cy, at the moment that the possibility of war could not be out of the contemplation of any statesman, the wisdom of parliament confined them to their present objects. I shall give the gross assessment for five years, as I find it in the appendix to the second report of your committee. Here will be seen a gradual increase during the whole progress of the war: and if I am correctly informed, the rise in the last year, after every deduction that can be made, affords the most consoling and encouraging prospect. It is enormously out of all proportion. There are some other taxes, which seem to have a reference to the same general head. The present minister, many years ago, subjected bricks and tiles to a duty under the excise. It is of little consequence to our present consideration, whether these materials have been employed in building more commodious, more elegant, and more magnificent habitations, or in enlarging, decorating, and remodelling those, which sufficed for our plainer ancestors. During the first two years of the war, they paid so largely to the publick revenue, that in 1794 a new duty was laid upon them, which was equal to one half of the old, and which has produced upwards of 165,000l. in the last three years. Yet notwithstanding the pressure of this additional weight, there has been an actual augmentation in the consumption. The only two other articles which come under this description, are, the stamp-duty on gold and silver plate, and the customs on glass plates. This latter is now, I believe, the single instance of costly furniture to be found in the catalogue of our imports. If it were wholly to vanish, I should not think we were ruined. *This and the following tables on the same construction are compiled from the reports of the finance committee in 1791 and 1797, with the addition of the separate paper laid before the house of commons, and ordered to be printed on 7th of February 1792. Yrs. of Peace. Yrs. of Peace: Yrs. of Peace. Both the duties have risen, during the war, very considerably in proportion to the total of their produce. We have no tax among us on the most necessary articles of food. The receipts of our Custom-house, under the heads of groceries, afford us, however, some means of calculating our luxuries of the table. The articles of tea, coffee, and cocoa-nuts, I would propose to omit, and to take them in stead from the excise, as best shewing what is consumed at home. Upon this principle, adding them all together (with the exception of sugar, for a reason which I shall afterwards mention) I find that they have produced, in one mode of comparison, upwards of 272,000l., and in the other mode, up Yrs. of Peace. Yrs. of Peace. Yrs. of Peace. wards of 165,000l. more during the war than in peace.* An The additional duty imposed in 1795, produced in that The additional duty of 1795 in that year gave 16,775l., and in 1796 15,3197. fee, and a third on raisins; an article, together with currants, of much more extensive use, than would readily be imagined. The balance in favour of our argument would have been much enhanced, if our coffee and fruit ships from the Mediterranean had arrived, last year, at their usual season. They do not appear in these accounts. This was one consequence arising (would to God, that none more afflicting to Italy, to Europe, and the whole civilized world had arisen!) from our impolitick and precipitate desertion of that important maritime station. * As to sugar, I have excluded it from the groceries, because the account of the customs is not a perfect criterion of the consumption, much having been reexported to the north of Europe, which used to be supplied by France; and in the official papers which I have followed, there are no materials to furnish grounds for computing this re-exportation. The increase on the face of our entries is immense during the four years of war, little short of thirteen hundred thousand pounds. The increase of the duties on beer has been regularly pro There was a new duty on Sugar in 1791, which produced in 1794, 234,3921. in 1795, 206,9321., and in 1796, 245,0241. It is not clear from the report of the Committee, whether the additional duty is included in the account given above. Yrs. of Peace. Yrs. of Peace. gressive, or nearly so, to a very large amount.* It is a good deal above a million, and is more than equal to one-eighth of the whole produce. Under this general head, some other liquors are included,―cyder, perry, and mead, as well as vinegar, and verjuice; but these are of very trifling consideration. The excise duties on wine, having sunk a little during the two first years of the war, were rapidly recovering their level again. In 1795, a heavy additional duty was imposed upon them, and a second in the following year; yet being compared with four years of peace to 1790, they actually exhibit a small gain to the revenue. And low as the importation may seem in 1796, when contrasted with any The additional duty of 1795 produced that year 730,8711., and in 1796 394,6861. A second additional duty which produced 98,1652. was laid in 1796. |