CHAPTER III. FINANCE. Financial State of the Nation.-General View given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Satisfaction afforded by it.-Mr Maberly's motion.-Arrangements relative to the Sinking Fund.-Motions on the appointment of a Lieutenant-General of Ordnance.-On the Crown Lands.-Estimates.-Budget. MINISTERS opened the financial cam- saries would be stopped, or would paign of this year under peculiarly open at least without any perilous favourable auspices. The difficulty in influence on the mind of parliament. winding up the concerns of so great As to employment and subsistence, a war, the system of shifts and expe- the embarrassments were materially dients to which its exigencies had abated, though not removed. Manudriven them, were now in a great factures were in a state affording to measure brought to a close. At the the great body of the people the same time, the vehemence of the cla- means of obtaining all the absolute mour excited by public distress was necessaries of life, at their now rein a great measure blown over. They duced price. There were thus no were prepared voluntarily to propose remains of that desperate want, which, a material reduction of the public in the hands of the turbulent, had beburdens; and could do this without come so fruitful a parent of public any charge of improvidence, or ne- commotion. One part of the nation glect of posterity. A provision could alone, and that an influential one in still be reserved, small indeed when parliament, still emitted sounds of compared with the immensity of what despondence, and almost of despair. was to be done, but yet not inconsi--The situation of the landed gentry derable in itself, for the gradual removal of that enormous mass of debt which pressed upon the nation. Ministers were ready, moreover, to shew themselves the friends of every practicable and reasonable retrenchment, and to propose plans formed within their own circle, for arranging several of the leading public departments in a more systematic, and somewhat more economical, manner. There was thus every ground for sanguine hope, that the mouths of their adver was in no respect improved, and their rents continued to be little better than nominal. Upon this subject, however, the nation were generally convinced that parliament had afforded, or at least had shewn the disposition to afford, every relief of which circumstances admitted; and if that had been nothing, the inevitable nature of the thing had occasioned the failure. There was no point, therefore, on which Ministers had to apprehend any harassing op position; and there was every appearance of passing tranquilly through this, usually the most troublous and perilous scene of Parliamentary warfare. In performing the grateful task of relieving the public burdens, an embarrassment arose from the immense choice of objects. The laudable principle adopted by Pitt, and certainly carried with wonderful skill through such an ocean of taxation, was to withhold the pressure from the poorer and labouring classes; and, in fact, he scarcely left a greater amount of taxation on the necessaries of life than he found. If, therefore, that great statesman had been in circumstances, as he never was, to reduce any taxes, it is presumable that these would have been his first choice. In the taxes already remitted, (salt, leather, &c.) this principle had been extensively considered. Yet did not Ministers act without weighty reasons, when they followed now a course almost directly opposite. It was the rich, not the poor, that were now in poverty. The spacious mansions and equestrian establishments of the landed gentry formed, at ordinary periods, a most appropriate object of taxation; but the unprecedented pressure upon this class rendered the burden of them now almost intolerable; and a direct remission of sums actually paid would be felt as a much more serious relief, than the repeal of taxes only remotely and doubtfully affecting the value of landed produce. The proprietors of land, indeed, gained thus rather an unfair advantage; for, in consideration of a temporary pressure, they were allowed a permanent preference over the other branches of the community. But present circumstances determine the feelings and conduct of men; and as these stood, it was impossible to refuse them the boon. Ministers, finding their financial concerns in so favourable a position, lost no time in introducing them to the notice of the House. On the 22d of February, Mr Robinson, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, in moving that the House should resolve itself into a Committee of Ways and Means, gave a very full exposition of his financial designs. He began with compliments to his predecessor, and expressions of the disadvantage he felt, in standing in the place of an individual, whose great talents, whose long experience, whose many virtues, and whose unsullied integrity demanded, and had obtained for him, during a long course of years, the respect and esteem of the House. He expressed gratification, however, at the manner in which he himself had been accustomed, on former occasions, to be received. After some further ceremonial preliminaries, he proceeded to state the amount of revenue for the last year, and the estimate for the following year. The revenue of last year amounted to 54,414,650. The expenditure was 49,449,1317. The surplus of the revenue consequently was 4,965,519. For next year, the total expenditure which he counted on would amount to 49,852,7861.; and the estimate might be calculated for the occasion in this way :Total charge of funded debt for the present year, interest of long annuities, management, and charges of that kind, Payments to be made to the com missioners of half pay, Other charges on the consolidated fund, including civil list, pensions, and different items of that description, £28,124,786 2,800,000 2,050,000 Total interest of Exchequer bills, 1,200,000 Estimate for the army, Estimate for the navy, Estimate for the ordnance, . Miscellaneous services, . 7,362,000 5,442,000 1,382,000 1,492,000 £49,852,786 On the other hand, the following estimate of revenue might be made for the succeeding year : Total, . 600,000 of the globe. He had always thought that the broad and just principle of policy was that which, in its applica£10,500,000 tion, rendered commerce mutually 26,000,000 advantageous to all who were en6,600,000 gaged in it: to be effective, it must 1,400,000 be reciprocal, one party benefiting by 7,100,000 the demand, another equally by the consumption, and each interested in the well-doing of the other. His anticipation was the more fixed and gratifying when he found, that in all those articles of commerce which this country wanted, and others were in a condition to supply, there was a steady increase of revenue and consumption, profitable to all parties, and beneficial to the state. When he coupled these facts with what he had already said of the opening and extending markets, which were becoming available to England from the other quarters of the world, and affording anticipations of great and gradual extension-by the way, not the less valuable because they were gradual-it was not too much for him to indulge in the most flattering prospects. 52,200,000 This estimate he thought himself justified in forming, when he considered that, under all the several heads which he had enumerated, the receipts of the last year had exceed ed those of any preceding year. But when they looked at all the circumstances under which that excess took place, he felt, and he trusted the committee would feel with him, that he was not too sanguine in entertaining a confident opinion that the revenue would not merely continue for the current year, upon the same scale of improvement as the last, but that it would continue to evince a still greater progressive increase, and that the amount would accumulate at least in equal ratio. This belief he entertained with the utmost confidence; he entertained it the more sanguinely, when he looked towards the great and extensive regions now opening to British commerce in almost every quarter of the globe-when he found arising in Great Britain, and because it arose there, adopted and acting upon in other countries, a new and improved principle, which emancipated commerce from the embarrassing shackles with which antiquated notions had so long incumbered it-a new principle, which, he was happy to say, during the short time it had been acted upon, had, both in this and in other countries, which naturally looked up to Great Britain for examples of commercial policy, most essentially contributed to the real interests of commerce in every quarter VOL. XVI. PART I. To the above amount, the Chancellor added the somewhat dubious item of 4,850,000l., to be received from the commissioners of half pay, and against which the payment of 2,200,000l. made to them stood as a set-off. The result, then, was this £57,096,988 Taking the revenue at, And the estimated expenditure at, 49,852,786 He calculated on a surplus of, 7,244,202 The next point he had to state, was the mode which appeared to his Majesty's government most expedient for the application of the surplus. What he meant to propose was, that the larger proportion, amounting in round numbers to 5,000,000l., should be used on the principle which Parliament had already recognized for the reduction of the debt, and the remaining 2,000,000l. should be applied to the remission of taxes. F On the subject of the amount to be applied as a sinking fund, Mr Robinson observed, that if he were right in what he collected to have been the leading principles which governed the policy of Parliament, he could not discover any reason why the government should now depart from that course which had been already so strongly recognized. A proposition founded upon the first principle, would at once go to the abolition of the sinking fund, and the abandonment of all attempts to decrease progressively the pressure of the public debt-a principle dangerous at all times, but at the present particularly alarming, for it would involve, as a necessary consequence, the idea of an indefinite addition to the national debt, without any fixed hope of ultimate adjustment. Let those who would venture to recommend the introduction of such a principle into the policy of the country, consider what may be the duty and necessity of the times. Who could say what may be the nature of the claims which should devolve on the nation? Who could say what energies they may be called upon to wield in defence of all that was dear and valuable in national honour? Who could say when they may be compelled again to resort to that firm bulwark-the invaluable credit of the country; and was this the time (if ever) when they ought to disturb that which, if shaken, might lead to the destruction of the country itself? If ever there were a time when it was imperative upon the country to maintain its credit, he thought the present was, from a variety of causes, that period; and the avowal of that time, and the determination to maintain that credit inviolable, ought to be made when they knew that vague and mischievous notions were studiously inculcated, that the people had no remedy for their burdens, but the compulsory seizure of a part of the public debta seizure involving every character of spoliation-a robbery of one set of people to relieve another. (Loud cheers from both sides of the House.) He was glad to find that his own sentiments were echoed from every part of the House. (Reiterated cheers.) The honourable gentleman now (after a short interruption, occasioned by sudden indisposition,) proceeded to the grateful task of detailing the taxes which he intended to remit. His main object was to afford relief to the agricultural interest, and there were a variety of little items which produced an inconvenience to the payer, and an expense in collecting, much out of proportion to the actual produce. The first tax which he would mention, was one upon that class of persons who came under the description of male servants occasionally employed. It was obvious that this tax was exceedingly inconvenient, embarrassing, and vexatious, gave rise to continual disputes, and tended to render the assessed taxes more unpalatable, (he would not use a stronger word,) than they ought fairly to be, when considered merely with reference to their amount. He intended to repeal this tax entirely; it amounted to about 37,2007. Another class of persons were charged with a tax, who, however, appeared to him to be peculiar. ly ill-suited for the imposition of any tax-he meant those described as occasional gardeners The tax had, doubtless, been imposed under the idea that gardening was an object of luxury; but its effect was very frequently to prevent poor people from obtaining employment. If a gentleman was to employ a poor man to mend a walk, or trim a bed in his garden, for only one week, he would be under the necessity of paying the tax. The tax was only 10s.-that was not much, to be sure; but persons did not like to make an additional return. He must confess there was something exceedingly unpleasant in the appearance of that paper which the collector put into one's hand. Individuals had a repugnance to placing in the returns the name of an additional gardener, merely because they had employed some poor man, perhaps from charitable motives, for a few days, in ornamenting their gardens. Believing that the tax upon persons employed as occasional gardeners was unwise, and that it operated to the disadvantage of the poor, he proposed to repeal it altogether. The total amount of the tax was about 19,7007. The next item of taxation which he meant to abolish was that upon the lower class of taxed carts. A petition against that tax had, he believed, been recently presented to the House; and the honourable member for Aberdeen had given notice of his intention to move for a return of its amount. The honourable member should be furnished with the return, which would be the last he would have occasion to call for, upon that subject at least. He computed the amount of the tax to be about 9300l. There was another tax which he would totally repeal; it was unimportant in its amount, but it fell upon a class of persons whom he did not wish to tax at all, if he could help it; he alluded to the tax of 3s. upon ponies under thirteen hands high. At a time when the government was terribly in want of money, and obliged to get all it could whip up, the imposition of such a tax might be excused; but now that they were about a bona fide reduction of taxation, it ought not to be allowed to continue. The produce of the tax was only 4480l. It was also his intention to repeal another tax of equal amount to that which he had just mentioned; it was the tax of 3s. on horses employed by small farmers who happened also to be engaged in trade. The produce of that tax was 6500l. It was obvious the persons by whom it was paid must be poor, and that it must be a great inconvenience to them. He therefore felt great pleasure in proposing its total repeal. He had now mentioned all the small items of taxation which he intended to repeal altogether. The remaining taxes upon horses, carriages, servants, and other objects, he proposed to reduce 50 per cent. It might perhaps be objected, that the largest portion of those taxes were paid by persons whose means enabled them to do so with ease, and that they (the taxes) did not operate oppressively upon that class of the community which was most distressed. He had certainly endeavoured to consult the advantage of the poor, rather than that of the rich, in the intended reduction of taxation; but he did not think that it was very material whether a tax was paid by one class or by another; the repeal of it would be beneficial so far as it went. That being his opinion, he thought the committee would not object to a reduction of 50 per cent of the assessed taxes generally. The right hon. gentleman then stated, that he intended to effect the following reductions upon the several descrip tions of taxes named :— The tax upon male servants, a reduction of £159,500 98,050 The tax upon clerks, shop- carts The tax upon riding horses 17,630 524,000 Upon the lower duties on horses and mules, employed in agriculture |