Mr. Beaufoy's motion was oppofed in a long and able fpeech by lord North, and fupported by Mr. Smith (member for Sudbury) and by Mr. Fox; the latter of whom, in anfwer to the argument, that the admiffion to offices of trust and power, of perfons entertaining opinions contrary to thofe of the established church, might endanger its establishment, contended with great ingenuity that it was unjust and tyrannical to infer the future conduct of men from the fpeculative opinions they entertained; and still more fo, to make that inference the ground of previous punishment: Mr. Pitt replied to Mr. Fox, and argued, that government had a right to prevent any civil inconvenience which fuch opinions might produce, without waiting till by their being carried into action, the inconvenience had actually arifen. He confidered the eftablifhed church as a part of the conftitution of the country, and the acts in question as juftifiable on the principle of felf defence. They had now exifted for above a century, and had ever been looked upon as one of the props and bulwarks of the conftitution. He fpoke of the great quiet that obtained at prefent relative to religious differences; and faid, if there was any thing that could interrupt the harmony and moderation which fubfifted between fects, once contending with great virulence and afperity, it would be by awakening a competition, and re-kindling the fparks of ancient animofity, which mutual forbearance had almoft ftifled and extinguished.

The house at length divided; when there appeared for the motion 102, against it 122.

Soon after this debate, the earl Stanhope, in the upper houfe, moved

for leave to bring in a bill" for relieving members of the church of England from fundry penalties and difabilities, to which by the laws now in force they may be liable, and for extending freedom in matters of religion to all perfons (papifts only excepted), and for other purpofes therein mentioned."

As the foundation of this bill be laid before their lordships an account of all the penal laws, whether exifting, obfolete, or repealed, which had been enacted from the earliest times, upon matters of religion, forcery, and various other fubjects; and urged the injuftice as well as difgrace of suffering them to remain any longer amongst our ftatutes.

The bill, which was rejected on the fecond reading, befides repealing all the afore-mentioned ftatutes, enacted, that all perfons (papifts, on account of their perfecuting and dangerous principles only excepted) hall have free liberty to exercile their religion; and by speaking, writing, printing, and publishing, or by all or any of the faid ways or means, to inveftigate religious fubjects; and by preaching and teaching to inftruct perfons in the duties of religion, in fuch manner as every fuch perfon refpectively fhall judge the most conducive to promote virtue, the happiness of fociety, and the eternal felicity of mankind.

The bill was opposed by the archbishop of Canterbury, and the bishops of Bangor, St.Afaph, and St. David's. They admitted that a revifion of the penal acts in queftion might be ne ceffary; but they objected to the bill on account of the extent to which i went, and the wide door it opened to every fpecies of licentioufnefs and irreligion.

The

ticularly under confideration; firft, whether we could pay the extraordinary expences which muft accrue before we arrived at a regular peace establishment, without a loan? and next, whether the revenue was equal to the fum ftated by the committee of accounts as neceflary to pay the annual cftablishments, and the intereft of the public debt, and to have a furplus of one million annually towards its liquidation ?

From 1786 we had raised no money by loan; it was now propofed to raife one million; and we had fince that time increafed the navy debt 500,000l. But what had been the extraordinary expences fince that time? We had paid 3,500,000l. above the average peace etablishment: we had paid, befides, 852,cool. to the loyalifts; 216,000l. for the prince of Wales's debts; 210,000l. for the debts of the civil lift; and 253,000l. for the expence of the armament laft year: which fums, taken together, were equal to the additional navy debt incured, and the million now to be borrowed. So that although in three years 3,500,000l. had been paid above the calculation of the committee, and 3,750,cool. for the reduction of the national debt, with which above our millions of debt had been actually paid, and 120,000l. brought annually to the finking fund, had it not been for thofe unforefeen expences we fhould not only have been able to provide for the extraordinary million wanted this year without any additional burden on the people, but we should not even have wanted a fubftitute for the shop tax. Under thofe circumftances, he might congratulate the country, that the hopes which he had entertained were well founded,

and that the calculations of the committee had been verified to a degree of accuracy feldom to be expected in fuch calculations.

His next statement was that of the permanent income. It had been declared by the fame committee, that 15,500,000l. revenue was neceffary to defray the annual expences, and leave one million to be applied to the reduction of the debt. How did it ftand at prefent? On an average of the last two years it appeared to be (including the land and malt tax) 15,578,cool. nearly exceeding by 100,000l. what the committee had thought to be neceffary. There was, therefore, no difappointment with regard to the permanent income. It was not then neceffary to fay much to convince the committee that the finances were in as good a fituation as there ever had been any reafon held out to expect? he had neither been acceffary to deceiving the public, nor been deceived himself; and the new burdens to be impofed ought to be borne with as much cheerfulness as any which were impofed on fair grounds, and for neceffary purposes.

The million to be raised by loan he meant to borrow upon annuities with benefit of furvivorship; by which means, in time, it must extinguifh itfelf, and no addition be made to the public debt. Calculating on the most approved tables of lives, and reckoning the interest of money from the three per cents. at about four per cent. he had found that the intereft on the whole would be about 41. 10s. per cent. The perfons who agreed for the whole, had allowed a fmall premium of 2,500l. It was part of the terms that no more than 1000l. a year

should

fhould ever be received on the fum of 100l. a matter not of much confequence perhaps, but as it might guard against any uncommon length of furvivorship, fo far it was in favour of the public. The fubfcribers were divided into fix claffes, and it was computed that an equal fum would be fubfcribed by each; but as more of one might offer than of any other, the contractors were not to be confined on this head. The intereft, therefore, could not be precifely afcertained till the fubfcription was full, but might be taken at 44,750l. To re-place the fum lent from the civil lift, he meant to raise 191,000l. by fhort annuities, which the inftal ments received in payment would anfwer; and in doing this he had made an economical bargain for the public.

During the courfe of the preceding year the fhop tax had produced about 56,000l. which, with the tontine annuities, would make nearly 100,000l. to be raised by new taxes. To do this he propofed an augmentation of certain ftamp duties. ift. An additional halfpenny on every newspaper, which would produce 28,000l.; fixpence additional on each advertisement, 9000l.; fixpence additional on cards and dice, goool.; an additional duty on probates of wills, in proportion to the fum bequeathed, 18,2611.; on legacies to collateral relations, 5000l.; making in all, by ftamp duties, 69,2611. On horfes and carriages. On one carriage an additional of one eighth of the prefent duty; on two an additional of one pound for the firft, and of two for the fecond; on three or more, one pound for the

firft, and three for all the rest: on two horfes no addition for the first, but five fhillings for the fecond; on three, four, or five horses, seven and fixpence for all above one; on more than five, ten fhillings; making in all, with the additional stamp duties, about 111,000l.

To this statement of the finances many weighty objections were made -It was urged in general, that the neceffity they were then under, of having recourfe to new loans and new taxes, after a period of fix years peace, was itself a fufficient proof that our finances were not in the condition they were reprefented to be. The unforeseen contingencies of expence, which had been alledged as the caufe of the prefent difficulty, could not be calculated at more than 600,000l., that is, for three years, 200,000l. a year; for the loyalifts had been paid by lotteries, and the 3,500,000l. itated to be the excefs above the regular peace eftablished, only proved that the original eltimate was delufive, and that the establishment was taken too low-It was boasted that three millions of the national debt had been difcharged-But on the other hand, befides the increafed navy debt of 500,000l. one million of additional exchequer bills had been iffued, another million was now to be borrowed, and two millions had been received from the East India Company. So that with the affiftance of four millions, the minifter had fucceed in the notable attempt of paying three millions of national debt.-Mr. Sheridan pledged himfelf that there facts would be found true, if Mr. Pitt would confent that

[K] 4

the

The fubject was fome time after refumed by Mr. Sheridan, upon a motion for the appointment of fuch a committee as he had before described. In a long and able fpeech on this occafion, he undertook to prove the four following propofitions:That the report of the committee, appointed in 1786, founded in fact, nor verified by experiment —That, for the three laft years, the expenditure has exceeded the income two millions, and may be expected to do fo for three years to come-That no progrefs has hitherto been made in the reduction of the public debt-That there is no ground for rational expectation, that any progrefs can be made without a confiderable increase of the annual income, or reduction of the expences.

In fupport of the firft propofition, - Mr. Sheridan faid, that the committee had declared it to be their opinion, upon a fair comparison between the extraordinary expenditure and the extraordinary means, that the latter would be adequate to the fupply of the former, without a loan. A loan had, however, actually taken place. The committee had further declared that the annual income, exclusive of land and malt tax, would be 12,794,000l. Now upon an average of three years, which included the

deficient year preceding the commercial treaty with France, and the productive year which fucceeded it, the income would be found to fall fhort of this calculation about 30,000l,

This deficiency was not great, but it was not the whole deficiency. The committee calculated on the then fubfifting taxes; and since that time fome open, and much greater clandeftine, additions had been made to them. By the amount of all thefe additions, added to 30,000l. did the revenue fall fhort of the calculation. The chancellor of the exchequer had openly laid taxes to the amount of 100,000l.; and he had had recourfe to other taxes which he did not avow, but which, under the fpecious name of regulations, were as much levied on the subject as if the fame fums had been raised by new taxes under a new name. Thefe taken together, and added to the deficiency of the land and malt tax, amounted, he faid, to 500,000l., and confequently fo much was the estimate of the committee erroneous.

Upon the fecond propofition, he flated, that the average of the expenditure for the three laft years, was 15,930,000l. a year. Of the various articles compofing this fum the only one in which a reduction appeared probable, was that of miscellaneous fervices. This, on the fame average, was 649,000l. a year. Did it feem likely that it would ever fall fo low as 74,cool. the fum it was ftated at by the committee? He recapitulated the various items which composed this article, commenting on each, and afking which of them was likely to be lefs for feveral years to come?

But this was not all: the floating