the requisite peace establishment of the navy, and by the consequent extraordinary sum for supplying that body with provisions. These were not then to be considered as the permanent necessary expenses of the country; and to these there were several sums to be added which could not occur again, or at least could not make a part of our settled yearly expense. Such was the sum for the relief of the loyalists, the expense of the late armament, and the vote for the payment of the debts of the Prince of Wales. These sums added together, amounted to 1,282,000/., which was to be considered as extraordinary, and was consequently to be deducted from the settled regular peace establishment of the country. It had been considered as wise to put every part of the British dominions into such a posture of defence as to ascertain to the country the blessings of peace, and he had the happiness to say, that though they had thus incurred an extraordinary expense of more than 1,200,000l. the receipts of the country had fully answered it, and that without abating from the plan which the House, in its wisdom, had established for the diminution of the national debt. That the same extraordinary demands would continue in future was not to be apprehended, though, undoubtedly, it would be some time before they could come to the real establishment which, in time of peace, had been thought sufficient for the country in the report that was made in 1786; but it was a happy circumstance, that the condition and prospect of the country warranted him in saying, that they should be able to provide for the extra expense in the years to come, as they had in this, without going to any new operation of finance. Mr. Pitt then stated, that in order to defray these expenses, Parliament had already voted, Land and Malt ........ 2,750,000 That he should propose to the Committee to vote a farther sum, to be taken as the growing produce of the Consolidated Fund, between this and the 5th of April, 1788......... Imprest monies, to be paid in the course of the year ....... Army savings of the year 1786 And a farther sum to be repaid by the India Company, on account of troops and victualling the fleet in the East Indies... 1,845,000 200,000 200,000 500,000 Premium on the Lottery Stoppages from the troops for provisions 258,000 43,000 Exchequer bills, and the sum voted for deficiencies, as stated in the supply..................................................... 6,078,000 Mr. Pitt having gone through the whole of the account, and specified the several sums, stated that there was a clear surplus, this year, of 27,000!. over all the expenses, without taxes, without loan, and without interrupting for a moment the application of the million to the discharge of debt. The surplus had been applied, the armament had been provided for, the debts of his Royal Highness had been paid, the extraordinary expense of 1,200,000/. had been sustained, and there was a clear surplus of 27,000l. The extraordinary expense would, he feared, endure for two years more. It would take so long before they could be certain of coming to the permanent peace establishment. Perhaps he might state the farther extraordinary expense that the nation was likely to incur for excess of navy, excess of army, excess of ordnance, and indeed for every other article, except one, of a material nature, at a million, or a million and a half; and for this he thought there were ample resources in the revenue, as there had been proved to be for the large excess in the present year. The other article of extraordinary expense which he meant was, the satisfaction to be made to the American loyalists. The commissioners, had now nearly wound up the whole of the claims, and it appeared that there was property lost which the commissioners had ascertained and agreed to liquidate at 1,860,000l. There might yet remain 2 or 300,000l. to be ascertained. This was to be considered as loss of property. There were also claims of loss of office, which the House would take into their consideration, and act upon as their generosity might incline them. But stating the whole at 2,000,000l. or 2,100,000, the House would see that 500,000/. had been paid them, and there was still 1,600,000l. to be paid. He was authorized to say, that they would be well pleased to have this sum paid them by instalments, and that the payment should commence next year; and he meant to propose that the profits of a lottery, to be established annually, until their claims were fully liquidated, should be applied to their relief. A lottery for seven or eight years would fully answer this exigency, provided that the bargain should every year be rendered as profitable as it had been for the last year, and for the present. He had made the bargain on a competition among different bidders, and the profit would be about 260,000l. a year. Gentlemen might be astonished at this circumstance, but such was the rage and madness for this species of gambling, and such was the bargain that he had made. nor a rational ground of confidence, to argue from the evidence of one year only. He begged leave to remind the Committee, that the last year had many unfriendly circumstances in it, particularly the interruption which our commerce naturally received in the late alarm of war: but, even in looking back to the average of the last three years, they found the calculation strongly confirmed, though certainly the surplus was not so favourable. Yet we had other very essential grounds of confidence: various branches of revenue were improving, and many more were susceptible of improvement. The farming of the post-horse duty brought an accession of 30,000l. to the funds. He must yet, before the close of the session, propose an increase of duty on the stills used in the distilleries of Scotland and on the duty on houses for selling spirituous liquors. Some regulations to prevent the abuses were also essentially necessary. He had it in view to propose something on this subject, but he was not yet fully adequate to the attempt. The probable state of our revenue, and the certain amount of our expense were matters which came next in order, as, undoubtedly, it would be requisite to prove that we ought to have confidence in our situation. That we should invariably proceed in applying the million to the diminution of our debt, was a proposition which he would not detain the House for a moment in discussing, as it had already so forcibly demonstrated its utility. The million was, therefore, added to the per-practised to avoid the duty on tobacco manent establishment of the country; and, as the House had, in its wisdom, established a longer system of defence than was in contemplation two years ago, he would state the permanent peace establishment of the country, instead of 15,478,000l. as calculated by the Committee, at 15,624,000l. He explained the rise to proceed from the increased plantation estimate, which would cost 100,000l. more than it was taken at, and the Hessian subsidy which was 36,000l. There was to be deducted from this sum a saving of interest of about 16,000l. a year, which made the excess about 120,000l. only, but he took it at 124,000l. calculating the anticipated establishment at 15,500,000l. The produce of the last year's revenue up to the period ending the 5th of April, including the land and malt, was 15,792,000l. which was 314,000l. more than the Committee said would be necessary for an establishment, and it was 168,000. more than was necessary, even by the increased establishment, which the House had thought it wise to adopt, and which perhaps political circumstances had rendered requisite. Arguing, therefore, from the experience of last year, we had the fairest ground for confidence that we should not only enjoy ample funds for the liquidation of every expense, but also for carrying on the great purpose of the late arrangement, the extinction of the capital of our debt. But perhaps it might be argued, that it was not a fair mode of stating our situation, [VOL. XXVII. ]· The progressive improvement of a country in peace, and particularly of such a country as England, was a material object, and this was not left for mere specu lation. From the experience of four years we were able to form some estimate. The receipt of the permanent taxes in 1787 had been 15,792,000l. including the land and malt, or 13,000,000l. exclusive. The receipt of the taxes in 1783, exclusive of the land and malt, had been 10,184,0007. Thus there was an increased revenue of three millions, of which not more than one million and a half accrued from new taxes. The rest proceeded from the actual, clear, and ascertained improvement of the country in all its branches, and which demonstrated the increased opulence of the empire. Every department presented the same progressive improvement. In the trade, the navigation, and the fisheries, the progressive improvement bore an exact proportion to the increased revenue. So that our exports and imports, with the immense loss of the American colonies, upon which some persons had so greatly depended-with the immense loss for ever of the money that was lavished on the war-with the loss of the people-were now as great as in the most flourishing year before the last war. In 1772 our imports were upwards of 14,500,000/.; our exports upwards of [2D] 16,000,000. In 1773, the imports were 12,000,000.; the exports 16,000,000!.: these were the greatest years before the last war. In 1786, the imports were 15,786,000l.; the exports 16,300,000. In 1787, the imports were not ascertained; but the exports were 16,600,000l. Perhaps it might be said, that in these comparative statements the balance was against us in the latter years; but the increase of the imports arose from the increase of the home consumption of luxuries. It proceeded from the beneficial import of raw materials used in our manufactures; and it might be considered as a very pleasing circumstance attending the increased imports, that they chiefly came from a part of our own empire-they came from Ire. land. In like manner our navigation had increased. Our valuable fishery in particular had improved with much rapidity. The Newfoundland fishery, that great nursery of our seamen, was in a most flourishing condition. In 1773 and 1774 it produced 516,000 quintals. In 1786 it produced 732,000. In 1773 the tonnage in the Greenland fishery was 27,000. In 1786 it was 53,000. In 1773 the number of ships was 96. In 1786 the number was 153. In 1787, with the reduced bounty, the number was 248. The number of men employed in this fishery in 1786 was 6,600. In 1787, it could not be less than 10,000. The southern whale fishery, a new and very valuable branch of trade, which he only took up at the beginning of the last war, had also equally prospered. In this fishery, in 1785, there were employed 18 ships producing 29,000l. In 1787 there were employed 38 ships producing 107,000%. He mentioned these circumstances to prove that our improved condition came from no forced revenues, but was the fair and actual result of increased commerce. · We had thus ascertained a surplus after having appropriated a million to the payment of our debt. We had given great additional strength to our foreign possessions, and, in doing this, we had not overlooked that which was the favourite service at home. No less than seven millions had, in the course of four years, been expended in the improvement of the navy; and he took upon him to say, that it had been applied with as much fidelity as it had been voted with judgment. There were, he would pledge himself to prove, 30 ships of the line, and 35 frigates, built or repaired, more than there were in the first four years after the peace of 1763. In addition to this, we had absolutely and for ever extinguished two millions and a half of our debt. One more circumstance only he begged leave to mention, and this not without triumph, although he trusted that he felt no other than the honest pride of an Englishman on the occasion. Our rival in the war, France, who had interfered in the dispute with our late colonies; who had projected to herself such immense advantages by the war, and who certainly had advantages in it, was now able to prove, that the war gave to her less than she expected, and that we had suffered less than had been anticipated. He had within a few hours seen the ackowledged state of the French finances, as drawn forth and exhibited by the French government. By that account, the avowed annual deficiency of revenue, to answer their necessary expenditure after all the retrenchments they had made, was upwards of 2,300,000l. sterling. Their receipt was acknowledged to be about 20,000,000l. sterling. Their expense was confessed to be 22,900,000l. sterling. In the same statement, there was a plan devised for an annual loan for five or six years to come, which, with a variety of projected retrenchments, were held out as sufficient to wind up the effects of their derangement. He mentioned this, simply to show the comparative condition of the two countries; and surely it afforded matter of pride to England, that her rival, who had thus interfered without provocation, had been so thoroughly disappointed in the views which she had in the conflict. Mr. Pitt concluded with moving the first of a set of resolutions. Mr. Sheridan remarked, that however invidious it might seem to start objections to so flattering a statement of the revenue and increasing resources of the country, as had been just given, it was necessary to dispel the delusion under which this country had been acting for some time, and to detect the fallacies by which it was still attempted to impose on the public, and continue that delusion. The right hon. gentleman had entertained the House with an account of the sad state of the French finances, and he, for one, wished so well to that part of his argument, that he hoped the French finances would always be found in as bad or even a worse situation, whenever the right hon. gentle were, to come from the East India Company. They were to pay 300,000l. last year, and he had then objected to the right hon. gentleman's taking credit for a sum which the Company had not acknow man should have occasion to draw such a hon. gentleman made up his estimates of comparison as he had now done. But, the expenditure. While he added to the how had they been reduced to that mise- estimates of the army, he allowed no adrable state in which they were represented dition to the estimate of the navy. Was to be? by doing that which we had done, it really his opinion that the expense of and were persisting to do. The French the navy in 1790, would not exceed had not faced their situation, and by en- 1,800,000l.? for the ordnance indeed he deavouring to impose on themselves, and allowed 10,000/., but took no notice of the to make it appear better than it really expense of fortifications, which, in the was, they had rendered it infinitely worse West Indies alone, he had formerly stated than it might have been. The real ques- would amount to between 2 and 300,000%. tion before the Committee was, to consi- and taking fortifications, as it was most der whether our receipt was equal to our reasonable to do, at the largest estimate expenditure. The annual expenditure for (for they seldom fell short in point of exthe peace establishment, as now stated, pense, whatever they might do in point of was to be in future 15,500,000/. This utility) there would be wanted 300,000l. might, therefore, be considered as ground for the West Indies alone, and on the to argue from, since, however much it whole from 7 to 800,000l. He objected, might exceed that sum, it could not rea- also, to the estimate for miscellaneous sonably be expected to fall short of it. services, which he contended must exceed In order to make up an income equal to by 74,224. the sum at which it was made this expenditure, by taking the receipts out. He came next to consider the shifts not on an average of several years, but to which the right hon. gentleman had one year only, and making up the ac- resorted, in order to defray the extraordicounts from April 1787 to April 1788, in-nary expenses of the year: 500,000l. stead of from January to January, a revenue was produced on paper of 15,792,000l. Mr. Sheridan contended against the accuracy of this statement, and said the report of the Committee of 1786 would put the matter in a clearer light. The annual ex-ledged to be due. No part of that sum penditure was there stated to be 15,390,000l. and the annual revenue as there stated, with 100,000l. additional taxes, fell very far short of that sum, if fairly calculated. If the right hon. gentleman, instead of the receipt of the last year, which was acknowledged to have been more productive than any former year had been, from accidental causes that could not be expected to operate for another year, had taken, as he ought to have done, the average of 1786 and 1787, the produce of all the taxes would have The right hon. gentleman had amused appeared to be no more than 2,389,000l., the Committee with fine stories of the inmaking, with the addition of the land and crease of our trade and shipping, and the malt taxes, 15,250,000l. which would flourishing state of our fisheries; but inhave fallen short of the expenditure, as stead of entering into any discussion of now stated, 250,000l. This was as near what he had advanced on that subject, the the truth as could reasonably be pre-truth of which he wished as much to rely sumed, from the circumstances of the upon as any man, he begged leave to call country and of the revenue, since the the attention of the Committee to the peace; and this was the situation which Commutation Act, which had failed in the Committee was bound in duty to meet every circumstance, for which those who and to provide for, instead of endeavour-supported it stood pledged to the public. ing to impose on themselves and the public, and delaying to apply the remedy till it might be too late.Another circumstance he felt himself obliged to controvert was, the means by which the right had been paid into the Exchequer, and because the payment had been, and was still disputed by the Company, credit was again taken for a much larger sum, which he firmly believed would no more be paid than the former. The Company had denied that they owed any such sum to government; they had drawn up a case for the consideration of counsel, and if the facts were as they were there stated to be, he had no scruple in saying, that the claim of government was not well founded. Instead of the supply of tea which the Company were bound to import by that Act, to answer the increased demand, to have a year's stock on hand, and to keep the prices as low as by the commutation they ought to be, they had not imported a) quantity equal in any one respect to those purposes. This he did not charge on the Company as blameable; their finances had not enabled them to do it; and would government call upon them to pay 500,000l. in order to enable them to do that which they had not been able to do before? There was no way of doing this, but by enabling them to increase their capital as the value of it decreased, as had been done in the famous South Sea scheme. With regard to the Commutation Act, he asserted again, that the compact with the public had been broken in every respect. In the first place it was to destroy smuggling, which had been argued as the principal advantage that was to be obtained from it, and yet it was notorious that it had not done this. The Company was to supply not only England, but all Europe with tea: 180,000l. had been sent to the continent to buy up the whole stock there; and by the last accounts from China, the foreign shipping there was four times greater than it had been at any former period. We now sent to China 1,500,000l. annually, instead of 350,000l. or 400,000l. which we used to send before; and notwithstanding this great increase of the balance against us, from the high price of tea, and the quantity that would soon be imported on the continent, there was reason to believe that smuggling would again prevail as much as ever. This breach of compact with the public, he affirmed to be a strong charge against those in whose hands the management of the affairs of the Company was placed, and whose duty it was to see that the engagement with the public should be fulfilled. He objected, also, to the method in which the commutation duty was paid; since it passed unnecessarily through various offices, instead of being paid immediately into the Exchequer. He concluded with observing, that in the present real state of the finances, and the evident inefficiency of the Commutation Act for the purposes for which it was passed, he saw no reason why a duty of 2 or 300,000l. should not be raised on the article of tea. Mr. Pitt requested that he might be again favoured with the indulgence of the Committee, while he took notice of the very singular manner in which the hon. gentleman had argued the question. The hon. gentleman began his speech with saying, that he would confine himself to the simple question, whether the revenues of this country were adequate to its expenditure: he had, however, thought proper to desert the ground he had taken, in order that he might attack the Commutation Act passed four years ago. If the hon. gentleman really felt on that subject what he professed to feel, let him move for the repeal of the Act, and he was ready to meet him. The hon. gentleman could not, however, forget that he had claimed some merit for having had a share in the idea of the Commutation Act: and that the arguments which were then brought against it, had been completely refuted. He contended that he was justified in taking the year, ending the 5th of April last, as a tolerably good criterion of the probable resources of this country. The preceding year had been marked with peculiar circumstances, which had already been explained; but from the natural spring of commerce, and other causes, the increase of the revenue had been uniformly progressive ever since the peace, with the exception only of the year, ending the 5th Jan. 1787. With regard to the permanent peace establishment, perhaps circumstances which could not be foreseen, might increase it. It was impossible to provide for every contingency: but there was no good reason to apprehend, that the sum for which it had been taken would not be adequate to the expenses, particularly as there was every probability that, in two years, our navy would be in such a state as to require no farther increase. The fortifications were not to be considered as a permanent expense at any rate, because if they should not be finished for a year or two after the time proposed, the sum issued on that account would not substantially affect the arrangement. As to what the hon. gentleman had said relative to the debt due to public by the East India Company, it deserved to be treated with as little ceremony as had accompanied the observation. If to claim a just debt, at a time when the circumstances of the nation demanded it, could be called a shift, it was a shift of which he was not ashamed; and, in his opinion, it was infinitely to be preferred to the shift of borrowing money, or imposing new taxes. The debt which the Company owed considerably exceeded that for which he had taken credit; but if the claim was not found to be just in its fullest extent, the money would be paid, subject to its being refunded or not, according to the event of the decision on that question. Upon the whole he lamented, that the |