the midst of a discussion of great warmth, the question was loudly called for, and the continuance of the tax was lost by a majority of 238 to 201. On the succeeding evening, the Chancellor of the Exchequer rose and stated, that, as his whole plans must be changed in consequence of the loss of this great tax, he must of course have recourse to loans; and that as the amount of these would not be materially affected by any minor demands, he would give up the war malt duties also. The prospect of getting rid of these burdens, contributed, in a powerful manner, to sooth the feel public attention, was the avowed in tention of ministers to propose the continuation of the property tax. Although it was hinted from the begin. ning, and in the sequel expressly stated, by the Chancellor of the Exche quer, that the tax would be proposed at a diminished rate, (five instead of ten per cent.); and that, in the mode of levying it, alterations would be introduced tending to lessen the repugnance felt by commercial men to the exposition of their private affairs; these suggestions proved entirely ineffectual to subdue the growing aversion manifested in almost every part of the island to the prolonged existings of the afflicted classes of the comence of this tax. Petitions were poured into the House from every district, signed too, in many instances, and in particular in the case of the city of London, by men of the highest respectability, who had, during all the struggles of the war, been among the firmest supporters of the financial schemes of the administration. In the House of Commons, an attempt was made to shew that the tax in question, as originally proposed, was to be exactly co-existent with the war, and that, therefore, a breach of faith would be incurred in any measure for protracting its operation. This was, however, very satisfactorily combatted by Mr Vansittart, who shewed, that, on the first proposal of the tax by Mr Pitt, it was expressly stated, that it should continue one year of peace for every year of war during which it should have existed; that the Lord Henry Petty had, when in office, entertained no idea of the tax being necessarily to close immediately on the conclusion of a peace; and that no pledge of that kind had been given by the present administration on the resumption of the tax last year. The necessity of the measure was attacked with greater keenness, and, as it would seem, defended with less power. In munity. But it is at the best extremely doubtful, whether, in the end, the continuance of the property-tax might not have pressed upon their necessities in a manner more equable than any of the substitutes which were either at the time proposed by the opposition, or subsequently adopted by the minister. It may be extremely fitting that the vanities, luxuries, and even mere conveniences enjoyed by individuals, should pay tax to the commonwealth; but it seems unworthy of the cause, that to these alone the contributions should be restricted. In the propertytax, as it was levied, there was probably much unnecessary and unwise severity; but something in the shape of a property-tax, is the only impost which can reach effectually the mean-spirited and the unpatriotic, the absentee and the miser. On the 27th of May, the House of Commons resolved itself into a committee of ways and means. The Chancellor of the Exchequer prefaced his account of the public resources for the year, with a statement that these had been essentially altered in consequence of the abandonment of the property-tax. His first proposal was, that the committee should accept of a proposition for the Bank of England, The ways and means which he proposed for answering these charges, were embodied in a string of resolutions, of which the first and second referred to the already mentioned offer of three millions for the Bank of England; the third to the surplus of the grants for 1815, which, at the beginning of the session, he had calculated at three millions, but which, on more accurate enquiry, had been found to amount to 5,663,755.; the fourth to a sum of 599,916., arising from the sale of old naval and victualling stores; the 5th to unclaimed dividends of the Bank. The Chancellor mentioned, that "it was not fair that the Bank should retain in their hands sums which it was not likely should be called for, and which might indeed never be reclaimed. He therefore thought such money might be well paid over to the commissioners for the redemption of the national debt, to be by them applied to the liquidation of the public debt, subject to the future claims of the owners for restitution. He proposed that it should be arranged on this principle-that all stock on which no dividend was claimed for ten years successively, should be paid over to the commissioners of the national debt, to be by them applied in the manner he had already described. A register of all such payments he proposed should be kept both in the Bank and at the office of the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt, and this he thought would be better for the owners than even the present system, proverbially accurate as the Bank was in all its transactions." The 6th resolution referred to "an extraordinary item of 140,000l. made up of small balances remaining in the Exchequer, the result of unapplied grants of former years, now amounting altogether to a sum not to be despised. The remaining supplies, amounting to 2,500,000l., were to be provided for by an issue of exchequer bills to replace an equal amount of unfunded debt, which would be paid off. After a few observations from Lord Archibald Hamilton, Mr Baring, and Mr Tierney, these resolutions were adopted. Mr Vesey Fitzgerald laid before the House his intentions with respect to the Irish revenue of the year. He began with saying, that the liberal views taken by the House on former occasions, justified him in expecting, that it would approve of his not having proposed any new Irish taxes, in aid of the services of 1816. He then stated, that the estimated quota of contributions for this year, was 3,145,6567. British, in Irish currency, 3,407,7941. The charge for interest and sinking fund on the present debt, is 6,826,730, making, with the inclusion of management, the total supplies, 10,234,5241. The state of the consolidated fund was as follows:-The surplus balance in the exchequer at the 5th January, was 1,448,086., and there was remaining of loan, raised in Great Britain for the service of the last year, 2,622,641/. British, being in Irish currency 2,841,194/. a total sum of of 4,289,2801. From this he was to deduct arrears due on that day. The arrear of contribution for 1815, 2,942,280l. British, being 3,187,470. Irish; the outstanding treasury bills and lottery prizes, 28,8761, and for inland navigations, and the expences of the office for the public records, 81,3647. the total of the arrears was 3,297,710., which, deducted from 4,289,280l. leaves a balance of 991,570/. Having recapitulated the supply, he proceeded to state the ways and means. The surplus of the consolidated fund as appeared above, 991,570.; the produce of the revenue he should only estimate at 6,000,000l.; one-third of the profit on lotteries which Ireland was entitled to receive, 100,000l.; re payment of sums paid by Ireland for naval and military services being advanced out of the revenue of the last year, 111,960. Mr Vansittart had before stated the loan on treasury bills for which an act has passed both Houses of parliament, of 1,700,000l. British, making 1,841,6667. Irish, and that a further loan on treasury bills would be required to be issued in the present year for the sum of 1,200,000l., being a total of ways and means of 10,245,196 to meet the supply of 10,234.5241. Mr Fitzgerald then stated, that the House was aware of the reduction of the revenue in consequence of the repeal of that portion of the malt duty in Ireland which corresponded with the late war duty in Great Britain; it was only what the act of union had prescribed; but as a mea. sure of relief, sensibly as it might be felt in this country, it would not be less felt in that where the example had been followed. He had always regretted the necessity of augmenting the malt duty; but it was to be remembered, that he had never had but a choice of difficulties. The deduction from the revenue, including the repayment of duty on stock, in the hands both of distillers and maltsters, would be, he feared, 300,000l. ; other small duties repealed would make a total diminution in the revenue of 350,000l., and when the committee re collected that the whole of the net payments into the exchequer in the last year amounted to 5,845,845, he was sure he should not be charged with estimating the annual produce of the revenue too low when he took it at 6,000,000l., he feared rather that he should be accused of an excessive estimate. He thought himself grounded, however, in hoping for what must be the increase of more than half a million from that improved system of collection which was visible in every. department, and for which the chiefs of departments deserved the greatest praise. He could not better excite that industry, or stimulate that exertion, than by showing to the different boards that parliament looked to them to supply, by their exertions, the necessity of fresh taxation, and he knew that he did not reckon on their exertions in vain. There was no principle more important to be kept in view, particularly in Ireland, than that it was better to collect your old taxes well, than to delude the public by suggesting new and unproductive imposts. He did not found his estimate of revenue solely on a vague expectation of its produce; the assessments principally of the inland taxes had been formed upon a more correct system, and in no branch of our revenue had a collection been more improved. He expected in the present year a great increase from those duties, and without referring to the excise revenue, or to those disputed questions connected with the distillery, which he purposely avoided, because they were likely to become the topics of discussion at another and a more convenient time; it must be obvious to every man that if the practice of illicit distillation could be checked in some degree (he was not sanguine enough to hope for its immediate extinction), the excise revenue would become the main source of our contribution. did not despair either, that the internal difficulties of Ireland would press so heavy as in the last year, a year of sudden and unexampled distress. That distress was easily to be traced in the diminished consumption of some of the most productive articles, not only in our excise but in our customs also. He hoped that our horizon was brightening a little, and that he might be justified in the estimate of six millions which he had assumed. He On the succeeding evening, Mr J. P. Grant made a motion for a committee on the state of the public finances, and on this occasion the attack on the views and plans of the Chancellor of the Exchequer was renewed. The desponding prophecies of approaching national ruin were as numerous, and, stranger still, as confident as ever. But they were listened to, both within and without the House, with that suspicion which frequent experience of their fallacy had justified. The nation was distressed, but it was not despair. ing; and in the contemplation of its permanent gains, it found consolation for its temporary difficulties. VOL. IX. PART I. |