Foreign ln> diligence. LONDOn", April 27. HOUSE Of COMMONS. wtiNespAV. APRiL z6. BL'DtSET. : ' The Order «f the Day was then reid, the . Hosfe re'oived itfolf into a Cpfiunitte* oi \V-yi an i Mrtu, > Mr. Sylvijlcr Dsurlat. in 'h- Ch-ii'. T Hr Rrjinrt of the Seleit Conimioee of Fin-ano* twin,f nrrviotifly feferretl to ciir faiet Committee. I'ht Cl-ttneKtr of (/;.■ t.xcbcju.-r. ".ta the great Rftjl frteuSvc piofecßtijn of tf.s business which it is ens this At-'f to submit to tkii of cite Coiuliutow, it is uttjtolTibfe'fot me pot to feci the imporunce of the fcuifl.ewwhichotffexi peoces haVeoeciftfn«J,'»ntl still .',s is it impoiTible for Jr.e tot to feel coifi'ieriMe »cgret, and greut {xrfofll {!ifaf>iintn«Ot m bejnj cjaipelled, how tv- t» p'ropofoarr addition to the am ple and largj provision already nude tc-wards de fivyin'j tin rxp«noe» of this country i*l a wid; and eatHmKou* war, and add to tile prv-lent burthens whtfh are borne with unexampled patience, and to which nothing btit the moll rigorous ueceility could force me to iinpolcfrefh burthens, lam confcioda the sensations us every (Jeatlemau in tire Commit tee will behurt on aui I rail wlut jcvtr may be their feolings upon this fubjtit, thoy - Mill jiw mi credit my sensations ar; not lehalive. -But it is not my duty to dw'eli on those fer.f ions— Much as I regret the caufesof the war, and the ci bmitits with which it ha 3 bcei attended ; much I regret the manner in which the hope of a spee dy termtua*ion hai beeliobftruwfed, and additional expences thereby incurred; much as I rrgret in ereafmg expences, where exuonces have been so much,. lr.d almost irrfufferably increased ; and whatever iriay be my own perional mortification artd regret in. being obliged to tome forward at fa si a' diflrefsfijl period with n?w burthens; I feel it, iNHiviiitiianding, to ,be my firll great duty to eoiiie forward, as I hope and tmft tile House and tountry will do viith me, with a firm and manly fjiirit, to convince the enemy that however great ' rr ;y be our prefl'ure, however embarralfed our cir rjni!h.ncti, we are determined to contend with theni as long as we are able, rather than submit to haughty and difhonouraMe terms. Thoufrh ws may not lie fuccefsful cnought to accomplish the mean* by which we can ternrinate the fatal poiiteft in which we are engaged, conliftently with the ho nour ferurity, andp.rmanent and effsntiai intereiis of the nation, Itr us yet convince our enemies, that cur spLit docs not def'ert us in our trials, but that, infpite »f every difficulty, we will fl.iltl»ejufV both to ourselves and to our country. In this sentiment I trufi to meet the sense of the House and the peo ple ar Urge, whose patriotism, justice, and mag nanimity, as they never have failed in the mofl ar durut conflicts, wit] not, I trutt, fail now; but nianifcll on the contrary, that whatever may be the event, they have but one duty to pursue, the fafcty honour and happiness of the kingdom. Without heGta'tion, though certainly not. without Irvxiefy,and regret, 1 shall now proceed to submit to the Committee what I have to propose. Jn do i'vj thi% it if with pleaiure I declare., that I fliall cot only derive great advantage, but that my la lour is materially diroinifhed also by the able u:id impartial (latements of the firll Report of the . Selecl Committee of Finance, which has been printed and this day laid before you. However, is pa; ti.uhr parts, I may be jufiified in differing from these statements, however favourable those ftotennnts may be to the general wilfces of the HoCfe and of the Country (and I am ready to con fefsthey are more favourable than what 1 have to propose,) I stall juide myfrlf by their rfirecuon, and render that .Report the bafia of the plan of my propnfal. I shall follow the usual mode of prt ceeding apon fubjeds of this nature, and firft take a view of the tranfa&iocs which have caused the el fences which we are how .called on to provide, and state what f»ms remain to he (rovided for ; I fbafl tlrentsmpare these ptovifional'demands with whathavc been already provided for in the cotirfe fcf tha-prefent year, and submit the plans which I propose for a further provision, and in this process I lhall he as (hurt and explicit, as I can. For this purpose, therefore, and according to the' tifual prailice, 1 shall firft call the attention of the House to the whole amount As services lor the preient year, with the amount of th? fumj already voted for defraying them, and tke amount of the sums remaining to be voted ; after that I shall detail the Ways and Means by which these services have al ready been defrayed, and by which the remainder may be defrayed; and finally I shall if at" the fpe tific meafurcs which I mean to ground upon those ftaKmects towards the provision for the accumu lated interest and charges. For the fake of being clear Arid intet'igible, I shall proceed article by ar tide, under various heads; and, to puVue the euf tornary mode, I if.ail of fourfe begin with the Navy. The Committee will recollet, that for the Naval service of the current year, there has already been voted the sum of 7,66i,0001. in addition to which the Committee of Sup ply has voted 5,c00,0001. more. Gentle men will please to recoiled, that although I estimated expences of the Naval De partment at 7,661 .ocol. I then stated my intention to propose the provision of a fur ther sum of 2,500,0001. in order to remedy an inconvenience which heretofore had ari sen, and thereby have 10,161,9001. in cash towards defraying any excess of Navy debt. Such, however, have been the extraordinary exertions and expences of the war, that there yet remaftied an unfunded debt of the Navy unprovided for, to the amount of 4 millions. In the statements of the Seleft Committee a compartfon has been given be tween this outstanding Navy debt and the outstanding Navy debt in 1783, and the Committee has made ail allowance for three million, tn the Select Committee it ap pears by the best, estimates, that as far as they can be ascertained, the expences for the Navy service would amount to 12,900,0001. which is short of what I have stated thera to fee, bat exceeding what I formerly confi dertd them. By way of reducing this amount, though I ought to state that a sum of Boo,oooJ. went in aid of the Navy fervi-- ces of 1796, and consequently left the pro vision for the services of 1797 deficient in that sum, foi"! however, careful we may be, a part of the expences will be carried on in Navy bills, tbo' certainly to less extent than formerly. In the provision of 12,000,000, four (hillings per month would be carried to the ordinary expences of the Navy, where by about 110,000k would be taken away from the unfunded debt. As I suppose there will then be a million, or a million and 1' half of Nav}- debt afloat. Such was my former statement, and compared with the ftatesnent of the Committee, there is this difference, that it fuppofe# i,st>o/3cof. of floating Navy debt, inflead of ;»,ooo,aocl. as lh« Seleft Committee of Finance has calculated. Ido not know whether I have expressed myfelf clearly »pon this poir.t, but if. not, I /hall be hippy ta give ir.y geaiic man a further explanation. - r „ Army. 'l iic ne.it hnJ of i<j» vice u the Army, uppn which there has been alrsadv voted the sum of 10,913,0001, The-aecounts for f'reign corps arc no*, yet made out, but they soon will be, and I have reason to hope their expences will ba less than were caku c lated in my original statement, and less than , they appeared to the Seleft Committee. I have reason to think this diminution will amount to one Jialf ; and that tha sum of 370,0001. will be fuffieient ; 6,000,0001. lt was the total amount for the army it eftaWifliment, independent of the extraordi n naricj, whicji is left; by 297,000!. than the 0 eftijnatw for the ensuing year by the Seledt Committee. In 1796 there were.fame ex it traoidmary expeuces of the army incurred, _ which at present remain unprovided for, to to the.amount of 3,287,0001. and in the in - terval of the Bth December and the ift of ll January, there was another out-standing <ie • mancT made evident of ioo,oool. which, in J consequence of not being paid, is to be ad ded to the other, and makes a sum of— - 3,387,0001. out-standing army debt to be provided for. It appears by the report of ' \ the Scleft Committee, moreover, that Trea sury bills paid at the bank, and warrants for army service due and unpaid, a further sum ■' of 2,08i,0001. remains to be provided for, j inasmuch as Treasury bills paid at the bank _ previous to the jth of January 1797, and , those which were due on the Bth of Janua -1 ry,but not included, amounted to 1,660,000 1 to which were to be added 428,0001. for ar- I j_ my warrants. So that the sum total would , be as before stated 2,088,0001. The efti -1 mated sum to be incurred by the army ex r traordinarics for 1797, according to the re port of the Secret Committee, and for the amount of which it is my intention to pro vide is 4,000,0001. It was not proposed before Chriftmaa to raise any sum of money ■ for this head of service, but so far as any i calculat ion to thelateft possible period could ■ be made, the calculation nearly tallied with \ that sum. It is here to be observed, that the extraordinaries of the army are now, for J the iirft time, brought forward by way of estimate, at least they were never done so ful- " ly till the present war, but they were paid out of the money granted for other fervi- : ces, leaving the provision for those services" ■ e deficient to another year. In addition to ! e this, there has been advanced to the Empe- J ror, by way of loan, and which will be-due < to the public i,200,0001. and a sum of, 900,0001. advanced to the merchants of ; Grenada and Saint Vincents, which will al- 1 so be returned. There are further advances, to the Emperor to be set ag'ainit the expence of extraordinaries to a very large amount, fr.r which it will not be neceflary to provide a present fund, though I set them down, as so much credit against so much debt. The Treafui'y bills and Army warrants at home, did not go to the extent of 2,088,0001. but there were bills from remote parts, notwith standing the precautions I had taken to cal culate and curtail the expences abrqad as much as pofiible, which exceeded what was formerly thought upon estimate to bi their I utmost amount. This might in part be t owing to the unforefeen and incalculable : operations of the war; however, I did not think it consistent to leave them to reft on ) distant means of payment, and I chose ac- I cordingly to propose for their provision. This comprises all under the head of the army. . ■ Ordnance. , ' I now come to th# ordnance departments, for which there has been already voted the sum of and to which I do not mean to propose any addition. I mult ob serve, however, that since the estimates were ' ' made, a demand of 300,0001. to pay deben- : tures for stores supplied and services per- ! formed, has since come in for part of the j ordnance expences in the fame manner as : the treasury bills of i,600,0001. of which . I did npt then know. To this deficiency may be added another in the barrack de- ! partment, in which an outstanding debt re- ; ■ mains, not merely for the building of bar- > ■ racks, but for the expences of provision and ' accomodation, in which the soldiers would have been furniihed to the amount of the ■ fame charge upon the public if they had been garrisoned in barricks,. but had been i quartered elsewhere. I mention this to re • move any prejudice which might perhaps ' have otherwise been indulged, and (hall con- j elude this article by.recortmending the pro- • vision advised by the Seleft Committee of, 717,0c01. which in the present view of this \ fubjedt will defray the whole demands. I have now proceeded through the Navy, Ar- < my, and Ordnance, in which Ido not re- 1 ■ colled to have omitted any extraordinary items, exe*pt that I have not mentioned a fpecific additional sum, which I mean to propose for. the further relief of his Impe- • rial Majesty in the present critical period, 1 and the particular statement of which I have reserved to a separate difcufiion. As early j as practicable, tliat fubjeft shall be submitted J 1 to the consideration of the Committee ; but ' ■ however important it may appear, it is not ! expedient with my arrangement to enter on it at present. Mifccllaneous Service. • the next branch of the supplies is for de -1 fraying the expences of what is called the 1 Mitcellarvpus Service, which includes the 1 expences of Plantations, Convicts, &c.— 1 For .this there has been already vot«* the , furo of 378,0001. and if I proceed by the 1 estimates of the Seleft Committee, a further sum of 929,0001. will be found neceflary.. In this-fum 400,?0c1..is comprifcd forma- . ' king provision beforehand for articles it lias been usual to pay in the firft instance out of the. Civil Lift, aad to propose afterwards to Parliament to vote a sum fufficient-to repay wljjt has been so advanced. Under this statement, I have rrot included the provifi -05 of any sum which the important domes- ' tic happiness of the Royal Family, and the accustomed fertir.gs of the-country have al lowed S3 the tifual pprtion with any qf the female' Uraitche*. Tliat provifiou will come better peihap« iercsfttr nadir a diftinit a. J , 1 ; 4 •*» k - a . / fpeclfic proportion, There. is, tiowever, a sum of 6 50,00c1. ineiuded,. .which is propo se d to be lent to the fafferug Grenada mer chants over and above the funis which I have before stated, and which are to be ultimately repaid ; but- I took occasion to. include them in my statement of the achul expen diture, because they are sums for which I find neceflar-y to provide a temporary provifiori. Natioral Debt. The next article o" supply is the annual prrtvition- for the discharge of the National Debt of 200,000. D.fi?i.w:':cs of Land and AT.il/. To this 13 to be added, the'ufual provifi ori made for the deficiency of the prcjduce of the taxes upon Laud and Malt, to the amouut of 363,0001. Repayments to th: Bani. 1,054,0001. is to be provided to repay the Bank for advances upon the growing produce of the Consolidated Fund for 1796 , and paid also by the Bank. Further deficiencies of Land and Mall. I /hall propose a further provision of— -900,0001. to meet the deficiencies 0/ Land j and Malt not included in the estimate, but which I think may probably arise. Navy and Exchcqutr Bills. \ The next sum is i,n0,0001. voted in the Committee of Supply, for the discharge of Navy and Exchequer Bills, raised by an Aft of last Session, upon a Vote of Credit in 1796. The House will recolleft, that a provision was made for funding Navy and i Exchequer Bills, and relieving the Market of so much qutftanding debt. There was a party who did not choose to avail themselves of the liberty of funding the Bills they hold, and this sum was to make good their de mands. ~ Consolidated Fund. The next is a sum of 2,177,0001. to make good 3,500, cool, charged lay.an aft 1 of last fefKou on the growing produce of the consolidated Fund, for the service of the ■ year 1796. 3,500,00 c!. was the sum grant ed and thought applicable, but various cir j eumftances had operated to its disappoint ment. Exchecquer bills advanced to the I Merchants of Grenada and St. Vincent's, | in consequence of the .misfortunes in those . Colonies were paid in again ; a loss was fus • tained in the produft both of the new and 1 old taxes, by the stoppage of our distilleries, ; the defalcation of which sums was not made J good in the year, and to this was to be ad j;.ded the payment of bounties to seamen, by I tHe Receivers of the cuftomsout ofthepro | duce.oF that year's revenue, which caused a defalcatiori in the produce of-the cuitoms ; and lastly. the bounties upon the importati on of Corn. These circumstances of course would not make the whole deficiencies good, and leave the consolidated fund applicable to the service of 1797 ; arid as I cannot sup pose that the Committee would choose to ; have those sums charged like a mortgage on the consolidated fund, I have provided for its relief, and taken them as an article of supply from the sth April 1796 to tfce sth April 1797. l r ote of credit and Loan to the Emperor. There is only one other sum which re mains to be stated, and that is a vote-os cre dit to the amount of 3,000,0061. As I 500,0001. has already been advanced to the Emperor, I wish, if it meets with the ap probation of Parliament, to be provided with a further sum of 2,500,0001. in order to make further advances, if approved of, as the time and exigencies may require. I state this in order to let the committee know the ultimate amount of what sums it ma*e ne ceflary to provide at the fame time I desire to have it understood, that I do not mean to pledge any person to a final vote upon fur i ther advances to the Emperor, unless for a t certain sum to a limited extent, which I (hall i state before I fit down. Supposing this vote of credit to take place, however, or not,, I shall state that as part of the sum to a. limited extent, which I deem absolutely neceflary at this critical period, to allow the Emperor to fulfill his engagements, toge ther with myreafons forit. I have now gone ' through the whole, of the supply, all the de mands for which it was not "possible to cal : culate before Christmas, and throughout my ftatemepts of them I have afted on the re -1 port of the Seleft Committee. In so exlen iive a statement it is impossible for me to hope that I have proceeded so clearly as not sometimes scarcely to have made myfelf. un derstood ; but if any gentleman un der any difficulty, I shall request him only to follow me throughthe veryable statements of the report, andl believe he will find our ac counts tally lo nearly in the estimated fervi- ' ces and outstanding arrears* as to fliew the fulleft confirmation of the acscuracy of my statements. For the fake of beirig more ex plicit however, I shall sum up all the heads of the supply in a RECAPITULATION. Navy 12,661,000 Army -6,600,000 Army Extraordinaries-' 3,387,600 ' Treasury bilk and army warrants 2,088,000 Ordnance 1,622,000 Ordnance, Extraordinaries, and. Barracks . 737,000 Miscellaneous service 929,000 Advances to the of Grenada 600,000 Imperial loan 500,000 Annual addition to Sinking Fund 200,000 Deficiency of Land and Malt 350,000 Re-payment to the Bank for ad -vaaces on the Consolidated Fund of 179 5 1,054,00 <y Ditto '796 " 1,530,000 Further deficiencies of Land and Malt 900,000 .Ta difchargc Exchecquer Bills ifi'ued oft the credit of the consolidated Fund for 1796 i>jio,ooO Deficiencies of consolidated fund 2,177,000 Vote of Credit 2,500,000 £-sß>-]86,c00 ' ' Mr. Pitt computed the sum total at 42,7}.(fc00c1. but as he omitted the frafti i oivs in his computation, and .at otlirv tt'ines ! did not punftually-adhere t<> the statements h) the Report of the Seleft Committer, w'th which we have nnde a careful corHpariioj, we trust the public will not, impute atly blame to our fidelity for aay Vv.ry apparent ' ignorance or error, j - IVays and Mentis. j Now, Sir, in regard to, th£ Ways and Means for providiiig these Sqpplies, I mast beg leave to state, that a fum'a little "lets' than seven millions will cover th,e because a repayment of fame of the advances ' may taice place in the ccurie of the year; I, 500,000!. ariling from the Taxes"on the Land and Malt, will be paysble by Ofto ber, and Exchequer Bills to the amount of j i,6q0,00g1. will repay the Tijejfury Bills . in the fame sum paid at the Bijnk. My next duty, in the meag .time, is'to 1 state with what ways and means 1 am pro , vided to meet the various sums of this larg« amount. 111 order to do that, I.shall begin with the laud and malt already voted, which according to the usual calculation is reck oned at 2,750,000!. The surplus- of grants already voted,- and the loan by. voluntary, Subscriptions, 18,000,0001. mak ing a sum total of 21,1.7.0,0001. These are the only sums already voted towards-dctray ing the expences of the year, but there were other sums stated in the original statement, of which the firft was a lottery. The lot tery has varied in the general statement, but taken according to the usual profit, it pro duces somewhere about 200,0001. By ex chequer bills in the former statement, I took credit for 5,500,0001. which is the usual a mount of exchequer bills kept afloatbut I do not now think it prudent to rely ypon an iflue of exchequer bills to that amount on account of the recent embarraflments in public credit. I shall not reckon therefore on a larger ifTne than 3,000,0001. which is less than the quantity now in circulation; I shall take the surplus of the growing pro duce of the consolidated fund on a new esti mate, on account of the charges on it, and, shall therefore take credit for a moderate sum to be derived from that source. This moderation does not rife from any diminu tion of the permanent taxes, because the report of the feleft committee on finance confirms my repeated afTertions of the flou rifhing state of the permanent revenue ; nor does it rife from any considerable disappoint ment from the produce of new taxes, be cause, upon a review of the new taxes levied in 1793, '794> 1 79 Si ar, d the best esti mates of the probable amount of the new taxes for 1796, when any supposition is en tertained that they will not be able in their ultimate amount to maintain themselves at the produce at which they were computed, by Jetting them againfHhe loans since raised, ' and operating one again'fl the other to a ge- ; neral dimiihition, it will be found that they j go near to counterbalance any deficiency, ' and are nearly equal to-the charge upon the consolidated fund by' providing the interest ' of the funded debt. But it is to be .reqol- J lefted, that although ift laying taxes I take I credit for an amount which cannot be so ! productive as I may have calculated, I have i generally endeavored soon enough, to meet j the increaftd charge, arid prevent an aecu- j muhition of unfunded debt. I -now stand! with the knowledge of two quarters, freed from a mortgage of 1,075,0001. and higher in theij l computation than I was juftified to make thefer. As heavy asray computation might be, however, ! have the. fatisfaftion to hope, the total of the supply. may recur before the taxes of next year, though "al lowanos must be taken for both confedera tions. Every estimate is liable to uncer tainty, but the average of the permanent taxes upon 4 years I find to be 13,919,000, to which adding duties of 1796, I shall have a total sum of 17,803,0001. I am aware of the allowance on wine, from the flock i* hand, but in looking at the produce of the sum total of the permanent taxes, and look ing forward to distant periods when frefh sums will become due, I have a right to as sume that to be the amount ; for when we cease to take account of the flock on hand, the annual consumption will replace the de ficiency. The taxes imposed for 1797, were reckoned at 2,106,0001. Part of those taxes, it is true, are yet under consideration, but, many will take place at an early period. I do not suppose, therefore, that I shall be taking the benefit of the estimate at too mudh, if upon the whole I value them at 1,500,0001. To this is to be added the ! further amount of 600,0001. which I fup j pose to be the nett profit of the taxes which I*l am about to propose, and the advantage of which we are likely to receive by the sth of April next, so that the whole yearly a mount of the produce of the permanent re venue may then be calculatedat Mr. Pitt then calculated the various other sums to. meet the supplies from the arrears of land and malt, the sale of Dutch prizes, the returns of payment to the bank, the re- ] maining money on hand upon the corn bounties, See. making-tr sum" lotal of 42,870,000!. He then discussed the vari- 1 ous terms of the loan .with the separate con- 1 ditions as fßey have been detailed in pur pa 1 - ] per, and took this opportunity of stating his j intention in the prefTure of the prefertt criti- ] cal period, to advance 200,0001. to the em- I peror, in order to enable him to fulfil, hisen- . 1 gagements in this country ; the ttmi3 of,the ' loan he left to a future day,, but hoped to be able to take- them into conitderatioUb on ( Monday next—« Thul far (fald he) I ! have Hate*} the total amount of the different i sums which, upon the- iairefi calculation X 1 could make, I conceive.to be necessary tow? 1 ards defraying the expences of the present \ year. I have endeavored to. provids. for ! every burthen which the exigencies of the , country may require ; but at the fame-time, i I do not wish the comniittee to' underfUud j tliat I corilider.all my statements free from 1 incorreftncfs.and inaccuracy. Over a»d a- ' bove theintereftpf the sum that.is to be raised ' by the loan, there are Came other articles to j be annually prorided for ; cmeof these is the < sum lo te allowed to the eoßarriflkmers ap- : psjjit«TTc(r rte >> re<k:£ik»e of the 'national deist, 'which'an"oi:ut3 to about z per. cent, and whiqh, g.ddcd *c> the interest of €l. 7s. '4. J. wilt njaike ttic whole SI. ?s.' 4<h Wjth rc'gard to tile 'lo.'U!. of f8 millions, I muff : obfrrve, that rifter 3 certain part of it (hall be njiplicd to the fitrviee of Ireland, aiid ano. t*er soi'hpt of the emperor, thejtotql amount i of. the eliarge to this country will be no more than 13 JBilliono; and this charge will r appear-to 1m! (till kjs \vfcen it is conlidered that itconftderable- part of it is to to the diminution of exchequer tills. There is at , prtfeirt. a" floating navy debt, of abtjtit four ; millions, l\vo millions o£ which-.exiftcd at ■ the beginning <rf the •si'ai 1 . In confluence r -of.the difficulty of pTOCvmjig csfh, this sum ; cannot probably be dyninifhed at the present jjenod,nor paid off tilLtbc war fltall be pot an" end'to. I would nof provide a higbej ipterclt for it than 5 per cent. The whole of this ihtcrel?;' will amount to the sum of i'7s, bbq!/ There is' alfoar-defciency of 100, cool, in taxes, which'is to be pro vided fo that the .jyliole of tiie tasea which it is necessary to raise for these leveral ptirpofes, will ta between 1,00a,c001, and 1,200,000!, There is another' question which is neceffarity involv ed in the present fubjefl, fajit which, as it is to be a matter of diftinft discussion, I will not enter into at present. I Ciall barely mention the circumltance. The nature and terms of the lad loan, which I submitted to this house, mutt naturally be in the recollec tion of molt gentlemen, I will, on a future day, put it to the confiderdtion of the houfc, how far the fubferibers to that loan (liould have been losers in consequence of the great discount upon it. That will appear mote clearly from the circumstances attending the present unexpected loan. It will certainly be neceiTary for thi house to adopt some mea sures. which Ihallmake up the losses to those gentlemen, who, in a moment so crSJcal, came forward and displayed their patriotilrn and loyalty, by contributing so largely to the exigencies of the country. In consid ering the amount of the new faxes which I have thought it necessary to lay before the committee, I have made no estimate of those which were created before Christmas, in the last budget, because in so short a time ail accurate estimate could not be taken : and I have therefore supposed in my present cal culation that they will be as produ&ive as I then stated at the* opening of that budget. New Taxes. I now proceed (laid Mr. Pitt) to enter upon that ti»plea'fant task which falls r« my lot, ,of propofmgto thecpmmitteethegeneraleutlines of such sources of taxation, is have appiared to me least objeftionabie,and best calculated to pro ducejthe means of meeting all the difficulties of our present situation. The Committee mutt | not suppose that there catj.be any taxes whate ver which will not be liable to many objections ; , but I triift that when th?y consider the necessity I as raising taxes to a certain amoiint, and of pro ! vidivig for unavoidable expenccs, they will agree j with me that those which flull appear to fall ; tnoft lightly upon all descriptions of people, | ought to be cfiafen in prefernce to any others'. ; 1 hope that.wKle the Committee meet the pro t poGtions Miave to make with a firm determing j tion to difculs them, they will also consider that I it ought to be their jirft nbjeA-to obtain eftW)u ja I taxes. Among the different branches which form, the objects of taxation in this courier", j there is one great source of productive rercnile ! exteiifive iri. its operation, not preffipg on any particular •delVription of psi fors, arid°l t a(t of ail iipOn Uie lower orders ofyeoplc, a mode of taxation, winch is fafe and expeditious in the' mode os-collecting it, and what is lliil we advantage. H~,,'will not require any additional expeiice either with 1 efpect so' hew officer, „„ increase of. fahry to those already emploj ed in performing ttat part of the-public service. Otis fourte of revenue is the general branch of the Stamp Duties, which for *h& last 15 ypars has b*en rapidly increasing ; arid has been do-.i bled since the last war. My genera! ofejedt in laying additional duties on this, va'.t branch of revenue, ts to make a diltiiictionbetwen diHerent artieles, some of which I shall tax in a greatT proportion than others while fame are to be ex empted altogether. The greatest addition is to be laid on thole which go under the general del nomination oi Consolidated Duties. These are of that deicription, where "stamps of the fame-, denomination hive been applied general!* to different kinds of jnftrumems. They include a variety of articles; The principal of these relate to the transfer of property, to deeds, ad judicatiocs, and proceedings in the eeclefiaftical vourts'. My objeA, &s I have juftobferved, is to fee what augmentation tuay take place by le yymg atax on thewholemafs of{|arrps. But it is my intention to exempt from the general tax all inftriimentsthat relate' fo law proceedings in courts of jullice. I know that an opinion has prevailed, andi witji Tome degree of jtoftice, that by taxing articles of this dffenptton, and by that means ericreafiiig thcexpcnce? of hw fuiti, the frequency of litigation between parties might in a grest meafurt-, be pi evented j but thi? rule is not 111 geiieraUi ire. li ihecaß, cf a tuit are. encreaCed-to .1 largeahiountV it may fall »ery heavy.on perfctisavbo onlyfoßght tortcc rer their property ; ,»Vl p. ificqhrrly-on several of the'lower clafli-sjif .lKe people, who are of ten under rhe necessity of appcaliMlo court* cf juilite-againfl thoft u-ho v. iuHi-I wiflj to fake ad- Hitir inability, and rcfaf? the pay ment of . debts Which nttty be due. I would alftf except from «*atiotTa!i probates of wills orider ee, t*in fiims ; nor dc»rtv«an to pro pOse any tax upon tegacici, eeeent du ty has bees laid u;ion them in another form 1 ; nirtler the' fameVlalb I aliooteiude po!t* cWof niluranee. On the general bulk, therr fore, of itajirjn, I Would in oj>olV, so" clause the -present araupwt, and'that vilf-nrViiijif, animal ; ly>..a fivm of 5-o,ocol. llut \ rfte'iH except ftpm ,th:s general pja«,. Xfcins i»I parchment w.hith have iietn f jtnprt 1 , iirfraM' doub ling the duty on, f fjuil prcpnfe, tliat-rhere Ccin has pafd a duty of 7s. au >ei:lit;pml dntv >.f only :«• fiiall be laid upon -it. From tie full.« inforfcatiou wKich I have received froii the dit feaern oiSisc* on this fubj«3, it I as appealed to rae, that this -is-the. best mode 6f taxing the ar tiele hi queilieii. and. that hy fwh means it will be equally productive with the other, taxes of fsrae definition. VVith to duties 00 transfers <j' pe'/ma! prop-t tj, where ftarrps may be necessary to give it validity, th(Te is 110 lofcjcil rt taxation wh.ich Ought more freely to -give a eontribif'ion tti the pub!i<? than that which mutt fall Jb Jigbtly On cvcrV individual who may happen to lie in poj&ffion of ample means todefny a charge that trujft,-iti such cir cumstances, U- comparatively trifting,- and no ways huitl»«nr..me to the individual who pays it- Os-er and atK>ve the duty npon this branch, f tr.ecc to propose- fotQe scale fcr tratifar, scccrd-
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