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there, perhaps he could tell the houfe that it was introduced with a fpeech, attacking certain arguments which had been advanced within thofe walls, and taking very great liberties with a most refpectable authority. Lord Sydney was not in the habit of faying things in a flip pant way, and he hoped he fhould

never accustom himself to fuch expreffion, as that this was abfurd, that was foolish, and the other was ftuff. It was eafy to apply a debafing epithet to any thing, but with men accustomed to examine before they determined that mode of debate would have little weight. The nobleman to whom he alluded had by moft irrefragable arguments conwinced the houfe in a former feffion

that the bill ought not to pafs. The abfence of that perfon was of itself a strong argument in his mind against proceeding any farther with the bill at prefent. The reafonings of lord Sydney were answered by the marquis of Carmarthen, and the bill was farther fupported by lord Hopeton. The noblemen who fpoke on the other fide were doctor Warren, bishop of Bangor, and the earl of Sandwich. Upon the fecond reading the houfe divided, contents in favour of the bill 11, not contents 4; but upon the third reading the house having muttered in a fomewhat greater number, and feveral proxies being given, the final divifion was contents 15, not contents 38.

CHAPTER, V.

Bill for eftablishing a Sinking Fund. Civil Lift Bill. Wine Excife Bill. Bill of Crown Lands. Mr. Wilberforce's Bill. Fisheries. Complaint of Lord Rodney.

HE fubject, which the minister

feemed to intend fhould make the principal figure in this feflion of parliament, was the propofal of a finking fund, to be applied towards difcharging the national debt. We have already endeavoured to d cover the general merit of projects of this fort, when we had occafion to treat of the plan of the French caiffe d'amortiffement, which was instituted in the month of Auguft, 1784. There are few writers whofe works are more inftructive or more useful than the ingenious inventors of paradoxes. While they are in the purfuit of a propofition which is neither plaufible nor true, they occafionally illuftrate various inci

dental fubjects, and the fingularity of their ideas enables them to fucceed in difcoveries, which the plain and artless enquirer after truth would never have thought of Thus it has notoriously happened in the prefent inftance. The æra at which we are arrived, has produced reafoners, who have endea voured to demonstrate that the extinction and the reduction of a na tional debt are vain and vifionary theories; that they can never be effected in any important degree, and that the purfuit of them is pregnant with diftrefs, calamity and ruin. Maintaining a propofition fo indefenfible in its tenour, they have taught us in a more ftriking

manner

manner than any other political fpeculatifts, that an object of this kind may be purfued with an extreme aud a destructive vehemence; that, fo long as the prefent fituation of things fall continue, the carrying on of wars upon loans is a matter of indifpenfible neceflity; that the increating the number of our taxes is no infallible receipt for the increafing our income; and that in the hands of a skilful financier the abolition of impofts will fometimes be found to enhance the amount of the general revenue. Thefe fpeculations have not been without their effect upon our practical statefmen, and upon the ministers of the Art courts in Europe. M. de Calonne, in the inftance to which we have alluded, set apart no greater a fum than an annuity of 120,000l. as the original foundation of his finking fund; and we fhall find Mr. Pitt laying few additional burthens on the people of England for the creation of his favourite object of an annual million.

The prefent feilion of parliament appears to have commenced with ideas, if not honourable to the minifter, at least extremely favourable to the fuccefs of his operation. We found Mr. Fox in our preceding volume, treating the fubject of the finances of his country with a language full of apprehenfion, and with expreffions ftrongly importing the immediate neceffity of extraor. dinary measures. In the fpeech which he made upon the firit day of the prefent fetfion, he appears to have altered his tone. He no longer doubts of the profperous ftate of the revenue, he only requires to be allowed in a degree of fcepticifm refpecting the caufes of that profperity. With regard to the extenfion of trade, the increase of the public credit, and the growing

furplus of the revenue, thefe were circumftances in which every man must rejoice. No party, no political faction, no fer of perfons of any name or de cription could withhold their exultion upon a sub. ject of fo general benefit. The conclufion that was to be drawn from thefe appearances, the returning vigour of our refources, muft afford matter of folid fatisfaction and unrestrained triumph to all ranks of men and all parties in the state. But were thefe matters of furprise, or circumstances to cause aftonish. ment? Undoubtedly they were not. Almost every man knew there would be fome furplus; almost every man expected it; they only differed about the amount of that furplus. Mr. Fox would not pretend to affign the caufes to which thefe fymptoms of returning vigour were afcribable: that might be matter of much ufelefs difference of opinion. Several of them might be owing to the fuccefs of fome of the meatures of the prefent adminiftration; he would not be fo uncandid as to deny that they were. But more, far more, he believed were owing to the failure of other of their meafures, which, had they fucceeded, muit have been attended with confequences the m ft fatal to the revenue, and to the national credit and profperity that could pofiibly be imagined. Mr. Fox fated in frong terms the mifchief the mea. fures to which he alluded had already produced, by difgufting the manufacturers of Great Britain, teaching them that the houfe of con◄ mous would difregard their pettions, and bringing into difcution a variety of points which he was convinced ought never to have bee a disturbed. Nothing but the alarm. and di guft atiending the agitation of thote bad meafures could have

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fo long kept back the returning before the house on the twenty-firft,

trade of the country, the natural confequence of peace, and which had followed upon the conclufion of every war in which we had been engaged. This alarm and difguft had been in a great degree removed by the failure of the Irish propofitions; and the tide of trade was now returning to its old and natural channel.

Mr. Pitt moved early in the feffion, that feveral papers fhould be laid upon the table of the house of commons, to enable them to form an estimate of the annual national income, as well as the amount of the public expenditure, in confequence of which they would be empowered to judge of the exifting fur plus, and of the fum it would be farther neceffary to provide, in order to raise the total to the amount which was intended to form the original bafis of the intended finking fund. On the feventh of March Mr. Pitt farther moved for the appointment by ballot of a select committee of nine perfons, to examine the papers, and to lay the refult before the house. His intention was to take every poffible ftep to give full and complete fatisfaction to the nation in a matter of great and general concern; and he conceived, that the folemnity of a committee, and the formality of a report would answer this purpofe better, than a fet of unconnected papers or the affirmation of a minifter. The members of the committee were the marquis of Graham, Mr.William Grenville, Mr. Edward Eliot, Mr. Rofe, Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Beaufoy, Mr. John Call, Mr. Smyth and Mr. Addington, the two laft of whom had been the mover and feconder of the addrefs upon the fpeech from the throne. The report of this committee was laid

and the copies of it were delivered to the members on the twentyseventh of March. It is not neceffary for us to state the contents of this report, as they will come at large before our readers in the subfequent debates.

Two days after the copies had been delivered, Mr. Pitt opened his budget in a committee of the whole houfe. He congratulated parlia ment in a very animated style, upon the fpectacle with which this day prefented them. To behold their country, emerging from a most unfortunate war, which added fuch an accumulation to debts before immenfe, that it was the belief of furrounding nations, and of many among ourselves, that our powers muft neceffarily fail, and that we fhould fink under the burthen: to behold the nation, instead of defpairing at its alarming condition, looking its fituation in the face, and eftablishing upon a spirited and permanent plan, the means of reliev. ing itfelf from its incumbrances, gave fuch an idea of our refources, as must afford the most interelling fpectacle to ourselves, must aflonifh the nations around us, and must enable us to regain that preeminence to which we were on many accounts fo juftly entitled. The wifhed-for day was at length arrived, when all defpondency and gloomy fear might be laid afide, and when our profpect brightened on every fide with exultation and hope. With how much pleasure was Mr. Pitt able to add, that this could be carried into effect without laying any new burthens of confiderable magnitude upon the people. This was beyond the expectation of every man, and was indeed a fubject of the greatest rejoicing to every friend of his country.

The

of the revenue, as it flood for the current year, was flated by the committee at 15,397,000l. The expenditure they divided into the articles that were permanent, and the articles that were fluctuating. In the former defcription they confidered the interefts of the national debt, which was 9,275,7691., the civil lift 900,000l., the exchequer bills, the charges on the aggregate fund, and the appropriated duties. The whole of this divifion was taken at 10,554,000l. The other, clafs of expences included the different establishments for the defence of the nation, as the army, the navy, the ordnance, and the militia. They had allowed for the navy eighteen thousand men, at 100l. each, which was more than had ever been kept up in time of peace. The army they had taken upon the fame mode of reafoning, and they allowed for it 1,600,000l. The whole expenditure, permanent and fluctuating, they cftimated at 14,478,000l. Of confequence there remained a furplus of the annual income above the expenditure, of 900,000l.

The amount, Mr. Pitt obferved, to go back and be loft to the public; and they were befide neceffary to increafe our naval strength to an equality with our powerful neighbours. The demands upon this head were fo confiderable, that, though the committee had ftated the peace establishment of the navy at 1,800,000l., yet the expence attending it in the prefent year, was taken in the current eftimate at 2,400,000l., and would at least amount to 2,360,000l. In the army the exceedings were much above the common run of the expence of that establishment; and this amounted to nearly 300,000l. Thefe two fums would nearly effect the annihilation of the furplus, if out of that furplus it was neceffary they fhould be difcharged. But in reality they were not annual charges; they were the remainder of the expences of the last war, and they muft fpeedily ceafe altogether. In four years the most burthenfome of the articles, that of fhip building, would be removed, nor could this be effected fooner. It was neceffary therefore, that they fhould look to a future average, in order to obtain a true estimate of the disbursements of the nation.

It was however neceffary to be obferved, that, though this was ftated to be the annual expenditure, fome time must intervene before the expenditure could be reduced to this point. The war, from the burthen of which we were juft delivered, had been most expenfive and ruinous. Many of the drains that had occurred during the courfe of it, had not ended with the conclufion of peace, but ftill continued, and must be expected for fome time to hang over the nation. Un der the head of the navy, many fhips that had been laid upon the ftocks were to be finished. They had been built too far to allow them 17866

Mr. Pitt proceeded to examine what the amount of the extraordinary demand would be for the whole term of four years. The exceeding of the navy upon the cur rent eftimates, above the fum at which it had been taken in the rew port of the committee was 600,00cl. In the three following years it would not be fo much, and might be ta ken at 400,000l. The fum therefore to be provided for under this head, for the whole term of four years, was 1,800,000l. The other heads, that fuggefted themselves as matters of extraordinary demand, were the army, the ordnance, and army,

the

the American loyalifts. Thefe three was taken by Mr. Pitt for the enfuing four years at 1,200,000l. The total demand of three millions might be encountered by the method of funding, and ways and means might be provided to answer the interell, without occafioning any intolerable burthen to the nation. But the fate of the country was at prefent fo very flourishing, that Mr. Pitt was happy to mention, that it would not be neceffary to lay any taxes upon the people on this account, and that we had certain extraordinary refources within ourfelves, which would be found abundantly to answer every thing that was required.

The committee had enumerated thefe refources; and the first they had mentioned was that of lotteries. It had been objected indeed to this method of railing money, that it afforded the most dangerous encou ragement to the fpirit of gaming. The fpirit of gaming however was fo deeply rooted, that Mr. Pitt was afraid it was of little confequence whether a lottery was given or withheld. In the mean time government was not refolved whether there fhould be one in the prefent year. The next head was that of favings in the army, or fums of money, that had been appropriated to different fervices, but had not been expended. Thefe had been found very confiderable after the peace of 1763; and from the extent of the grants during the late war much more might be expected. The fum of 450,000l. had already been paid under this head into the exchequer. There were befide immenfe fums in the hands of former pay masters, which it was expected a little time would bring to the public account. The commiffioners of acCounts had indeed an immenfe

labur upon their hands. They had to go through one hundred and eighteen regiments of foot, and as many of horfe and dragoons, whofe accounts for non-effective men had not been examined for twenty years together. One reg ment which they had gone through, had produced 22,001. for the ufe of government; and, though Mr. Piit could not be fo fanguine as to expect that every regiment would produce as much, he however thought he might ftate the total, including contracts and other articles of abuse, at the fum of 1,0 0,000l. The next fource was the balance due from the company for the fubfilence of troops in India. This amounted to 600,000l., and thero was a probability of its being paid in a very fhort time. The committee added to the account, the unclaimed dividends at the bank, a part of which might with fafety be applied to the public ufe, and the fate of the crown lands.

But the great article, upon which they infifted, and upon which they built their furcft expectations of a permanent furplus, was the improvement of the revenue by proper regulations to difcourage an illicit trade. The regulations, which had already been made in this refpeft, had not had room for their full operation, and might be expected fill to increafe, fince an addition of this fort derived from a regular fource, and was not the fudden effect of the restoration of peace. Wine was an article fill fubje&t to great abufes, and demanded an immediate remedy. The confumption of wine in this country was not diminished, and yet it ap peared, when the average of the latt year came to be compared with the year 1746, that the revenue upon this article fell fort no less than 240,001.

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