copal church, there should also be

for the presbyterian. On a division, the clause was rejected by 20 against 18. At a subsequent discussion it was made known that the Company had given an assurance for the maintenance of ministers of the Scotch church at its own expense.

Of the further proceedings of the House of Comnions respecting this bill to its final passing the House, it is unnecessary to detail the particulars. Complaints of precipitation were made by the friends of the Company to the last; and the court of proprietors instructed those directors who have seats in parliament to move for a delay till the bill in its amended shape should have undergone their consideration; but the minister was firm in resisting such motions. Some new clauses and amendments were proposed, and nega

tived, and the third reading took place on July 13.

In the House of Lords the progress of this bill was much more silent than in the Commons, few members seeming to interest themselves in its provisions after they had given a general opinion of it at its first introduction. The Earl of Lauderdale was most conspicuous in opposition, and he entered upon the journals of the House a protest against the second reading, in strong terms of censure, particularly of the enactment which directs the yearly issue in India, for the purpose of investments, of a sum equal to the payment made from the funds at home on account of the territorial charges of the preceding year.

The bill passed into a law just before the close of the session. An abstract of its clauses will be found in another part of our volume.

VOL. LV.

[F]

CHAPTER

TH

HE House of Commons on March 31, being in a committee of ways and means, the Chancellor of the Exchequer rose, and said that he should first mention to the committee a transaction which had taken place that morning. Government had made the proposal to a considerable body of merchants and bankers of funding twelve millions of outstanding exchequer bills in the same stock in which, they had lately been uniformly funded, namely, the five per cent, navy annuities; for every 100l. so funded, the subscriber to receive 1157. 10s. of those annuities. The rate of interest to be paid by the public on this sum would be 57. 15s.6d. which, added to the sinking fund upon it, would amount to 67. 18s. 7d. In addition to this proposal, it had been thought advisable to give an option to such of the holders of exchequer bills as might think fit to subscribe an additional 50 per cent. in money, for which they should receive debentures. On these debentures he proposed an addition of one per cent. as a sinking fund for their redemption. After the right hon. gentleman bad made various explanatory observations on this scheme, he said he would now proceed, in conformity to his notice, to submit to the consideration of the committee the taxes which would be necessary, in order to make that provision for the sink

ing fund which was involved in the Bill in progress through the House, provided it passed into a law. If, on the other hand, parliament should not think it advisable to give the Bill their sanction, at least he would not be liable to reproach for having neglected to provide supplies which might be applicable to defray the charge and sinking fund of exchequer bills outstand ing. Reverting to the financial occurrences of 1802, he observed, that although the noble lord then at the head of the Treasury (lord Sidmouth) did not provide a sinking fund for the sum funded in that year, yet the taxes imposed to defray the interest and charges of that sum had exceeded the estimate by four or five millions. This excess of produce, which went to the consolidated fund, he (the chancellor of the exchequer) might have been justified in applying to the services of the current year; but it was so important to maintain the consolidated fund, that it appeared to him to be very inexpedient to take such a step, and to be far better, however inconvenient in other respects, to add to the existing taxation. In addition to the $70,000l. which in the developement of his financial plan, he had shown to be necessary to supply the drain on the sinking fund, the committee would recollect, that in providing the supplies for the last year, there was one

pro

proposition-the auction dutywhich he had calculated at 100,000Z. and which having abandoned, it became necessary for him to supply the consequent deficiency in the consolidated fund. The total sum, therefore, that it became requisite to raise by permanent taxes, was nearly a million of money, viz, 870,000l. to be applied to the sinking fund; and 100,000l. the deficiency occasioned by the re-, inquishment last year of the auction duty. For the purpose of providing the last mentioned sum, it was his intention to propose to the committee an additional duty on tobacco equal to that imposed on it last year, which duty he would estimate at 100,0007 although probably it would produce more. He was not aware that this new tax would occasion any inconvenience; or at least he was persuaded that it would cause as little as any that could be devised. With regard to the greater sum of $70,000%, the principal tax that he meant to propose to meet is, was an increase of the custom duties. He thought this would be infinitely preferable to any augmentation of the assessed taxes, or of the stamp duties, which had lately been so much increased. As the most convenient mode, be proposed to raise the sum of 8 or 900,000l. by a general increase of those duties, with certain exceptions. These exceptions were the duties on tea, sugar, wine, raw silk, and cotton wool. On the other articles which paid custom duties he proposed an increase of 25 per cent. No such general augmentation had occurred since 1804, and only one partial and small increase in 1805. Under the existing circumstances of the

country this would be comparatively little felt. For the country had, until recently, been so much excluded from foreign trade, that, until lately, all foreign articles had come to our markets, what with the difficulty of transmission, the charge of freights, &c. under an augmentation of expense, greatly exceeding the proposed rate of duty. Many circumstances had, however, recently combined' to render those articles at the present moment cheaper to the consumer, even with the increased tax, than they were last year without ́it. He would estimate the aniount of the increase of the custom duties, at from 850 to 900,000/. In addition to this, however, he' meant to propose a slight augmentation of the excise in a particular branch of it. He proposed that this should take place on French wines, an article of mere luxury, entirely confined to the higher orders, and if checked in the importation, or wholly shut out, he should consider it to be a national advantage. On French wines, he proposed to lay an additional excise duty of 13d. a bottle, which would be about 18. to the consumer; a fax that could not be considered very burthensome to the country.

The produce he estimated at 30 0007, no very important sum, and one indeed which it would hardly be worth while so to raise, were not the subject itself one so proper for taxation, that even were it likely to produce less, or were the consumption to be so diminished as to impair the existing produce of the duty upon it, he should still feel it to be incumbent upon him to make his present propósition. The estimated produce, [F2] therefore,

therefore, of the permanent taxes would be 850,000l. from the general increase in the consolidated duties of customs, 100,000l. from the duty on tobacco, and 30,000l. from the duty on French wines, making in the whole a sum somewhat short of a million, to answer two objects-the support of the sinking fund, and to make good the defalcation caused by the abandonment last year of the auction duty. And here he would observe, that although he had thought proper thus to propose a substitute for the auction duty, he had by no means lost sight of it. He did not think it would be satisfactory to take it for the purpose of contributing to the immediate supply; but he reserved to himself the liberty of proposing means to prevent fraud, and to regulate the duty, if he should thereafter find it necessary so to do. Those which he had mentioned were permanent taxes. He should next propose to lay some further taxes under the head of war taxes, for the general purpose of assisting the supplies for the year, and for the particular object of providing for the one per cent. sinking fund on exchequer bills outstanding on the 5th of January of each year, to be grant d to the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt. These war taxes he wished to class under the heads of imports and exports. The first that he should propose would be a general increase of duty on the importation of all goods and merchandize, the manufacture of the French empire, and of all countries dependant on France. It was true that trade licences to France and her dependencies were not now granted by government,

but it was obvious that circumstances might render it politic to renew them; and we had an undoubted right to retaliate on the enemy all the oppression in which he had persevered against our commerce. He proposed to double the war duty on such articles. Those war duties were at present equal to one-third of the consolidated duties. He proposed to add to them the amount of the other two-thirds, thus making the whole of the duties in war double the duties in peace on French goods. It was extremely difficult to estimate the probable produce of this increase. It would vary with the state of our intercourse with France. If he took the average of the last three years, he would say that, it might amount to 200,0007. Some articles were wholly prohibited; of others, the difficulty of importation was great; but by taking the various articles, and allowing one as it were to insure the other, he was confident the produce would not fall short of that which he had just stated. With respect to the exports, the trade about to open, would, in all probability, be so great, that no material inconvenience could, in his opinion, arise from adding a half per cent, to the present export duites. In peace, such a proposition would be impolitic-not so at the present moment. He calculated that it might produce about 150,000/.; and on this branch of increased revenue he thought he might confidently rely. [Mr. Baring here adverting to the increased import duties, asked the right hon. gentleman to what countries they were to be applicable?] Certainly the increased import duties would be on

goods

goods coming from all countries dependent on France. It would give him great pleasure to see those duties lessened by the diminution of the number of those countries. -They were not to attach to the exports of any country in amity with his Majesty; and the declaration of that amity would immediately cause the cessation of those duties. The only other additional duty on exports which he meant to propose was, a duty of a penny a pound on the exportation of foreign hides, which would operate very advantageously on our leather manufactures in foreign markets, and it would have been proper perhaps that ere now this measure should have been adopted, as hides might be considered as in some measure a military store.

The

only remaining article of proposed taxation was one which he was induced to adopt on political as well as on financial principles-it was a duty on the importation of American cotton wool. The American government had declared their principal ports to be in a state of blockade, extending from Rhode island southward; thus endeavouring to deprive our manufacturers of that important material. He had every reason to believe, that, if proper encouragement were given to the importation of cotton wool from our own colonies, this stoppage on the part of the Americans would be wholly innoxious to this country. It was obvious, however, that to create this encouragement it would be necessary to secure the merchant, bringing cotton wool from such a distance, against losing by his speculation. If the merchant incurred the danger of having his cotton intercepted in our market

by the American cotton, he would would be in a state of little promise and great uncertainty. Unfortu tunately such an occurrence had lately taken place:when the American government imposed the embargo on their ports, which occasioned a temporary stoppage of the exportation of cotton wool from the United States, encouragement was given by government (in order to prevent injury to the British manufactures) to the importation of large quantities from our own colonies. But unluckily it came too late-the Americans had taken off their embargo; and unprotected by such a countervailing duty as that which he was about to propose, the British merchant sustained very considerable loss. It was to prevent the occurrence of similar events that he was induced to make the proposition to the committee. The committee were aware that the Sea Island cotton was the finest imported from America. The object which he had in view was, to procure the fine article from the East Indies, by affording a sufficient encouragement to the importers. There was at present a sufficient quantity on hand of every kind, except the Sea Island, and it was a necessary ground of his measure, intended to promote the importation of the finer kind, to prevent the ruin which would fall on the importer by any sudden competition. With this view, he proposed to lay a protecting duty of three half-pence per pound on all American cotton imported in British ships, and a duty of sixpence per pound on all such cotton imported in foreign bottoms. The whole consumption of cotton in our own manufactures

was