rose to complain of a gross misrepresentation made in the paper called "The Day," in the report of the speech of the hon. and learned gentleman who opened the debate last night, (Mr. Brougham.) The paragraph to which he alluded stated, "that no attempt was made by any one to deny the distress of the country, except by a member of that House, Mr. Marryat: that the hon. member had flatly and insultingly contradicted all the testimony of the other witnesses; and though a loyalist, and be- ginning his evidence by an attack on jacobinism, yet was evidently of that class which he now abused" The paragraph went on applying to him (Mr. Marryat), whatever the hon. and learned gentleman had imputed to the witness of whom he spoke. Before he said any thing respecting himself, he must say, that the severity of the invective was such as could not, in strict justice, be applied to the testimony of any witness before the committee. It had been said of a celebrated author, 'Nihil tetigit quod non ornavit;' it might also be said of the hon. and learned gentleman, that he ornamented and amplified whatever subject he undertook; and the statement had become, perhaps, still more decorated in passing through the hands of reporters and compositors. As to himself, it must be known to most gentlemen in that House, that he was utterly unconnected with the manufacturing districts to which the witness in question had belonged; and every man must do him the justice to say, that he had never ridiculed or insulted the miseries of the manufacturers, who might fairly be considered as the great props of the national trade and wealth: yet, though this justice would be done him in the House, the misrepresentation might do him much harm out of doors. Suppose he lived in the neighbourhood of any manufacturing place—for instance, Spitalfields; and the numerous workmen there had seen the statement, might not his personal safety, nay, his life, as well as that of his family, have been endangered? It was not from any vindictive motive that he brought forward this subject, but merely to do justice to himself. He was soon going to a manufacturing district, where part of his family resided, and where such a statement, uncontradicted, might produce to him very serious mischief. He should move that the printer of The Day do attend at the bar of the House.

said, the proper method was to give in the paper, that the paragraph might be read. It was put in and read accordingly. The Speaker then informed Mr. Marryat, that he might make his motion.

moved, That Thomas Knowles, the printer of The Day, do attend at the bar of the House on Friday next.

said, that could he have anticipated, that what fell from him yesterday would have given rise to this serious mistake, he should have been in- clined almost to have compounded with his duty, and have omitted the statement. The person to whose testimony he had alluded, it was hardly necessary to say, was not his hon. friend; it was a person who neither was, nor ever had been a member of that House. That newspaper account had other inaccuracies; in some places going beyond, in others falling short of his observations: yet he could not allow to have it said, that his had been an ornamented, fanciful, exaggerated description of the testimony of that man. He was the more disposed to make this remark, as some gentlemen on the other side had appeared disposed to cheer the assertion of the hon. gentleman on this point; particularly an hon. baronet, who, he was pretty sure was not present at the examination of the witness alluded to. He would observe merely, that the privileges of the House would be best preserved by mixing lenity with their animadversions: in the present instance, he was perfectly disinterested in making this remark, as he had been twice affronted by the Day newspaper; once in a misrepresentation of his speech, another time by a direct attack upon himself. Gentlemen should also consider the disadvantage under which reports of their debates were taken. (Cries of Order, order!) He would not press this, but begged gentlemen to reflect on all those circumstances of palliation which they could not be ignorant of, though it was unparliamentary to mention them.

said that it was scarcely necessary to mention that the expressions in question were not used by the hon. gentleman: he hoped that the hon. mover would be satisfied with this explanation.

, said, it was very hard that members should be so misrepresented: he had himself suffered this injury in his vote respecting the Duke of York.

said, that no stress ought to have been laid on expunged evidence.

had no wish to inflict any punishment on the printer, except, perhaps, that he should print the whole of his testimony, as the best contradiction to that unfounded paragraph. Whether, however, this were done or no, he called for no punishment, and begged to withdraw his motion.

asked, what good would be effected by calling the printer to the bar. He could merely say, what every body saw, that it was a mistake; nor would it be right to press the motion, now that the offended person expressed himself satisfied.

A division then took place:—For the Motion 110; Against it 116.—Majority 6, for not bringing up the printer.

moved for a return of the number of commissioned officers, prisoners of war in this country, on the 5th of June, 1810, 11, and 12, distinguishing those who had broken their parole, those who had escaped, and those who were retaken.

concurred in the propriety of the motion. A greater number of officers had latterly broken their parole, than was ever known in any former war. If they could not prevent this, he thought the names of the parties, who had thus forfeited the honour so highly prized by military men, ought to be held up to public detestation, for the purpose of deterring others from pursuing similar conduct.

was glad the noble lord approved of his motion. At the same time, he must observe, that the publication of the names would have very little effect. Those who could make up their minds to such an action, would not be deterred by any measure of the kind.

The motion was then agreed to.

said, that considerable conversation had taken place, prior to the death of the late Chancellor of the Exchequer, as to a legislative measure, for the relief of Dissenters. He had, in consequence, from time to time; waved a notice which he had given on the subject, that the determination of the members of government might be made known. To give the present ministry an opportunity of turning their attention to the subject, he would now postpone his motion, which stood for this day, to this day se'nnight.

having signified the consent of the crown to the passing of this Bill,

said, that he was exceedingly glad that the consent had been given, but he could not admit that it was necessary. He protested against the statement of an hon. gentleman (Mr. Courtenay) on a former day, and denied that any Speaker had refused to put a question because it had not received the crown's consent.

said, that the consent having been given he should not enter into the discussion. He desired the Journal of April, 1808, to be read, which was done accordingly.

The Bill was then passed.

spoke as follows:—I rise, Sir, in pursuance of the notice given by me on Monday last, availing myself of the indulgence which the Chancellor of the Exchequer has now afforded me, though I am well aware how much more important the subject is which he agreed to delay on my account, than any thing which I can have to communicate to the House. I must confess that in coming down to the House, about an hour ago, I rather felt something like an inauspicious omen at my entrance. How it came to be reported yesterday that I was taken desperately ill, I cannot in any way conjecture; but I certainly did feel not a little surprized when my hon. friends began to condole with my situation in a most alarming tone, and assumed a stare of affectionate surprise at my being well enough to come out. Now the fact is that I was very well yesterday; but I am so far from being well to day that I must on that account solicit the indulgence of the House; but I must have been labouring under a most severe indisposition, indeed, if I had allowed myself to neglect the vindication of my own character, and to be guilty of such a disrespect to the House, as not to redeem the pledge which I had so solemnly given.

In rising therefore on the present occasion, the House may be assured that I shall be as brief as possible in what I have to say, and that I shall consume but a small portion of their time. I have to confess that I shall solicit the attention of the House very much, to the consideration of circumstances connected with my own political life. This is a course which I intreat the House to believe I most unwillingly pursue. So long as I have had the honour to have a seat in this House, I think I may safely say this much of myself, that I have always had good sense and good taste enough not to be an egotist within these walls. And I am therefore the more induced to entertain a hope that the House will bear with me on the present occasion. In the course of what I have to state I mean to bring no charge of crimination forward against any individual, but merely to confine myself to refute the calumnies which have appeared in a certain publication, which, except for certain reasons, I should now scorn to hold in my hands. If these calumnies, which are evidently levelled at me, had appeared in an ordinary paper, I would not now say any thing on the subject, or be disposed to take the smallest notice of them: for never was any man more a friend to the liberty, nay, I will even say, to the licence of the press than myself. But when I have seen these calumnies in a publication well known to be closely connected with those persons who call themselves my political friends, I cannot bring myself to consider them as the ordinary libels of the day.—In this publication I have been stated to be the chief actor, the notable promoter of all that secret and underhand influence which it is said prevented the formation of a new ministry, and I am held up as the creator and framer of the present administration. In complaining of such language, I do not mean to impute it to my hon. friends; but I will venture to say, they are little aware how much they really owe to me for the part I have acted. The right hon. and hon. gentlemen opposite know better; and I am sure I shall not lessen myself in their estimation when I declare, that had my counsels prevailed, not one of them would have been this day in office. In order to shew my hon. friends and the House, that I am not one of a cabal who have had recourse to artful means to procure the reappointment of the present ministry, I shall proceed to mention the nature of the influence which I am stated to have with the great and exalted personage, the calumnies which are perpetually vented against whom wound me deeper than any which are levelled against myself. I will not attempt to disguise to the House, the honour I feel in the uninterrupted confidence reposed in me by that exalted personage, and the continual intercourse between us. But I will say this, that if at any moment I should have attempted to take advantage of that confidence, and that intercourse, for the purpose of advising him, when I knew that he had responsible advisers to whom that office belonged, I am persuaded I should have met with the severest reprobation from that illustrious person himself. I will not attempt to disguise, that no man living has had more opportunities of knowing most intimately that illustrious person than myself; but it is only known to him, and to the Omniscient Searcher of Hearts, whether I have merited or preserved that confidence by acts of sycophancy or servility. I know well, however, and I will boldly assert, that if ever there was a Prince who wished to be surrounded with advisers possessed of sincerity, the illustrious person in question is the man. I wish the House, I wish the country knew his heart as well as myself; for then I am sure the unmannerly, the base and most ungenerous scurrility which we have so often witnessed, would never have been uttered, or if uttered, would have been universally received with the scorn which it merited. I have differed from him at times in opinion, and I have differed from the party with which I am connected because I loved what I conceived to be the welfare of my country, better than the approbation of either. If I have differed from him, I found a reward in the confidence reposed in me by my country. If I had lost his confidence for exercising what I considered to be my duty, I would even have risked it. If I had lost it, I should have lost what I should always have deeply lamented; and he would have lost, what I pray God he might soon repair, a man devoted with his whole heart and soul to himself,—and to his honour and glory, and not to his station. In thus adverting to my intercourse with the Prince, I am perfectly aware how unparliamentary it is to make any direct allusion to the conduct or character of that personage in parliament. The reflections which have been cast upon me respecting the seat which I have the honour to hold in this House, might in my opinion have been as well repressed. I do not throw out the slightest suspicion that those of my own party were the persons who attacked, or were accessary to the attacks which have been made upon me. This might easily have happened without their knowledge or approbation, and might have originated in a desire of the writer to enter into what he might have mistaken to be the views of his party. When I went to Staffordshire lately to see my old friends of 32 years standing, they might then have easily thought that I was not likely to act the part of a sycophant for the sake of a seat in the House.

The income which I derive from the bounty of the Prince, which is the only thing I have—[Here Mr. Sheridan appeared somewhat agitated]—I shall explain to the House how I came to receive it. On the death of lord Elliot, when the office of receiver general of the duchy of Cornwall became vacant, the attorney general, Mr. Adam, and a number of other learned gentlemen, some of whom are now in the House, who were then consulted, agreed in thinking that lord Lake could not accept the situation when he was absent from this country, and it was then proposed that I should take it. I apprised his brother, in the presence of the duke of York, that if I took it, I should immediately resign it on lord Lake's return; and accordingly I did resign it when he returned. When he died, the Prince was pleased to give it to me by letters patent for my life, in the same manner as it had been given to lord Lake. I state these things to shew that his Royal Highness is entitled to all the gratitude, and all the attachment which it is in my power to display.

Notwithstanding this fair statement of my own independent principles, it will, perhaps, be continued to be said that I have joined in intriguing cabals, for the purpose of poisoning his Royal Highness's ear. Now I have to state that I have spoken to his Royal Highness only once within the last two months, which I did with his own permission. I purposely abstained from having any communication with his Royal Highness from a feeling of dutiful respect; and I had only one audience since I came back from Stafford, which I requested for the purpose of explaining my motives for going to Stafford. His Royal Highness was then pleased to ask my opinion with respect to the negociations that were going on; and I gave him my opinion; and I most devoutly wish that that opinion could be published to the world, that it might serve to shame those who now belie me. With respect to the cabal which has been stated to exist, I wish to say a few words. I have little or no acquaintance with the marquis of Hertford; and I have been only twice in his house in the whole course of my life. One of the times was just before the period of Mr. Fox's death; and the other time was on the occasion of the marchioness's party. Had I been intimate at Manchester-square, I should not be so unmanly as to shrink from at once openly avowing it. But with respect to the vice-chamberlain, I have been in the continual habit of meeting with him at a variety of places in different social circles; but I believe no two men who have been so often together, ever conversed less on political subjects than my noble friend and myself.

And now having shovelled away a great part of that rubbish of secret influence, about which so much has been said, I shall advert to what has been said in this House on a late occasion. My noble friend opposite has described me as a principal person in carrying on the late negociation. I will at once state to the House how far I merit the character of a negociator which has thus been bestowed on me. If I had put on a grave reserve, and pretended a mysterious ignorance of all that was going on, I should have been guilty of the most coxcombical affectation. I did know what was going on. But how did I come to know it? Did I know it from Carlton-house? Did I know it from the houshold? By no means. But I knew it from the marquis Wellesley, who did me the honour to call in his carriage on me at my own house, in the face of day, on the morning on which he was authorized by the Prince Regent to form an administration, for the purpose of shewing me the written terms which he proposed to offer. I knew by the noble marquis coming again to me about an hour afterwards, offering me a situation in his arrangements, when he received from me a most disinterested denial of accepting of any official situation. I knew afterwards from a noble earl, whom I shall always love and honour for his worth, his greatness of mind, his nobleness of disposition, for every thing which is the boast and pride of man, I mean the earl of Moira. The publication charges me with artful and insidious attempts to inflame the mind of the Prince against the two noble lords, who were called upon to form a part of the new administration; and against one of them in particular; which accusation the writer, however, very sillily and weakly supports. I do assert that the whole is not only a most gross and audacious falshood, but I say, that my conduct has been directly the contrary of what has been imputed to me. No man ever laboured more to remove prejudices which were entertained, and to conciliate good will towards the noble individual alluded to, than myself. I appeal for the truth of what I assert, to what consists with the knowledge of my worthy friend, the hon. gentleman who now sits beside me, (Mr. Whitbread.)

When it was decided that an administration should be formed, without any ex- clusions having been previously stipulated, I did then, as a privy counsellor, address a letter to his Royal Highness on the magnanimity and wisdom with which he had acted. I contend, that the Prince Regent has as much right to call upon me for my advice as a privy counsellor, as to call upon any great lord for his; and that I am as responsible for the advice which I may so give.

I shall now pass to that which has been most dwelt upon as the grand charge against me, that of a supposed conversation between me and a noble lord, a conversation presumed to be confirmed by the five thousand guinea, or five hundred thousand guinea (it does not signify which) bet of my right hon. friend, to which I shall pay my respects by and bye. The charge against me is, that I endeavoured to establish the present administration by baffling lords Wellesley and Moira, in their efforts to form another. An accusation more foolishly false was never made in this world. In adverting to this subject, I mean to abstain wholly from the question of the merits or the demerits of my lords Grey and Grenville, in the stand which they thought it necessary to make against the houshold. That will be discussed in another place; but I could not help, like every other man, forming an opinion upon it, and that opinion was decidedly this—that at a moment like the present, when all the great points were conceded to them, when they had an opportunity of saving the country perhaps, when the great point of all, and that which must ever be nearest to my heart—I mean the Catholics of Ireland, was at their disposal—when they might probably have rescued us from a war with America—when they might have pursued successfully the object of economical reform, and when, too, they would have had an opportunity of quieting the differences that now distract the country, I did not think it possible they could set up against such opportunities of public good, and incalculable service, that they wanted three white sticks removed! Such was my opinion—and was my opinion concealed? No! I understood that it was likely such a stand would be made by the noble lords, and I had my opinions conveyed to them through the only channel by which I was sure they would be temperately and candidly and accurately communicated, I mean by lord Kinnaird. There was this distinction too, drawn by some persons; that there were many who might regret the pledge given by one of the noble lords, but that being given, it was impossible he could act otherwise than he did. On that subject I will not say a word. Lord Grey is, and ought to be the guardian of his own honour, and must best know what belongs to the preservation of that honour. I was sorry that such a pledge had been given; yet I hoped it might be obviated. I always thought indeed that the report of it had been exaggerated; but it has been since related to me, in a way that leaves me no room for doubt upon the subject. I should be sorry if the question were put to me, whether a friend of mine, having given a pledge of that description, could evade it; but were I pressed upon the subject, I should certainly say that he could not, without great difficulty, maintain his honour and not redeem his pledge.

The noble earl, I understand, was of opinion, that if certain persons came into office the present officers of the houshold were bound to resign. This I think came precisely to the same thing as discharging them; for I trust there is not a man in the House, who would come into the shabby juggle which it would be, to say, that allowing them 8 or 10 minutes to walk off with their white sticks would be any thing short of discharging them; but I disliked as much the idea of the household resigning upon the formation of a new cabinet, as I did that of a new cabinet conditioning for the exclusion of the houshold. I had nothing to do, therefore, but to express my disapprobation to the noble lord; our conversation terminated however in my saying that—

[Here Mr. Sheridan, who, towards the latter part of his statement, had frequently paused from apparent indisposition, appeared so ill and so much exhausted, that he could not proceed. He raised his hand to his forehead, and stood silent for some moments. The House called upon him to sit down. He accordingly resumed his seat, and a glass of water was brought to him, which appeared to relieve him considerably, and he again rose.]

I had this frank conversation with the noble lord; I did state to him, that I thought they were committing the same fault as the projected cabinet itself, because of the imputation which their resignation would necessarily cast upon the government.—The story of the noble lord having given way to my exhortation is wholly unfounded; and our conversation, which by the bye did not originate with me, ended in my saying, 'well I believe you are right after all.'

[Here Mr. Sheridan was again unable to proceed. His voice faltered before he ceased to speak the last time, and he was more than once wholly inaudible.]

submitted it to the delicacy and feelings of the House, if it could be proper to proceed with the discussion. He thought it must be felt to be more convenient to postpone it, and accordingly moved to postpone it to Friday.

faintly nodded assent, but did not speak.

The question was then put and carried, and the discussion was postponed to Friday.

enquired, whether it was the intention of government to proceed with the Mary-le-bone Barracks, in the manner formerly stated? On this subject he had given notice of a motion, which he did not wish to renew till he heard the determination of government.

said, it was not the intention of government to press the vote of 90,000l. at present, and the subject would undergo fresh consideration.

enquired, what was intended to be done with respect to the projected Barracks at Liverpool and Bristol?

reminded the hon. and learned gentleman, that the sum of 90,000l. covered them all.

, [the right hon. Nicholas Vansittart] declared, that he could not rise to perform the duty which that day imposed upon him, without feeling sensations unusually painful at the recollection of the singular situation in which he was placed, and the remembrance of the lamented individual whom he that day represented. Considering in whose place he stood, whose papers he held in his hands, and whose plans he was about to state to the House, he felt rather that he was executing the last of the official duties of his lamented friend, than the first of his own. Happy should he think himself if he could, at the close of the day, resign those papers again into his hands, after supplying his place upon a mere occasional absence; but happier still, if he could inherit his talents and virtues, and close a life of public service with the same testimonies of public approbation, and equal consciousness of unblemished integrity.

Under these peculiar circumstances, the committee would not expect him to do more, than to state as briefly as possible what, with the exception of a few particulars, which he would point out when he came to them, was the intended budget of their departed friend.

He should, in the first instance, recapitulate the charges of the present year, and then proceed to the statement of the Ways and Means by which it was proposed that those charges should be defrayed.

The whole amount of the supplies was already within the knowledge of the committee, having, except a few inconsiderable votes for miscellaneous services, been agreed to by the House. It certainly was an enormous, he might even say, a terrible extent of charge; but he had the consolation to reflect that, great as it was, the resources of the country were still equal to support it.

On a reference to the papers on the table, it would appear that, for the navy, exclusive of ordnance for the sea service, the sum voted was 19,702,399l.:—for the army, including barracks and commissariat, and the military service of Ireland, 17,756,160l.;—an additional vote of 90,000l. for the barrack department had been agreed to by the House; but the treasury had determined to strike off this sum, and diminish the grant in the appropriation act by that amount. This diminution of charge proceeded from a resolution to postpone the execution of the projected barracks at Mary-le-bone park, and at Bristol and Liverpool. He begged to be distinctly understood on this part of the subject; he by no means meant to insinuate any disapprobation of the plan for the erection of those barracks, on the contrary he thought it probable that a considerable part at least of the plans which had been sanctioned by the votes of the House would be ultimately carried into effect; but his noble friend at the head of the treasury board and he had not sufficiently considered the subject to be able to give a decided opinion upon it, and they had determined not to make themselves responsible for works of great magnitude, and of no immediate necessity, without full consideration. (Hear, hear, from the Opposition benches). Did then the gentlemen opposite think one short and stormy week was ample time for such a consideration? Or did they disapprove of the resolution of government to enquire minutely into the expenditure of the country?

The extraordinaries of the army incurred last year, beyond the sum granted, amounted to 2,300,000l. besides which there had been voted for the present year 5,000,000l. for Great Britain, and 200,000l. for Ireland.

For the ordnance, including Ireland, 5,279,897l.

The miscellaneous services, including a few sums not yet proposed to parliament, and 400,000l. for the Irish permanent grants, might be taken at 2,350,000l.

It was also intended to propose a vote of credit of 3,000,000l. for Great Britain, and 200,000l. for Ireland. The subsidies granted in the present year were nearly the same as those of the last, being for Sicily 400,000l. and for Portugal 2,000,000l.

These several items would therefore Stand as follows:

To these sums must be added 100,292l. for repayment of so much of the Loyalty Loan as had been claimed in the proper form by the holders, and 1,700,000l. voted for interest on exchequer bills, being equal to the amount actually paid on that account in the preceding year; it was also proposed that the amount of Exchequer bills to be issued on the aids of the next year should be less by 2,387,600l. than those which had been circulated in the year preceding. He felt himself bound to state that this arrangement, which formed part of the intended plan of his late right hon. friend, had been Suggested to him by the directors of the Bank of England, who thought that the circulation of exchequer bills had been carried to too great an extent; and this suggestion sufficiently proved that the directors of the Bank were not actuated by that desire which was so often and so unjustly attributed to them, of increasing the gains of their corporation by an unlimited extent of paper currency.

The three items which he had last named, amounting to 4,187,892l. constituted the separate charge of Great Britain, and when added to the sum of 58,188,456l. which was the total of the supplies he had before stated, made the general amount of 62,376,348l. From this was to be deducted the Irish proportion of joint charge, amounting to 6,845,700l. and the Irish proportion of the civil list and charges on the consolidated fund, being about 180,000l. and making together 7,025,700l.

The result was that the total of the supplies to be provided for by Great Britain, was 55,350,648l.

The way in which he proposed to meet this charge, enormous as it appeared to be, was as follows.

The annual duties were taken, as usual, at 3,000,000l.; the surplus of the consolidated fund, estimated on grounds which he should presently explain, 3,600,000l.; the war taxes, which he should also explain, might, including the property tax, be taken at 20,400,000l.; the lottery 300,000l.; the loan in the 5 per cent annuities contributed by the subscribers of exchequer bills in the spring of the present year, 6,789,625l.; exchequer bills intended to be issued on the vote of credit 3,000,000l.; and he should observe that this last sum would make no addition to the unfunded debt, an equal sum granted on the vote of credit of the last year, having been funded and not replaced by any fresh issue; the old naval stores which since the recommendation of the committee on public expenditure, had been carried to the public account, would produce 441,218l.

The next item would be the surplus of ways and means of last year, amounting to 2,209,626l.; but it would be necessary for him shortly to explain in what manner this surplus arose. Considerable sums had been granted in the year 1811 in exchequer bills charged upon the aids of that year. Of there, together with other exchequer bills, about 5,500,000l. had been funded in the spring, and a part of the aids of the year 1811, which had been appropriated to the repayment of these bills, had been thus set free and was applicable to the service of the present year, amounting, after the deduction of a small deficiency of ways and means of 1811, which existed previously to such funding, as stated in the disposition paper before the House, to the suns he had mentioned of 2,209,626l.

The only article of ways and means which it remained for him to enumerate, was the loan contracted on the preceding day of 15,650,000l.

The various items would, therefore, stand as follows:

The ways and means exceeded the supplies about 40,000l.

He would now return to the mode in which the amount of the surplus of the consolidated fund, and of the war taxes, had been calculated.

The surplus of the consolidated fund had been estimated upon the average produce of the principal branches of the revenue in the last three years, adding thereto so much as was necessary to com- plete the estimate of the yearly receipt of the permanent duties imposed in the last session. The average produce of the customs in that period, with the addition he had mentioned, was 5,106,000l.; of the excise 18,188,000l.; of the assessed taxes 5,999,000l.; of the stamps 5,191,000l.; and of the post office 1,240,000l. To these principal branches of revenue were to be added other funds of a less considerable, but, generally, of a less fluctuating nature. Of these the principal was the land tax remaining unredeemed, amounting to 1,035,000l; there were also the duty on pensions and personal estates, which would produce 141,000l.; the surplus of exchequer fees about 60,000l.; the crown lands about 50,000l.; and some other small branches of revenue, producing together about 246,000l.; and making, together with the greater branches of revenue before stated, in the whole, 37,262,000l.; to which adding 2,706,000l. of war taxes appropriated to the consolidated fund; the total income of that fund would be 39,958,000l.; from which deducting the charge as it stood previously to the loans of the present year, amounting to 34,504,000l. there would remain a gross surplus of 5,454,000l. From this was first to be deducted the additional charge created by the loans of the present year, amounting to 1,906,000l.; but against this charge should be set the expected produce of the taxes of the present year, which, to the 5th of April 1813, might be estimated at 951,500l., deducting which sum, there would remain 954,500l. to be deducted from the surplus he had stated of 5,454,000l., leaving a net surplus of 4,499,500l. Before this sum could be applied to the service of the year, the sum of 927,000l. which still remained due upon, the grant of the preceding year, must however be made good. The remainder which would be applicable to the service of the present year, would therefore be 3,572,500l. He should accordingly propose a vote of 3,600,000l. as being the nearest round number.

He was aware that it might probably be thought unfair to estimate the produce of the revenue for the present year, upon the average of the three last, as it might be stated that the revenue was gradually declining. This, however, upon an examination of the accounts, would not appear to be the fact. The total produce of all the duties in the quarter ending the 5th of July 1811, fell considerably short, even to the amount of 760,000l. of the quarter ending the 5th of July 1810. The quarter ending the 10th of October 1811, fell short, by 469,000l. of the corresponding quarter in 1810; but the quarter ending the 5th of January 1812 exceeded the quarter ending the 5th of January 1811, by 31,000l; and the quarter ending the 5th of April 1812 exceeded the corresponding quarter in 1811 by no less than 463,000l. a sum much surpassing any increase which the new duties could have occasioned in that quarter, and which sufficiently proved that the revenue was, upon the whole, in an improving state.

He had formed the estimate of the war taxes, in a similar manner, upon the average, of the three years, ending the 5th of April, 1812. The war duties of customs and excise amounted, upon such an average, to 9,502,965l. to which were to be added 38,600l. for the further expected produce of the duties imposed in the last year, and 500,000l. which remained due from the East India Company, on account of tea duties, making, in the whole, of custom and excise duties, 10,041,565l. Of the property tax there remained due on the 5th of April 1812, on the assessments of preceding years, 8,515,000l. to which was to be added the estimated assessment of the present year, which, supposing it to be equal to the assessment of the last year, would be 12,200,000l., making together 20,715,000l. From this was to be deducted the sum still remaining due to make good the grant on the war taxes for 1811, being 7,660,000l.; which would leave, for the service of the present year, 13,055,000l. and adding that sum to the amount of customs and excise, there would be a total of war taxes of 23,096,000l. From this was to be taken 2,706,000l. appropriated to the charge of various loans, which would leave for the ways and means of the present year, 20,390,000l. a sum approaching very nearly to that of 20,400,000l. which he proposed to vote.

It now remained that he should explain the conditions of the loan which had been contracted, and he had to regret that the present situation of the country did not enable him to congratulate the House on so advantageous a bargain as some which had of late years been stated to them. The sum raised on account of Great Britain by the loan concluded the preceding day, was 15,650,000l. The capital created on account of this sum was 27,544,000l. 3 per cent. stock. The amount of interest 826,320l. and of sinking fund and management 283,500l. making in all a charge of 1,110,023l. The rate of interest to the subscribers would be 5l. 5s. 7d. per cent, and the total charge to the public 7l. 1s. 10¼d. This might appear a high rate of interest, but it should be remembered that, including the former loan in the 5l. per cents and the exchequer bills funded, the sum borrowed in the present year had rarely been equalled, and he believed so large a sum had never been raised on better terms in any other period of war. Indeed he feared that the contractors for the loan had snore reason to complain of having been hardly dealt by than the public. He should feel happy if the bargain should hereafter prove more profitable to them that it had hitherto promised. Such an improvement of the public credit would be hailed with the greatest satisfaction by his Majesty's ministers.

He must now revert to the former loan, and the funding of exchequer bills; the terms of which having been explained at the proper season by his predecessor, he should only recapitulate with a view of pointing out the amount of charge for which it would be his duty to provide. The exchequer bills funded and the 5l. per cent loan, amounted together to 12,221,325l. making in 5l. per cent stock, a capital of 13,199,031l. the interest of which was 659,951l. and the sinking fund 131,990l. making together with the charge for management 795,901l. The rate of interest on this sum was 5l. 8s. and the total charge 6l. 10s. 2¾d. per cent. The charge to the public, on the whole money transactions of the year, so far as they respected the funded debt, was 6l. 16s. 9d. per cent, and the total amount to be provided for 1,905,924l.

He now came to a most important, but certainly the most painful part of his duty; that of proposing taxes by which so large a sum was to be defrayed. It was the more unpleasant to him, as he had felt it necessary, in this part of the arrangement, to make a considerable deviation from the plan of his predecessor. Such a task afforded only an option of difficulties and inconveniencies, and he could, at best, only hope that he had selected such as were least objectionable.

The first article he had to propose was indeed one which appeared to him liable to very little objection, for it was in fact a tax which would fall upon nobody, (A laugh.) Gentlemen might smile, but if it was in other respects unobjectionable, he trusted it would not be censured on that account. His proposition was to discontinue the bounty on the exportation of printed goods. This bounty had grown from a small charge to a very large one, amounting upon an average of the last three years, to the sum of 308,000l. a circumstance in one respect highly satisfactory, as it showed the great increase which had taken place in the exportation of those goods, but which also showed at once that the necessity of granting a bounty to encourage this exportation had ceased, and that a considerable resource might be derived from its suppression. The printed goods in question, from the improvement of the manufactures and the extensive use of machinery, could now be afforded much cheaper without the bounty, that they used formerly to be, even with its assistance.

The present state of the world with respect to commerce was peculiarly favourable to the discontinuance of the bounty system. Wherever British manufactures were permitted to enter, their superiority was universally acknowledged; where they did not find their way, it was not on account of their dearness or inferior quality, but because they were excluded by rigorous prohibitions. Whenever these might cease, the country might again expect to see the British manufactures spreading themselves over the continent without the assistance of bounties. That which it was now proposed to discontinue, amounted to no more than one halfpenny a yard on printed goods of the lowest quality, and three halfpence a yard on the highest; an amount much within the ordinary fluctuations of price from accidental causes, and the loss of which could not operate as any discouragement to trade. To him, therefore, this proposition appeared free from all reasonable objection. His task would have been easy if he could have flattered himself that what he had still to propose was equally unobjectionable; but of the remainder of his plan he could only, as he had said before, indulge the hope that, in the choice of evils, he had selected the least.

To the first which he had to propose he felt that it might be reasonably objected that it would, in a certain degree, affect the comforts of the poor; he hoped, however, the burden would be as small as could be expected from a tax producing a considerable increase of revenue. The article to which he alluded was that of tanned Hides and Skins. That it would, in some degree, fall on the poor, by affecting the necessary article of their shoes, he had already admitted, but in other respects, it appeared to him a very fit object of taxation. In the long list of our taxes it was almost the only one on which no additional duty had been laid for a great number of years. The present duties had been imposed so long ago as the years 1709, and 1711, and when he now proposed, after the lapse of a whole century, to double them, he could not consider himself as laying upon the people of this country a heavier burden than their ancestors had borne with reference to the general enhancement of prices, and the proportions they bore to the earnings and incomes of individuals. Another recommendation of this tax on leather, on the present occasion, was the cheap and plentiful supply of the raw material which had, of late years, been introduced from South America, This supply had been estimated as equal to one third of the whole manufacture, and had occasioned a very considerable increase of it, both for home consumption and for exportation. Calculating upon an average of the produce of the present duty for the last three years, the additional duty may be expected to produce 325,000l. a year.

The next article which he should propose was also an Excise Duty. It was that of Glass. This duty had been considerably increased in the year 1805, but after an extensive enquiry among the manufacturers, Mr. Perceval had been convinced that an additional tax equal to the present, would not be injurious to the trade. It was not, indeed, probable that the consumption of this country would be lessened by the increase of price which this duty would occasion, as glass was an article very little in use among the lower classes of society; and this was, so far as he could understand, the opinion of the manufacturers themselves, provided they were protected against foreign competition, by sufficient duties on importation, and by proper drawbacks on exportation. The produce of this tax, calculating, as before, on the average of the last three years, would be 328,000l.

The next proposition which he wished to make to the committee was to add a duty, equivalent to ten per cent. on those now existing, on Tobacco, an article of extensive, yet of luxurious rather than necessary use, and one which afforded the best criterion of its ability to bear an additional tax, namely, that the consumption of it went on progressively increasing under the present duties. He did not see any reason to believe that this proposed addition would either diminish the consumption or materially increase the frauds upon this article; and estimating the produce on an average similar to those of the former articles, he should take it at 107,000l.

His next proposition would be, not for a tax absolutely new, but for a certain regulation of the duty on property sold by auction. It was well known to the committee that estates or other kinds of property were frequently put up to auction, not for the purpose of a fair sale, but of ascertaining their value with a view to a private bargain. They were then bought in, by which the duty was avoided; and afterwards disposed of by private contract, at a price founded upon the biddings which had taken place. It was his wish, as it certainly had been the intention of the legislature, that all persons who obtained the benefit of the competition arising in a public sale, should be subject to the charge which had been imposed upon that advantage. It was, therefore, his intention to propose that property put up to auction should be charged with the duty, whether actually sold or bought in; but that, in case it should appear, at the end of twelve months, to continue to belong to its original owner, the duty should be repaid. In property of large amount it might indeed be reasonable that the owner should, instead of paying down the duty in the first instance, be permitted to give security for it, and regulations to this effect might be introduced in the Bill. It was also well known that many articles, particularly imported merchandize, were exempted from the duty, although sold by public auction. He understood it was a common practice to mingle in sales such privileged goods with those which were not privileged; by which means frauds on the revenue were frequently practised. He should therefore propose that when any goods liable to duty were introduced into a sale of goods which were exempted from it, the whole should be immediately rendered chargeable with the duty. The committee were aware that, from the nature of the case, nothing like an accurate estimate could be formed of the produce of these regulations. On a due consideration of all the circumstances of the case, Mr. Perceval had thought that it would not be over-stated at 100,000l. and he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) saw no reason to form a different opinion.

The articles which he had hitherto enumerated, except the bounty on printed goods, were all duties of excise. The next branch of the revenue to which he should resort, was one which he should have been glad to avoid, if the largeness of the total sum to be raised had not rendered it necessary to diffuse the burden as extensively as possible. It was on the postage of letters.—He should recommend an addition of a penny on every single letter carried more than twenty miles, whether from the metropolis or the provincial post offices. He certainly regretted the necessity of increasing this tax, which operated as a considerable charge on commercial correspondence; yet, when he considered the satisfaction and convenience derived from the establishment of the post office, and the progressive increase of correspondence throughout the country, he really believed that he could suggest no duty which, on the whole, would be paid with less reluctance. This proposed increase might be estimated, according to the present extent of correspondence, at 220,000l.

All the articles which he had hitherto submitted to the consideration of the committee, were such as had been selected by his late right hon. friend, and would have formed part of the plan which he would have proposed to parliament. The remainder of the budget would, according to his intention, have been supplied by a tax on private brewing. The committee would recollect that, in the year 1806, when a noble lord, now a member of the other House (the marquis of Lansdowne) held the office which he had now the honour to fill, that noble lord had suggested a similar tax, which was strongly opposed, principally on the ground of its bringing private families under the jurisdiction of the excise; an objection, the full force of which he should have admitted, if the means had not been afforded of avoiding that jurisdiction by an easy commutation, upon the principle of the assessed taxes. The plan of his late right hon. friend was, indeed, free from the objection which he had stated, as it had no reference to the excise, but proceeded upon the principle of a rate, according to the number of each family; to the proposition so modified, he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) still however thought he saw an insuperable objection. In the first place, he had reason to believe that the produce of the intended duty, taken at the rate of five shillings a head, which he understood to be the proposed assessment, had been greatly miscalculated, and that, instead of 500,000l. which was the suns required, it would only produce 250,000l. or at the most 300,000l. But he felt a still stronger objection to the tax in its unequal operation on the poorer classes. A poor man would only brew the exact quantity required for the consumption of his family, calculated upon the most frugal rate; while a rich man would provide for the entertainments of many visitors, and for the much more liberal consumption of his houshold. The consequence, therefore, would be, that the tax being taken at an equal rate upon each person in the family, the poor man would pay upon each barrel of a much inferior liquor, a higher rate of duty than the rich would be charged with, for the best which could be prepared.

Upon the whole, therefore, he had judged it advisable to abandon this tax, and to propose a moderate addition on the scale of several of the assessed taxes. He knew that a proposition for the increase of the assessed taxes could not fail to excite some alarm; but that branch of the revenue comprehended duties of very different kinds. The duties upon houses and windows, in particular, he considered as the most burdensome to which the country was exposed, and to those duties he proposed to add nothing. But there were others which had an operation similar to that of sumptuary laws, and which, arising out of a voluntary expenditure, might Remit of a reasonable increase, without much objection.—In this class he included the duties on men servants, carriages, horses, dogs, and the sports of the field; and these would be the objects of his intended increase of duties. As the proposed scale would in a few days be printed and in every gentleman's hands, he should not take up the time of the committee by a minute detail; but point out the leading article in each class, by which a judgment might be formed. The existing duty on a person keeping one male servant was 2l. 4s. He proposed to add four shillings, making the duty 2l. 8s. On occasional gardeners he should propose a similar duty of four shillings. Mercantile agents or riders to commercial houses now pay 1l. 8s. He proposed that they should pay 2l. On stewards and overseers, who had hitherto escaped notice, he should propose a similar rate of 2l. Porters employed by persons in trade now paid a duty of 1l. 4s. He proposed that they should pay 2l. and that the same rate should take place with respect to stage coachmen, and other drivers of carriages, except domestic servants and those engaged in husbandry. On occasional waiters, whether employed at taverns or at private houses, he should propose a duty of 1l. and this would remove a difficulty which he knew existed in the minds of many persons with respect to the propriety of including individuals of the last class, who perhaps had beets only employed for a small number of days in the year, as servants in their general returns to the tax office.

He should however propose that this duty should not attach on any attendant hired less than six times in the year, to avoid too great a pressure upon any occasional extraordinary hospitality.—Servants employed principally in agriculture, but sometimes for domestic purposes, now paid a duty of six shillings. He proposed that, like the occasional gardeners, they should pay four more. The whole amount of the increased duties on male servants he calculated at 155,000l.

He would proceed to the consideration of the duty on carriages. A single four wheeled carriage now paid 11l. 5s. He proposed that it should pay 12l. and so in proportion to the present progressive scale, for a larger number. The produce of this increase, and of a proportionate increase on two wheeled carriages would be 39,000l.—Horses kept for pleasure now paid a duty of 2l. 13s. 6d. He proposed an addition of 4s. making a duty of 2l. 17s. 6d.

He was next bound to state that he deemed it necessary to increase the duty upon horses employed in husbandry by 3s. 6d. each horse, and though he was aware that many objections were entertained to the principle of the tax, he thought the proposed additional rate could hardly be complained of. Upon horses employed for purposes of trade, which were generally of greater value, and productive of greater profit to their employer, he should propose an additional duty of 10s. Taken together, these additional duties may be estimated at 269,000l.

It was his intention to propose an increase in the same proportion, in the duty on dogs, except that, in consequence of recommendations which he had received from various quarters, he should propose a higher duty on greyhounds than on other dogs. The reasons for this recommendation were best known to sportsmen, and therefore many gentlemen in the House were better able to judge of it than himself, but it was obvious that the superior value of greyhounds, and the species of amusement which they afforded, might be considered as a sufficient reason for an augmented rate of duty. The increase of the tax on dogs might be estimated at 31,000l.

The last increase of assessed taxes which it was his intention to propose was on certificates to gamekeepers, namely, four shillings for gamekeepers who were also assessed as servants, and 10s. 6d. for persons who were not so assessed. This, he thought, would raise 21,000l.

The amount of these augmentations of the assessed taxes, he should therefore calculate at 515,000l.; and the whole of the proposed duties would stand as follows:

He was sure that it must be very satisfactory to the House and the public that, after the country had so often seemed to be upon the very point of having exhausted its resources, and after it had been so often stated that no fit subject for taxation remained, it still appeared practicable to provide with so little pressure on the people, and especially on the lower classes of the community, so large a sum as that of which he had just completed the details. It had been his intention, if the attention of the House had not been so completely exhausted, and if he had not himself laboured under an indisposition which made it painful to him to address them, to offer some general observations on the financial situation of the country; but under these circumstances, and having performed that part of his duty which he felt to be strictly necessary, he should now refrain from trespassing longer on their patience, and conclude by moving his first Resolution.

observed, that in the present circumstances of the country, he was decidedly of opinion that a more judicious selection of objects could not have been made, than that of his right hon. friend, who had stated his intentions with the utmost candour and explicitness.—When the plan should have undergone some modification in its future stages through the House, he had no doubt that it would be as acceptable as any measure of this character could be in the present state of the resources of the country. He would now, however, with the permission of the committee, call to their recollection a few of those observations which he had thought it his duty to make three sessions ago, and apply some of those facts and examples which subsequent experience had furnished in confirmation of his former reasonings. He had then stated as a general principle, that the only secure means to which the country could look, to enable it to support the arduous and protracted struggle in which it is engaged, was the adoption of every practicable measure of retrenching its expenditure and equalizing it with its income. He had added, that the then existing system of loans and war taxes could not be continued for any great length of time. What had recent changes and events tended to establish? In 1810, the amount of debt funded was upwards of 16 millions; in 1811, 19,500,000l.; and now in 1812, to 27,870,000l. The state of the public funds at these different periods, corresponded with the increasing demands, and strongly countenanced those apprehensions which he had entertained. The 3 per cent. consols were in 1810, at the time of contracting for the loan, at 70; in 1811, at 65; and in 1812, at 56. The charge of the loan had risen from 6l. 4s. 7l. 4s. To provide for the increased expences under which the nation laboured, the ordinary resources of taxation were not adopted; and the mode pursued in 1810 was one which he could not either then or now approve of, namely, that of interfering with the surplus of the consolidated fund. In 1811 it might be said, that the new taxes were not only adequate to the charges of the year, but that a surplus had arisen from them, capable of discharging the interest of the whole Irish loan. He took shame to himself when he stated, that it was only two days ago that he called for accounts to shew the actual produce of these taxes. An addition was made of 20 per cent. to the taxes on British spirits, and of 12 and a half per cent. on foreign spirits, but he was sure that neither of these would be looked upon as of a permanent nature. If ever they looked to the restoration of peace, they must see that the continuance of such duties could only operate to increase the profits of smugglers, and deprave the morals of the people. The duty on foreign timber imposed in the preceding year, was intended as a discouragement to the importation, and certainly in that sense it was completely successful, but in the same proportion it was injurious to the revenue, yet the calculation on its produce was made without any reference to such a result. In the present year they returned to the ordinary resources, but the very expedient they were driven to before, was in itself a proof of the inadequacy of such resources; this was the first time during the last six years in which any thing like a new taxation was attempted. We had recently taken upon ourselves the provision for paying the interest of the Irish loan, but this provision appeared to be entirely forgotten, unless the Chancellor of the Exchequer for Ireland had included it in his budget. He would proceed to what appeared to him to be the most important part of the subject, and which consequently required from government the most anxious and unceasing attention; he meant the state of the public credit, which had been so much depressed by the heavy demands upon it. The addition to the funded debt of 1810, created a stock of not quite 25 millions and a half, and in 1811 of not quite 28 millions and a half, and even this augmentation had the effect of lowering the funds from 70 to between 50 and 60. The capital stock of the present year, however, to be added to the public debt, was not less than 52 millions, amounting nearly to the whole increase of two years preced- ing. To what then might we not expect that the price of the funds would shortly be reduced, and what serious consideration did not this momentous subject require from those who had the management of the finances of the empire!—This depression of the public credit, which naturally created such alarm with all thinking men, had not arisen from any national disasters that we had sustained, but it had taken place at a time when the affairs of the state had been conducted with almost unexampled success, and in the face of a sinking fund, of not less than fourteen millions. The terms of the loan that had this year been contracted for, were less favourable than any that had been obtained since 1798: the war taxes then produced little more than four millions, and the sinking fund was in its infancy, not amounting to more than one hundredth part of the national debt; whereas, now it had ascended to an importance which authorised the most sanguine hopes as, to its ultimate effects, since it was more than one forty-sixth part of the national debt. In noticing this subject, he could not, in too strong terms, point out to the committee the impolicy of raising money for the public service at such a disadvantageous rate of interest, and it appeared to him that it would be far better to obtain it by general taxes, which would in the end affect the people in a much less degree. This was another reason for attempting by a change of system, if necessary, to invigorate the present debilitated condition of the public credit of the country, particularly at a period when even the necessary demands upon it were so extensive.

He trusted that the committee would allow him to point out a few extraneous circumstances which had caused this depression, and which, if duly attended to, might produce considerable relief. The most important of these was, the extent to which it had been thought necessary, at the sacrifice of our own, to support the credit of Ireland. It was a matter that required immediate investigation, because it might be deemed one of the roots of the evil. What was the condition of the sister kingdom in the year 1812? Last year the interest upon her debt was 4,400,000l. exceeding by half a million the whole amount of her revenue; so that in fact, she had no revenue at all which was productive of benefit to the kingdom in general. Since the Union, in the course of 12 years, the addition made to her pub- lic debt, was 68,500,000l. the interest upon which was 3,190,000l. and the increased revenue intended to provide for the payment of that interest, did not exceed 1,370,000l. This was the actual condition of her financial concerns since the Union; so that, year after year, they had been gradually proceeding from bad to worse, nor did it appear that they were now in a train to amend. The increase of the charge for the management of the revenue was not less singular. Before the Union it was 350,000l. and now it was no less than 900,000l. although the revenue itself to be collected had only been augmented 1,370 000l.; so that no less than 550,000l. was charged for managing 1,370,000l. Such a state of things, in his view, imperiously demanded minute and immediate investigation. Although her finances were in this reduced condition, no gentleman denied that no part of the United Kingdom had been, or continued to be, more rapidly improving: the rent of land had enormously risen, the progress made in agriculture had been great, and her manufactures were not materially injured by the war in which we were engaged—yet under all these circumstances, it was not a little singular, that nearly all the produce of the taxes imposed in Ireland had of late years declined in proportion to her prosperity, and her consequent means of paying them. In the year of 1799, the impost upon leather gave a revenue of 55,000l. and in 1811, it had fallen to 40,000l. though the employment of that article must have amazingly augmented. The same remark would apply to the tax on malt. In 1799, the average quantity on which the duty was charged, was 12,000 barrels, and in the last year, it was only 7,000. To what then was this diminution owing? The hon. member charged no individual, but it appeared to him certain, that besides great laxity in the collection of the revenue, there was something like a connivance at fraud. The country was doubtless deeply indebted to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for Ireland for the unceasing pains he had taken to procure a more adequate collection of the taxes, but he had failed, since nothing but a complete change of system, in his (Mr. Huskisson's) opinion, could effect so desirable an object. The defalcation would appear the more remarkable, when it was known that in Ireland not one direct tax was imposed, and in this respect, that her situation was better than that of any other country of the world, with the exception of the United States. The truth was, that the public credit of Ireland stood much higher than that of Great Britain, and yet this country was lending her assistance she could by no means afford. He would venture to assert, that if by this circumstance, the public credit of Great Britain had not been so grievously injured, the loan just negociated might have been contracted for on terms 5 per cent. better than those actually obtained.

To correct defects in the various respects he had hitherto pointed out, was by no means all that was necessary, because if the system hitherto pursued were to be continued, a revision of our foreign and domestic establishment would be absolutely necessary. The naval and military branches of our expenditure must be closely examined; and it was impossible for any individual, even though he should have spent his whole life in public concerns, to form even a vague calculation as to the result: that it would be highly advantageous to the finances of the nation, was clear, and that it would not be detrimental to its safety and interests, was equally certain; much might however be effected by the revival and invigoration of the public credit, and let whoever would be ministers, they would not deserve their stations, if they did not make the attempt. It was now too late in the present year to accomplish the design, but he trusted, that in the interval between this and the succeeding session, some plan would be digested, calculated to effect the object in view. It was far from his intention, in the present melancholy state of the interior, to produce despondency; such a feeling should at no time be indulged in a state that only existed to any purpose while it was free, but he was yet to learn that any advantage was to be derived from shrinking from facing our dangers, as, in his opinion, nothing could be gained from a concealment of our real situation. It was true, that in the manufacturing districts distress existed, which cast a general gloom over the prospect of public affairs, but the cloud was transitory, sunshine would soon be restored; and although we might not long be able to continue our foreign exertions to the extent to which they had hitherto been carried, yet he was convinced that the stamina of the nation were unimpaired, and that its resources were in a state of progressive improvement. Further and great sacri- fices might be necessary to enable us to support the arduous struggle in which liberty and justice fought against tyranny and artifice, and if they were called for, he was so firmly persuaded of the public spirit of the people, that he was sure they would never be backward to supply the means for continuing the triumphs of our fleets and armies.

expatiated upon the impossibility of pursuing the present extended system of policy, and recommended that the income tax should be extended to Ireland. He likewise expressed his strong disapprobation of the terms of the recent loan.

, in consequence of the remarks made by an hon. gentleman upon the state of Ireland, in many of which he concurred, would not defer what he had to say upon the subject until the Irish Budget should be introduced to the notice of the House. The honourable gentleman had certainly noticed many remarkable facts, but one of the most surprising was the comparison of the nominal taxes imposed since the Union, and the real amount which they had produced. In 1799, the revenue of Ireland was 2,400,000l. at present it was 4,170,000l. and since that year nominal taxes had been laid calculated to produce 4,751,000l.; so that if the duties had been fully collected, and the revenue before the Union entirely destroyed, there would have been a surplus of nearly 700,000l. The truth was, however, that they had produced nothing, and the revenue at this moment was 400,000l. less than in 1808, although taxes had been resorted to, to the amount of 1,200,000l. It was not so much by new imposts that the revenue was to be augmented, but by the exertion of former laws, and, perhaps, even by the reduction of some duties that hitherto had existed only in the act of parliament. In the article of malt, although four-tenths had been added to the duty, the sum received had not been increased more than one-seventh. The revenue derived from leather, as had been stated, was diminished, notwithstanding the greater quantity that must necessarily have been employed in consequence of the conversion of Ireland from a grazing into an arable country. The difference between the expence incurred in the collection of the revenue was not less remarkable. In 1808 the customs were collected for 9l. 14s. 14s 11d. per cent. and in 1811 at no less an expence than 20l. per cent. The augmentation in the excise department had been in nearly as rapid a ratio. From what did this state of things arise? The honourable member had freely stated, that it in a great degree originated in connivance at fraud by corruption, and he (sir J. Newport) had formerly exposed to the House, and entered upon the Journals, a system of bribery existing in whole bodies of the public officers, although the government would not allow that papers should be produced to make the conviction formally complete. One man, convicted of corruption, had been promoted to a high office, where he had the superintendence and controul of a most important branch of the revenue.—(Name, name! from Mr. W. Pole)—Mr. Beauchamp Hill, and when he (sir J. Newport) moved for documents to prove the fact, he was met by the previous question! He hoped that the British parliament was at length aware of the necessity of enquiring into circumstances which he had never shrunk from stating year after year. On such occasions the only reply he obtained was, that the search for honest revenue officers would be vain, and that it would be far better to be contented with experienced rogues than to substitute ignorant honest men. He would proceed to draw a comparison between the state in which he had left the affairs of Ireland in 1808 and their present condition. When he quited office he left a surplus of one million. What now was the fact? (Mr. W. Pole walked towards the door). He intreated the right honourable gentleman to stay a few moments, unless the contrast was too strong for his feelings. The statement of the actual situation of the finances of Ireland at present doubtless was most painful to the right hon. gentleman who had the management of them. And as the House as well as Mr. Pole must be well acquainted with the deplorable condition in which they were now found, he would not press further the painful comparison. He quoted an adage of king James, that gentlemen resident on their estates were like ships in port, their value and magnitude was felt and acknowledged, but when at a distance, as their size seemed insignificant, so their worth and importance was not duly estimated. He therefore implored Irish members not to remain absent from their possessions when their presence was so useful. He concluded by deprecating the introduction of the Property Tax into the sister island, since its assessment, from the non-residence of the gentry of the country, might be intrusted to improper hands.

stated his determination to vote against any new taxes before an economical reform were made, or the attempt enforced by some strong resolution of the House. At a time when on the one hand the nation was threatened with bankruptcy, and on the other with famine, he thought that government could not do a wiser thing for the revenue or the people, than to promote the general inclosure of waste lands.

could by no means concur with the hon. member who spoke last, that because an economical reform was not accomplished, it was fit that the vast machine of government should be stopped, and that no supplies should be voted. He concurred in many of the remarks made by the hon. baronet, and particularly in that in which he rather recommended that old taxes should be enforced in Ireland, than that new taxes should be imposed. Much had been said of the great increase of expence in the management of the revenue, but it had not been recollected, or at least not stated, that many causes produced this effect, and among others the increase of the salaries of the officers of the customs, and the purchase of land for the improvement of the docks of Dublin, both of which had absorbed a sum of not less than 200,000l. The post-office hitherto had not produced any profit, although the expenditure was charged as a part of the management of the revenue. Last year the revenue had been collected at a less per centage than during the year preceding. As to the tax upon leather so long dwelt upon, it ought not to be forgotten that it was confessed on all hands that great frauds existed, which it was impossible to prevent without a complete change of system, as the right hon. baronet had himself frequently confessed. With regard to the productiveness of the taxes recently imposed, he would ask the right hon. baronet whether the imposts he had resorted to when in office had produced the full amount he expected?—(Hear, hear! from sir J. N.) He was happy to find that the right hon. baronet had been more fortunate than the preceding or succeeding governments. The frauds complained of did not surely deserve as much importance as was attached to them, because, (although he was far from advocating these practices) it was known to be a fact, that the salaries of the revenue officers were in general so inadequate, that they were compelled to resort to them as a means of obtaining a livelihood; they were universal, and had prevailed during many years.

objected to one of the assessed taxes—namely, that on horses employed in husbandry, which he considered very unjust, as the profit on which the property tax was now taken, was already fixed as equivalent to three fourths of the rent; and if the profit was diminished by any increase of taxation, the proportion to be contributed to the property tax should also be diminished.

said, that it was hard to object to the circumstances under which the budget was brought forward, as it had to provide for the interest and charge of the loan; but he argued against the general policy of proceeding from year to year on the present system, which was fallacious, and must in the end prove ruinous. He therefore hoped the right hon. gentleman, between this and the next year, would turn the matter in his mind, and devise some more sound and rational plan. He objected to two of the new taxes—namely, the suppression of the bounty on British cotton goods, and the augmentation of the tax on servants, which was very slight on the idle livery servant and heavy on the productive clerk.

.—Concurring, Sir, as I do in the general principles which have been urged by the hon. member, and the hon. member opposite, (Mr. Huskisson) I cannot bring myself to approve of that part of their speeches, from which the committee are to conclude, that they rely upon the government for adopting, in the next session, such a system of economy as shall remedy the evil which they have established and complain of. In my opinion, the House ought not to suffer the sessions to close, without a vote to compel the executive government to do that, which, it is allowed on all sides, must be done to save the country from financial failure—for why should we place any such confidence in the present ministers? Two years ago, the hon. gentleman opposite (Mr. Huskisson) declared, that Mr. Perceval was not able to conduct the departments of the state that direct the public expenditure; and, therefore, was incapable of making any economical retrenchment. If that were true, as undoubtedly it was, how can he or the House expect that such a government as the present, which only differs from Mr. Perceval's as being in- ferior in talent, by the loss of him, will be able to effect an economical reform? The case is now so indisputably made out, by the testimony of the hon. member, (the chairman of the committee of finance,) who has repeatedly said, that many millions of the public expences might be saved—also by the testimony of the hon. member opposite (Mr. Huskisson), who could never propose the equalization of the public income and expenditure, without a conviction in his mind of such a saving being practicable—and, also, by the speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in 1809, who then laid down the same principle, as the only one by which we could save the country from being placed at the feet of the enemy, that some step ought now to be taken to secure the adoption of it. Upon every account it became the House to look forward to the inevitable consequences of persevering in the present system. In 1809, when the receipt of the taxes was fifty-seven millions, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said, he could not contemplate the then annual expenditure of the country, of 83 millions, without great alarm. By his statement of to-night, he has told us the annual expenditure cannot be less than 95,000,000l. for Great Britain alone; and the total receipt of the taxes being now 60,000,000l. the state of the finances is obviously much worse, and the danger to be apprehended greatly increased.—If we look forward to the possibility of peace being again restored to these countries—if we could go on till that event should occur, without getting worse, such is the amount of the charge for interest, &c. on the public debt, that it would be impossible to get rid of a single tax that has been imposed, under the name of a war tax, and with the intention of continuing it only during the war. Under such circumstances, it became the House, at once to abandon the system of palliatives and expedients, and to adopt in time such measures as should secure to the country, that system of rigid economy, which, alone, could-save us from financial bankruptcy.—In regard to the finances of Ireland, the hon. member declared, that it was idle to expect any improvement in the revenue, so long as the present system of applying the whole of the revenue patronage, for parliamentary support, was pursued by the Irish government. In this country, each board of revenue had the certain patronage of its own department. If a member of parliament was to ask the mi- nister for a place in the excise, he would be told that the treasury never interfered. It was the same in the customs, stamps and post-office departments, with the exception of the patent offices. The boards here were held responsible for the collection of the revenue, and the power of collecting it was placed in their bands, by their having an unlimited authority to appoint, promote and dismiss their officers, according to their own discretion. In Ireland the system was altogether the reverse The boards had no powers—the collection of the revenue was not the object of the appointment to an office, but votes in this House. It was necessary to put an end to this practice, as no new tax, or new regulation could ever be of the smallest avail. There was another great defect in the finance system of Ireland—the want of an efficient controul over the inferior departments. In this country the treasury exercised a constant, upright and severe controul over each board of revenue. In Ireland, it was true, we had a treasury board, but the only result from it was a great expence to the country—its powers were altogether superseded by those of the lord lieutenant—all orders emanated from him—and all were contributing to one purpose only, the acquirement of parliamentary interest. But though he thus complained of the system, he meant not to charge the right hon. gentleman, the Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer, with the defects of that system. The fault was not his, he found it established upon the practice and sanction of many years—he had the merit of doing all that an individual could do, by great activity, zeal and integrity, to put down abuses—but he had wholly failed—and nothing could so completely prove the accuracy of the opinion he had now delivered, than that failure of so much personal exertion to effect a reform.

The different Resolutions were then severally put from the chair and agreed to.

Pole said, that he rose for the purpose of calling the attention of the committee to the Ways and Means of Ireland, which he would endeavour to do as shortly as possible at that late hour, and after having gone through the Supply and Ways and Means, he would offer a few observations on what had fallen from the right hon. baronet, and the other hon. gentleman. In the first instance the supply was, 1,791,000l. being the con- tribution of 1811, there was due of the quota of 1812, 7,611,000l. Irish currency, and the interest on the debt of Ireland, up to the 5th of last January, was 4,496,000l. making a total of 13,902,000l. He should propose to meet this, in the first instance, the surplus of the consolidated fund, amounting to 2,775,000l. He next proposed to take the revenue of the current year, which he took at 4,300,000l. The net revenue of the last year 4,170,000l. The repeal of the bounty on retail spirits 40,000l. The regulation of tobacco duties &c. 417,000l. The profit on the lottery he calculated at 150,000l. the payment of seamen's wages 150,000l.—The loan 1,500,000l. and 50,000l. by treasury bills, making 2,000,000l.; and a total of 13,982,000l. being an exceeding of 82,000l. It was now necessary for him to state the mode of providing for the interest of the loans and the sinking fund, which amounted to 449,000l. The loan had been raised by 5 per cent. treasury bills, and the manner of providing for it was by a tax, which had been rather ludicrously alluded to by an hon. gentleman—he meant by a tax on spirits, which he trusted would be found by its produce to cover the loan. He would state to the committee the grounds on which this tax would cover every thing. It would be recollected that a tax had been levied on Irish spirits, amounting to 2s. 6d. a gallon, which, being doubled, now produced 5s. British on the gallon. The consumption of spirits in Ireland, for the year ending on the 5th January, 1812, had been 655,000 gallons; the quantity exported 792,000 gallons. The consumption had been diminished one-fifth by the operation of the duty, leaving 461,000 gallons, which, at the rate of 5s. 5d. Irish currency, produced 1,248,000l. being 260,000l. more than last year. He was aware that it might be said, that this statement would not hold good, as distillation was stopped in Ireland; but the committee would recollect, that, previous to the levying of the duty, another measure had been taken to prevent the exportation of spirits, by which a considerable stock remained on hands, the duty on which according to the best information he could procure, would amount to 270,000l.; so that there was actually 270,000l. of the 449,000l. Taking then the stock in hand at the above sum, he had to state the hope of increase from the power granted by the act to the Irish government, to open the distilleries on the 1st of November, in the event of a good harvest; and according to the best information, there never was a more abundant promise; so that it was almost certain that the distilleries would be opened at the time contemplated in the act, namely, the 1st of November. Having stated thus much, he was not inclined to add any more, but was prepared to answer any question put to him. He, however, could not sit down without claiming permission to offer a few observations on what had fallen from the right hon. baronet, and his hon. friend. He denied that because the revenue had not covered all the debts since the Union, that it necessarily followed that disorder and corruption prevailed through the whole system. He would be glad on all these occasions, to come to close quarters with the right hon, baronet, when he had no doubt of being able to refute those vague and general attacks, which he so frequently indulged in. The taxes which had failed did so from unavoidable causes, which ought to be gone fairly into; but the right hon. baronet every session was prepared with a string of accusations, which he threw out against his right hon. friend (Mr. Foster) during his absence.

rose to repel the charge in the most direct and positive terms. He had frequently made those observations, which he felt it his duty to make, in the presence of the right hon. gentleman, and would not suffer himself to be vilified.

said, that he only meant to observe that it had been the constant practice of the right hon. baronet to reiterate those charges which had been already decided on, while he overlooked the improvements which had been made. There was not any branch of the revenue that had not been enquired into, and probed to the quick. It was maligning the officers of the Irish government to say they had not done their duty. The revenue of Ireland had been increased in the last year. In 1811, the customs were collected at 25l. 4s. 4d and in the present year at 20l. 18s. The revenue of the post-office was collected at 21l. per cent. He was sorry to say they were collected at a greater rate than he wished; but this country paid nearly the same. Some irregularities had taken place with a distiller in Limerick, and four revenue officers there were dismissed from their situations. Some improper transactions took place in the stamp office, which caused eleven of the persons in situations to be discharged. It was the intention of the Irish government to consolidate the stamp-office.—There was not the same facility in collecting taxes as in England. They ought not to tax Ireland as this country—she was shooting, and, if not oppressed, would come to maturity, and be able to bear all the burthens in proportion with her sister isle. Any person who proposed that an income tax should be laid on in Ireland, must either not know any thing of that country or be a maniac. He concluded with moving, "That towards raising the Supply to be granted to his Majesty, a sum, not exceeding 500,000l. be granted to be raised in the issue of treasury bills"

said, as to the stamp duty consolidation, although it had been recommended to the finance committee by the crown, yet they had not done any thing; papers were called for on this subject in February, but they were never produced. Great corruption prevailed, and after it was found out, the persons guilty were afterwards promoted. If the duty on distilleries would be productive, the right hon. gentleman ought to thank the Ways and Means of 1809, and not those of 1812.

said, that he was sorry that that warmth which attended the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Wellesley Pole) should have made him misrepresent what he (Mr. H) had stated. There was no man in that House, or in the country, that respected more than he did the duke of Richmond, but he must repeat what he said before, there was a laxity in collecting the taxes of Ireland.

thought that a personal tax would be the most consonant to Ireland.

The Resolutions were then agreed to, and the report was ordered to be received to-morrow.