per bushel; on hops, 24d. and 8-20ths remind the committee of the repeal of per pound, to make it 3d. When lord the income tax. It could not be exNorth was chancellor of the exchequer pected, that those who were to be now an allowance was made to the common excused from the pressure of the income brewers in the nature of a drawback, of bill were to feel nothing after the repeal 1s. 4d. This he should propose to re- of it; since those who contributed to the peal. He should propose 2s. per barrel one must, generally speaking, contribute on strong beer, subject to a drawback, to the other. His purpose was to prothis year, of sixpence, in consequence of ceed upon a scale of progression, the the difficulties with which the trade had average increase produce of which he estito contend. The effect of this additional mated at about one-third of its present duty, on each barrel of beer, would be amount; the particulars of which would the next year 5s. 11d., but during the be specified hereafter. There was, howpresent year, 5s. 5d. He was willing to ever, one subject on which he would hope, that this tax would be as little glance as he passed. A large number of liable to objection as any. He was aware journeymen tradesmen remained in the of the opinion which prevailed when the houses of their employers, and did the brewers raised the price of their strong duty of servants; but under the title of beer to 44d. per pot, in consequence of journeymen, they were not taxable; by the high price of malt, and an erroneous which means a considerable evasion took opinion it was. He was aware also, that place of the duty on domestic servants. the brewers should not be placed in a si- He should propose to charge for each of tuation wherein they could not stand the these persons 10s. a year; the produce of competition of private brewing, or in which he should presume would be which the trade of a common brewer 100,000l. Taking this sum and the rest might be materially injured. The private of the addition to the assessed taxes, he individual was also to be the subject of would set down the whole under this this taxation: this was a subject which head, at 1,000,000l. per annum.-He involved the interests of the public mate- had next to propose a tax upon imports rially, as well as those of the common and exports, as a substitute for the convoy brewer. It was painful to increase the duty. He had held conferences with several price of that necessary article of life, well informed individuals, who had given malt-liquor the proportion, however, as him much useful information upon this it bore on the common brewer and the subject, and whose co-operation he had private individual; would be so managed, reason to expect. He proposed to that the inducement to brew at home get rid of the present mode of taking the would not be diminished, nor, on the duty, to do away the system of ascerother hand, so increased as to injure the taining it ad valorem, in some cases, and public brewer. The operation of the to make certain regulations in others, as duty on beer he expected would enable explained by a schedule which comprised the brewer to sell for 18s. that which at 5,000 articles of duty, which would be present he sold for 16s. Under this head exhibited all at one view. The duty on he meant to do away in taxation the dis- imports, with certain modifications, was tinction which had subsisted between table to be increased, and that upon exports to and small beer; and in doing this, he be diminished. This could not be said to proposed at once to correct a great deal be a duty that would operate to the inof fraud, and put an end to a pernicious jury of trade; for it had been tried for beverage which had lately been used. A three years, and during that period our great deal of small beer had been mixed trade had rapidly increased. He estimawith strong, for the purpose of bringing ted the produce of this duty at 1,000,000l. the whole of it under the lowest duty; The amount, therefore, of the Ways and by which practice certain noxious ingre- Means, for defraying the interest of dients were introduced into the beer. 97,934,4371. would be-malt and beer, He should propose to attach the duty on 2,000,000l. assessed taxes, 1,000,000%. strong beer and table only, so denomi- duty on imports and exports, 1,000,000l. nated. This duty, together with theIn all, 4,000,000l. By this there was duty on malt and hops, he estimated at an excess beyond what was wanted of 2,000,000l. per annum.-The next tax near 800,000l. he had to submit was an augmentation of the assessed taxes; and here he must [VOL. XXXVI.]

Upon the subject of the produce of the consolidated fund, he requested, for [2 G]

a few moments, the patient attention of the committee. He knew he was treading on tender and sacred ground. was sure there was not an individual more He deeply impressed than himself with a conviction that the sinking fund was the sheet anchor of this country; and if he were to make a proposition which could, in the slightest degree, shake that fund, or retard its progress in the redemption of the public debt, he should deserve to meet the reproach of every friend to his country. The operation of the plan he had to submit would be the subject of discussion on a future day; the object of it was not to retard but to accelerate the plan for the reduction of the public debt. The committee would recollect, that in 1786, the plan was first submitted to the consideration of the House, and then a bill passed by which one million was appropriated to the reduction of the national debt. All the compound interest of this sum was made to accumulate, and it was vested in the hands of commissioners, who should receive the annuity thus accumluating until the whole should amount to four millions annually; and when that period arrived, it was declared to be in the power of parliament to say, whether that should continue to increase, or be applied to the reduction of taxes. 1792, it was provided that 1 per cent of In every loan, or further sum borrowed, should be applied in the same manner as the million was in 1786; that was, to operate as a sinking fund for the extinction of such loan. propose, that these two powerfully opeNow, he intended to rative sinking funds should be consolidated, and work their purposes together, for the reduction of the whole debt, and, however paradoxical it might appear, yet it was true, that the whole debt could thus be extinguished in a shorter period than by keeping each to its operation, according to the former system; because, by the new plan, the whole fund would continue to accumulate, whereas by the old one, the operation of accumulation would cease when it amounted 4,000,000l. By the latter system, the extinction of the whole debt would be accomplished in 45 years, a debt which must now be considered as upwards of 500,000,000l. His great object was, and he should expatiate upon it hereafter, to do justice to the present time, and also to make provision for the welfare of our posterity. It might be said, that the be

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Debate on the Budget.

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nefit to be derived to the public by the reduction of taxes, after the sinking fund had attained its maximum, would be preconsidered, that, independent of this plan, there would be to be provided vented by this plan; but it should be 900,000l. to support the fund of one per cent, for the reduction of the capital accrued since the last provision was made for such reduction. There was one other subject on which, he was sorry to say, he luded to the duty on salt. He never gave was not able to give the satisfactory answer he could have wished. any assurance upon that subject; but he had stated in the course of the present He alsession, that he had hopes he should be able to get rid of this duty. No man felt more than he did a desire to get rid of such a duty as this, when it could be done with safety. But, under the prehe should be justified in proposing the sent circumstances, he did not think that repeal of this duty. He did look forward to the period when the country might be relieved in this respect; but he would not allow that the tax was so oppressive order of the community. as some had stated it to be on the lower

stance of what he had stated. The whole He would now recapitulate the subsupply was 24,614,430l. of which there of the ways and means already voted was was for Ireland 1,808,338. The whole 27,930,8741. The sum actually wanted for interest, management, &c. was 3,211,202.; and he had provided taxes for raising ration of the two sinking funds united, he 4,000,000l. The general ground of the opeshould hereafter have to bring forward. He trusted, that by a firm and temperate system, we might promise to ourselves security and comfort. To secure to us our advantages, we should adopt, to use the words of his noble friend, a system of conciliation and firmness, by which we might preserve to ourselves the blessings of peace.

and indeed was confident, had ceased to operate on us; but this should not make The evils of war, he hoped, He then moved a resolution for raising us forget the maxims of our true policy. the sum of 25 millions by way of loan.

which the right hon. gentleman had brought Mr. Whitbread said, that if the plans forward this evening respecting the trade with which he was very materially connected were to be carried into effect, they oppressive manner. Perhaps, the pecuwould be found to operate in the most

tage with all their exertions it was hardly possible to avoid a positive loss, and to gain any profit was absolutely impossible. Because grain had fallen for the last two market days, was this any thing like a fair argument, that the brewers were able to support so large an increase of taxation? He would assert that the brewers could not afford to sell beer to the public at less than 4d. a pot; and, when this additional charge was to be made on them, it could not henceforth be any object to them to continue their trade. On the supposition of any house brewing to the amount of 200,000 gallons a year, by the proposed tax, they would have to contribute to the exigencies of the state no less a sum than 10,000l. He would put it, then, to the justice of the House, whether the repeal of the income tax, was any just cause of exultation to those connected with a trade on which a direct levy to so great an amount was to be imposed. If once such a principle of taxation were admitted, future chancellors of the exchequer might without hesitation apply in a similar manner to a variety of other departments of trade. In 1760, when the tax on beer was imposed by lord Chatham, the price of malt was only

liar situation of danger in which he found himself placed, might unfit him at present to enter more cordially into those feelings of satisfaction and triumph in which the House were disposed to indulge from the conclusion of a loan on terms so extremely favourable, and the pleasure they experienced that the day was at last come when "the solid system of finance" which had so often formed a subject of exultation to a right hon. gentleman (Mr. Pitt), but which the country had found to be so odious and so oppressive, was to be abolished. Undoubtedly, the repeal of the income tax was a circumstance which could not be contemplated without pleasure, and however the chancellor of the exchequer might pretend to have preserved the same sentiments on the expediency of the tax as at any former period, the repeal, at the present moment, was a severe sarcasm on the conduct of his predecessor. Proceeding now to the point in which he felt the strongest degree of interest, he went on to show that the principle of taxation now proposed was different from that adopted by any former administration. He reverted to the tax on beer imposed by lord Chatham in 1760, and showed, that at that period the public brewer received an allowance in the way of draw-23s. a quarter, and beer was 3 d. per pot. back, which in a great measure, indemnified him against the loss which he would otherwise have sustained in the administration of lord North, when the tax was imposed in 1780, the same system had been pursued; and, during the administration of the right hon. gentleman's predecessor, this allowance was not withdrawn, when, in consequence of the Spanish armament, an additional tax on beer was imposed, the policy pursued by parliament hitherto on this point was uniform; and in every one of the acts of the legislature on the subject the allowance granted in the way of drawback was precisely declared to be for the purpose of protecting the public brewer against those who brewed only for purposes of private convenience. He could not but consider it a very odd sort of reasoning, to say that the brewers were now able to bear this tax, from the fall which had lately taken place in the price of grain. It was to be considered, that this was said at the time when the brewers were merely come to the prospect of relief; for hitherto this relief had been but very partially experienced. For a number of years, they had laboured under every sort of disadvan

In 1780, malt was at 30s. 9d.; whereas in 1802, its price was not less than 52s., and had during a considerable period been as high as 98s. a quarter. He asked the House to compare the prices at these different periods, and then to say, whether such an additional charge was founded either in fairness or justice? He wished to know whether the stock in hand was to be subject to its operation? He touched on the exertions used by the brewers to favour a large importation of barley; and said, that while the speculation had been of considerable advantage to the public, it had turned out very injurious to those by whom it was in the first instance promoted. He believed the loss was not less than 40,000l. of which a large proportion had fallen on himself; a sum for which they had surely a reasonable claim to indemnification. He examined the calculations of the right hon. gentleman, and contended, that, on the principle he had laid down, the tax would produce two millions and a half, instead of two mil lions. If so, it was hard he should take so much from them. The brewers had suffered great hardships before they had raised the price of beer; and as soon as the

The

of these fifteen years the nation has been plunged into a disastrous war. I have only to hope, that the prediction uttered this evening may not be equally disappointed.

Mr. Chancellor Addington said, it was not proposed to lay any tax on the stock of beer on hand; but he saw no ground why the stock of malt on hand should not be made an object of taxation. The hon. gentleman had stated a material loss sus

of foreign barley; but it was impossible he could say any thing upon the subject at present. The hon. gentleman had stated, that at the close of the war, none of the objects of that war had been attained. He denied the position: they had attained the objects of the war, seeing that they had gained all that they had not lost.

Mr. Pitt said :-Sir, I wish to offer a few words, in consequence of what has fallen from the hon. gentleman who spoke last. The hon. gentleman has referred rather inaccurately, to certain expressions which he supposes me to have used in 1792. But the tendency of the language to which he alludes was an expression, not only of my confident reliance, but of my earnest hopes, of the continuance of peace. It is certainly true, Sir, that at that period there was not a man living, who felt more his personal happiness en

prices of barley and malt had lowered, they reduced the prices. If a halfpenny a pot more was to be laid on beer, the repeal of the income tax would be no cause of joy to the brewers. If the whole of the tax was laid on malt instead of beer, he thought it would be more beneficial to the revenue. We are told (said he) that the national debt amounts now to upwards of 500 millions, 250 of which were contracted during the administration of the right hon. gentleman's predecessor. Itained by the brewers' in the importation cannot but think, that at the conclusion of a nine years' war, it is but a poor satisfaction to the people to tell them, that such is the amount of their debt; and that, after all their exertions, every object of the war has completely failed. France has extended her dominion far beyond what even the fears of the most desponding had ventured to calculate. Bourbons are driven even from the hopes of a throne. The prince of Orange has been deprived of the possessions long attached to his family. The states of Switzerland have lost the independence, which the blood of their fathers had purchased; and England, in return for all her exertions, and all her sacrifices, has gained the Dutch possessions in Ceylon, and the island of Trinidad! I am glad to hear from the right hon. gentleman, that the maxims he has laid down for his administration are different from those of his pre-gaged in realizing that happy prospect decessor. I rejoice that it is his intention to avoid every thing which may have the appearance of insulting foreign powers; that he is determined not to interfere with the internal situation of our neighbours, but to conduct the foreign politics of this country on a principle which, though by some it may be despised, is the justest guide of national conduct-the principle of intrepid moderation. With such a system, and with a rigid plan of economy carried into every branch of the public expenditure, I do not despair of seeing the country recover its former greatness. The right hon. gentleman has exulted a good deal at the prospect of the continuance of peace for a considerable period. I sincerely hope his prophecy may be better founded than that of the right hon. gentleman who preceded him in office. In 1792, that right hon. gentleman at the opening of his budget, rejoicing that never at any former period was there such a prospect of peace for fifteen years as at that very moment. But how fatally did reality falsify the prediction! In nine out

which then opened itself to this country than I did-that prospect of the continued operation of our increasing wealth, our increasing commerce, our increasing resources, which had been the happy result of ten years of economy, of labour, of firmness, and of wisdom, on the part of parliament, in their endeavours to cultivate the arts of peace, to augment the revenue, and to ameliorate the condition of the people of this country, and which they hoped to follow up with no other task but that of steadily reinforcing the sinking fund for the diminution of the public debt, and of taking off those taxes which then pressed most heavily upon the laborious part of the community. Have I then, Sir, any very criminal charge to answer to, if, with some degree of fondness, I indulged the hope that those distractions would not affect us which then desolated France, founded upon principles which I then thought, and which every man must now admit, were directly contrary to those on which our happiness and prosperity were grounded? Can I, Sir, I say,