae..
'come of the mode of colleaing Duties, as esta.
We.hed in the time of 'King William III.• and the
establishment of, the Consolidated Fund, and also
tif the appropriation of a-- certain Revenue to pro.
Vide fur Services within the year; lie proceeded to
observ., that what he had to suggeit was, that all the
Duties of Customs, which are now raised under, no
Jess than 170 Aas of Parliattrent, should be consoli.
; t tulip some cues where a consolidation rook
liface, there shoula be a fraftional sum payable on
a particulat oracle, ieshould he raised to an' integral
eurti above it, and in others be rehced to an in.
tegral sum below it. Some articles in the book of
rates of Duty, which having become obsolete were
ea be omitted, and on others an ad Tolarear Duty
Was td' be imposed ; and also for the sake cif regu.
Pity' in the ehiFies, iirc. a very small Duty. W‘kS
proposed to be laid on all articles which at 'present
were iMPorted Duty free, With respea to the de.
jail oldie measure,' he should like to spare time by
jaa,,sifig it over for the present, unless it wits the
teishlof the Cemmittee that he should enter into it,
he «as de..irout; that every Member should
).e`iri jutsstss,ona mite micaule, which the Hon. Gen.
lasi; 'iickntrivledged he had seen,
t,kfor,, ohket. dele,il;
feet to the priAciPle. of the measure", he 4itl cone
01.1: citilretiOn
The..' .W 611113 Ilave'beett rt 4 'difference
ti • it. t: Clet ~ %...I. • ,rs