Vote of Credit, Freglnad...3,000,000 Sicily Joint Charge... £50,566,000 Loyalty Loan......... 18,776 Interest on Exchequer Bills...1,600,000 1,618,776 Total Supplies ...... 52,185.000 Irish Proportion of £50,566,000 ..... Ditto Civil List and other charges ... England had only been 11,400,000l. The excess 3,200,000 of the receipts above the assessment of the 400,000 year was consequently 2,351,233l. It. 980,000 would not, however, be reasonable to cal-' culate upon so large a receipt in the present year, as the excess of the receipts above the actual assessment consisted of arrears of former years which had been. collected with great activity and success. Such indeed had been the activity used in the collection of the arrears, that there were now none due of a later date than the year 1807, and the particular arrears 46,079,000 which now appeared to be due were as follows: for the year 1807, the arrears were 409,9231.; for the year 180S, 530,3681.; for the year 1809, 1,540,750l.; and for the present year 6,241,4051. This last sum, however, could not properly be called arrears, as the assessment for the year 1810 was made up to the 5th of April, which was only last month, and that assessment was now in the regular course of collection. It was, therefore, hard to state 350,000 whether there were any arrears properly *5,311,600 belonging to the year 1810. Since the 3,000,000 year 1804 there had been granted on 8,000,000 account of the war taxes altogether 115,880,000l. of which there had been received 107,441,4781. leaving a total arrear of 8,437,5224. of grants unsatisfied. This balance however was to be deducted from the arrear of assessments outstanding at the same period............... To meet these Supplies, the Ways and Means were as follows: WAYS AND MEANS. Annual Duties........ £3,000,000 2,661,692 .1810......... 4,400,000 19,500,000 Surplus Consolidated Fund 1809 Ditto...... War Taxes Lottery Exchequer Bills Vote of Credit Loan The total of ways and means, as the Committee must perceive, would afford a surplus of 141,2021. above the total amount of the supplies. Having thus laid before the committee a general statement of the total amount of grants of supplies and of the ways and means to meet them, it became his duty next to make some observations on the different items. As to the first two items of the ways and means, it did not occur to him that it was necessary to make any particular observations with respect to them at present. But with respect to the war taxes, he felt that it would be incumbent him to state to the House those upon reasons which made him conceive himself warranted in taking them at the amount that he had stated. The war taxes had last year produced 22,707,000l. The produce of the tax upon property actually paid into the treasury in the last year was 13,751,2331. of which sum the assessment necessary for him to use any particular arguments to recommend it. He trusted the House would perceive the necessity of granting the usual vote of credit in the present state of the country, and the circumstances and situation of the world in general. He came next to the consideration of the loan, consisting of eight millions for the service of Great Britain, and four millions for the service of Ireland; and he had the satisfaction to inform the committee, that he had contracted for the twelve millions that morning, on terms infinitely more favourable to the public than had ever been, at any former period, known. The terms he had proposed as the basis of the law, were to give for every 1001. subscribed, 1301. in the 3 per cent. reduced stock, and to take the bidding in the 3 per cent. consols. The contract was finally completed upon an offer on the part of the contractors to take 101. 7s. 6d. in the consols, in addition to the 130%. reduced annuities for every 1001. subscribed, making in the whole 140. 78. 6d. for each 100%. The amount of interest upon the money borrowed was, therefore, but 41. 4s. 34d. per cent.; so that the loan of twelve millions for the service of Great Britain and Ireland, was thus borrowed at 15s. 74d. per cent. below the rate of legal interest. The total charge that would arise to the public, including the sinking fund and the charge of management upon the loan, would be but 51. 13s. per cent. The committee would from this statement, be enabled to appreciate the advantage derived to the public upon this loan, by adverting to the terms upon which the loan of last year had been effected. Gentlemen would recollect, that the loan for the service of the year 1809 had been procured at an interest of 41. 12s. 10d., and that such terms were on that occasion looked upon as most favourable. It would be seen, therefore, with satisfaction, that according to the statement he had just submitted, the loan for the service of the present year had been obtained at the rate of 8s. 7d. per cent. interest less than the last year, and it would be for the com With respect to the lottery, he knew an honourable gentleman opposite him (Mr. Whitbread), was still positive in his intention of opposing the raising of any sum of money whatever in that way. But whatever weight his objections might ultimately have, he was sure the honourable gentleman would be much gratified to find, that many of the most serious evils which were formerly attendant upon lotteries, had been, in a great measure, if not wholly, removed by different suggestions and regulations which he himself had made. The new plan, of having the whole lottery drawn in one day, cut up by the roots that system of insurance upon the drawing of the lottery, which had produced such mischievous effects among many of the lower classes of the community. When the drawing of the lottery continued many days, it was hardly possible to prevent illegal insurances: and the great mischief attending them was, that the poor were often induced to risk all that they were worth, and expose themselves to absolute ruin, in the hope of recovering their first losses. The destruction of insurances therefore had almost entirely removed those evil consequences which had been complained of in former lotteries. He did not think, for his own part, that giving up the lottery altogether would by any means destroy the spirit of gaming among the lower orders. He thought on the contrary, that it might drive many of them to modes of gambling, which would be much more pernicious to them, as partaking of the evils attending insurances, without the slightest possibility of gain. He meant the little goes, and things of that description. He trusted therefore that, when it came to be argued, the House would still be of opinion that this source of revenue should not be aban-mittee to decide, whether, so far as the doned. As to the large sum of 8,311,000l. intion of the country, it was to be regarded exchequer bills funded, he had already as a proof for the better or the worse. stated that the vote of credit of the last (Hear!) It would be in the recollection year had been defrayed from these ex- of the committee, that at a former period chequer bills And as to a vote of credit of the session he submitted a proposition for the present year, he did not think it to the House for funding a certain propor. transaction was connected with the situa to be deducted the deficiency of the pre- tion of the exchequer bills outstanding in the 5 per cents. The stock created by that operation,added to what was created by the transaction of the loan, constituted the whole amount of the addition to the public debt. In consequence of the loan there were created in the 3 per cents. reduced reduce the difference to little more than 10,400,000l.; in the 3 per cents. consols the sum at which he proposed to estimate 830,000l.; making a total on account of the surplus of the fund for the present the loan of 11,230,000l. Now, if this year. He had next to acquaint the comamount were to be added the stock created mittee with the grounds on which he cal on account of the funded exchequer culated that its produce would be nearly bills 8,581,7271. it would give a total of the same in the current year. The conaddition to the public debt of Great Bri-solidated customs in the year ending the tain in the present year of 19,811,7271. The charge for interest upon this addition to the public debt was on the 3 per cents. reduced consols 336,000l.; on the exchequer bills funded in the 5 per cents. 429,0861.; forming a total annual charge of 765,9861. To this charge, however, was to be added, on account of 1 per cent. sinking fund, 198,1177, and on account of charge of management, 6,7351. which would make the whole of the annual charge to be provided for, including the different rates of interest, and charges for the sinking fund, and of management, 970 8331. 5th of April 1810, had exceeded their produce in the antecedent year. This branch of the revenue had produced in the last year 5,251,4497. whereas in the preceding year it had produced but 3,719,000l. He was aware, however, that it would not be either reasonable or just to assume, that the receipt of the consolidated customs would in the present be the same as in the last year. He should take the average of the two years, which, the sum of both being 8,970,4491. would be 4,485,2211. The amount of the revenue of consolidated excise he proposed to take at what it It now became his duty to submit to the had produced last year, 16,880,635. The consideration of the committee, the means total amount of the consolidated customs by which he proposed to meet so large a and excise revenue during the last year, supply; but he had first to bring under allowing for the duties on tea postponed, the observation of the committee the fact, and the sugar duties transferred from the that the charge upon the whole, inclusive customs to the excise, amounted to upof every expence, was but 51. 19s. 1d. per wards of 24,000,000l. The consolidated cent. The cause of its being even so high customs and excise revenue in 1808, had was obviously to be found in the transac-produced 23,000,000l.; but in the actions for funding the exchequer bills in the 5 per cents. Thus he had stated in detail all the heads of the ways and means of the year, with the exception of the consolidated fund. It remained for him, therefore, to put the committee in possession of the grounds of his entertaining a reasonable prospect as to the produce of that fund, and also to shew why he did not propose to take the surplus for the present year at more than 4,400,000l. The total charge upon the consolidated fund for the year 1810, was 34,421,9967. the total produce of that fund being 41,441,7701. up to the 5th of April last. The difference, therefore, between the charge and produce of that fund, amounted to 7,019,7747. When this difference was so large, it might be matter of surprise to the committee, that he did not estimate the surplus for the present year, higher than he proposed to do. But from that difference there was counts for the last year there was a blank left for the duties on sugar, in the last quarter, which had not been received, but which estimated according to the receipts of the preceding quarters, would raise the receipts of the last year to above 24,000,000%. or 24,476,000l. So that the receipts of that year would be to those of 1808, nearly as 24 to 22, and to those of 1807, as 24 to 23, and if the receipts should continue during the remaining quarters to exceed the receipts of the last year, in the same proportion as the first quarter's receipts bad exceeded the receipts of the corresponding quarter of last year, he had a certainty of a very considerable increase. It would, he had no doubt, be a satisfaction to learn, that the malt duty, in which there had been some falling off, was now beginning to recover; and that there had been an increase of from forty to fifty thousand pounds in the last quarter. He now came to the consideration of the assessed taxes. The produce of these taxes last year was 6,459,000l.; but upon comparing the receipts with the actual assessments, he found that the receipts were considerably more than the assessments, an increase which could only arise from the extraordinary exertions made to collect the arrears. The amount of arrears last year, in the arreared taxes, was not less than 600,000l. whereas he had the satisfaction to inform the committee, that the whole amount of such arrears, at present outstanding, did not exceed 300,000l.; a state of progress in the effectual collection of these taxes, which must prove to the House and the country that no neglect at least had taken place in that department. Making allowance therefore for the arrears collected within the last year, he should take credit, on account of the assessed taxes, for 5,860,000l. The produce of the stamp duties he proposed to take at the amount of their produce last year, being 5,193,000l. The post-office produced 1,194,000l. and as it was a growing revenue, he was also entitled to take it at the same amount. There were several other minor branches of revenue arising from pensions, land tax, hawkers and pedlars and imprest monies, which, added to the various sources of revenue he had before enumerated, would carry the receipts of the consolidated fund to 35,357,000l. The sum which had been transferred to the consolidated fund from the war taxes on account of the loans of 1807 and 1809, amounted to 2,240,000l. annually; so that the whole receipts of the consolidated fund exclusive of the duties annually voted, were 37,597,000l. The total amount of charge upon the consolidated fund exclusive of Ireland, and an allowance of 100,000l. for charges which might be thrown upon it in the course of the year, (a sum of 160,000l. having been so appropriated in the course of last year) did not exceed. 31,960,000l. which sum, deducted from the receipts, would leave a surplus of 5,637,000l. It was natural then for the committee to ask why, when the surplus according to his own statement was so great, he should propose to take, it only at the amount of 4,400,000l. The reason of his so doing he was prepared to state to the committee, and that would necessarily lead him to an explanation of the means by which he proposed to cover the supply required for the charge of the loan, &c. The accounts on the table would shew the committee, that the receipts under the head of stamps, had amounted last year to 5,193,000l. which was an increase above the receipts of the preceding year of the sum of 1,236,9071. This great increase was, in some degree, owing as well to the collection of arrears, as arising subsequent to, and out of certain regulations and provisions, which had been adopted on his own suggestion in the year 1808, in the act for consolidating of the duties on stamps. The charge to be provided for in that year amounted to 731,000l. Of this 621,2421. had been provided by other means, and 106,7587. only remained to be defrayed out of the consolidated stamps. Taking the average of the two preceding years as the criterion of the produce of the stamp-duties, the excess of the receipt of last year would give the exact amount derived from the regula tions which he had recommended. This average was 3,856,030l. which deducted from 5,193,000l. the receipt of last year, would leave an excess of 1,236,970 applicable to the public service. He vas aware that in making this statement he might be exposing himself to censure, for having made so great a miscalculation of the effects of his measure: but whatever might be thought of that, he was confident that the committee would feel the propriety of taking advantage of this increase, and apply it to the service of the year. If the sum charged, in 1808, on the stamp consolidated duties of 106,7581. were deducted from the surplus receipts of last year, it would leave a balance of nearly 1,130,000l. arising out of the additions and regulations made in the consolidation of the stamp duties in 1808. The proposition then which he had to submit to the House, and he should beg of gentlemen to tax and comment upon, and criticise it as they might think fit, was, that the charge of 970,5391. 12s. 1d. incurred upon the loan, and the funding of exchequer bills in the present year, should be taken out of this excess of the provision made in the regulation of the stamp duties in 180s. If the House could have anticipated such an excess from the measure then resorted to, he had no doubt but that they might have applied it in the same manner as any other surplus of ways and means, to the relief of the burthens of that year. But in submitting this proposition to the committee, he intreated gentlemen not to consider it as containing any thing impose new ones. Though he could not, therefore, find any precedent precisely in instance to which he had alluded, that could be no reason why, under the different circumstances of the times, the measure should not now be adopted on the grounds, on which he felt it his duty to recommend it. new. Having granted these duties in 1805, the House was justified in appropriating them to the charge of the pre-point for the measure he proposed in the sent year on account of the loan. But it was not necessary to run the appropriation to the full length of the excess of the receipts over the 106,758l. required for the charge of 1808. He should propose to reserve a sum of 150,000!. from that excess, which would leave a sum of 1,086,000l. which, after covering the charge for the current year, would afford a balance of about 115,000l. applicable to the general purposes of the consolidated fund. He was aware that many persons might feel considerable objections to this proposition; but the more such objections should be examined, the more they would be found to contain nothing of any weight in comparison with the advantages that would result from its adoption. The first objection, that perhaps would be started, was, that the House would consider it a new principle to look to the actual receipt of former taxes for defraying the accruing burthens of the current year. It might, too, be stated in support of this objection, that in the year 1802, when a sum of 1,800,000l. only was wanted, Mr. Addington had laid on taxes to a much larger amount; and yet in the following year, had proceeded to provide for its charges by new taxes, without resorting to the excess of the provision over the charge of the preceding year. But such objection he might meet, by asking whether his proposition was the same with that submitted to the House in 1802? Besides, gentlemen would recollect that Mr. Addington's measure had been brought forward in a year of peace; and at a time, too, when he was making a very considerable and important alteration in the whole system of the sinking fund. When such an alteration was in progress, it was. natural to look to some new arrangements to provide for the charge of the current year, rather than go back to the.produce arising from the financial operations of a preceding year. If some considerations of this description had not influenced the measures resorted to on the occasion to which he had alluded, or if the idea was then generally entertained, as at present, that an end ought to be put to the progress of taxation so long as it could be avoided, he was of opinion that the ministers of that day should have resorted to the existing or old taxes, rather than But in considering this part of the question, he wished to bring to the recollection of the Committee, the plan which had been brought forward in 1807, by his immediate predecessor in office. The principle upon which that plan was founded, was, that it was desirable to suspend the laying on of any new taxes for three years at least, in order to cherish the resources of the country. Consequently no new taxes had been laid on in that year, and, though the principle had not been adhered to in 1808, no new taxes had been imposed in the year 1809. Thus the plan had been carried into effect in two of the three years originally proposed, but actually only in one, because the additional taxes and produce of regulations adopted in the intervening year, by producing above a million more than was necessary to meet the charge of that year, in reality amounted to a provision for two years in one. There was also another consideration, which weighed strongly on his mind in recommending this measure. By the exertions that had been made, and were still in progress, to call in the arrears of the property and assessed taxes, which last year amounted to 2,800,000l. a considerable sum had been drawn from the public in addition to the regular receipts of the year. The Committee then would see that the period when such an additional collection had been made from the public, though on account of arrears, was not a time for resorting to new taxes, if they could be avoided. He begged particularly in this place to call the attention of the Committee to a resolution which had been introduced by the noble lord whom he succeeded (marquis of Lansdowne) into his financial resolutions in 1807. This resolution directed that an account should be laid before the House of the net produce of all the permanent taxes for the three preceding years, and that an average should be made of those not then in full operation it also directed that a similar account should be made out for the years 1808, 9, and 10, and if there should appear to be any excess of |