cent occasion, adduced reasons, which convinced the House of the propriety of adding 25 per cent. to the custom duties. The arguments which he had made use of, applied, in a great degree, to Ireland, and therefore, he (Mr. Fitzgerald) proposed to place an additional tax of 25 per cent. on all goods, wares, and merchandise, imported into Ireland; with the exception of coffee, raw silk, salt, sugar, tea, tobacco, wines, and cotton wool. Several of these articles, which he should presently state, though excluded from the addition of 25 per cent. to the general custom duties, he intended to tax separately. Coffee, he proposed to raise to nearly the same standard as it was fixed at in Great Britain, by a duty of 1d. per lb. On tea, an additional duty of 3 per cent. The duty on tea, in Great Britain, was 96 per cent.; in Ireland, 93 per cent. The difference of duty, was allowed, he supposed, for the purpose of covering freight, insurance, and the expences of trans-shipment. Still, how. ever, he proposed to equalize the duties, because the same expences were incurred in every port of England, to which teas were shipped, except that of London, without any such allowance being made, and consequently the increase of price fell upon the consumer. The same observation also applied to Scotland. On tobacco it was intended to lay an additional duty of 1d. per lb. customs, and 4d. per lb. excise. The next article was foreign wines. The last addition to this article was made in 1810, when 187. 18s. was imposed on French, and 12l. 12s. on Portugal wines. He was aware it might be urged, that a considerable diminution in the consumption was immediately consequent on this rise; and that, therefore, the increased duty having, in this instance, defeated its object, it would be useless to burden the article with a fresh impost. In his opinion, however, the former tax had only driven from the consumption of wines, persons of moderate circumstances; while those who had adhered to it, were individuals in a state of affluence, who would not be deterred from the enjoyment of this luxury. It was therefore proposed to add one third of the difference between the present existing duty on wines in Great Britain and Ireland, which would raise the duty to about 81. 10s. on a hogshead of claret. This, he conceived, would be found by no means oppressive on the consumers, who no longer consisted of that class of persons

who were formerly in the custom of drinking French wine-a luxury which was now entirely confined to persons of rank and fortune.-This was all he had to offer with respect to custom duties.

His next task would be, to propose cer tain resolutions for raising the rate of the excise duties. In the first place he intended to propose an additional duty of 5s. per bushel on malt. He knew it would be objected to this, that it would indirect. ly affect the Irish breweries. But he did not conceive this objection to be wellfounded. The rise on a barrel of beer, in consequence of this addition, would be 11s. 6d.; on the gallon 44d.; and less than 1d. on the quart. By such a rise he did not think the Irish brewery was at all likely to suffer. His next resolution would be for the purpose of regulating the rate of postage in Ireland. He found that the defalcation in that source of revenue, after the addition made to the rate of postage, by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, arose almost entirely from the opportunity, which persons residing in the metropolis possessed, of sending letters to the towns more immediately in their vicinity, by various conveyances, which were constantly passing. He should, therefore, propose to reduce the rates of postage to all towns near the capital, To those within 10 miles, the postage should be 2d.; and, to the distance of 50 miles, the postage to be lowered in the same proportion; but, beyond 50 miles, it was intended to propose a progressive in

crease.

A house of

The last point was an alteration of the Assessed Taxes, namely, an increased rate of duty on windows, male servants, horses, and carriages. In this country the rate of taxation commenced with a house having six windows; it was not intended, however, to adopt that principle, which might bear upon the lower orders of society; and, therefore, the scale would be allowed to begin, as it at present did, with houses containing seven windows. that description at present paid 15s. 9d. which he proposed to raise to 17s. 6d. the rate in this country being 17. The right hon. gentleman here entered into a statement of the difference between the present tax and the intended rise, on houses of different sizes, up to those containing 14 windows. The tax, he observ. ed, became operative on the proprietor of a house of this description, who must be supposed capable of paying the tax with

out any difficulty. On fourteen windows, the tax was at present, 3l. 8s. 2d,; it was proposed to raise it to 41. 4s.; in this country it was 6l. 16s. 6d. The average increase would be about 25 per cent. on the whole tax, but not falling on the houses of the lower orders, or bearing upon the poor. The calculation was favorable to those occupying houses containing from 7 to 14 windows; above that number the ratio was encreased.-Next was an alteration in the tax on male servants. In Ireland, the tax on a single servant, was . 1s. in this country it was 21. Os. Sd.; a disparity for which he could see no good reason. In England, if a gentleman kept two servants, the tax was 31. 2s. for each of them, while in Ireland it was 14. 11s. 6d. ; and this inequality was still more striking, when applied to three, four, or five servants. He should, therefore, propose to encrease the tax for one servant to 17. 10s. and so on in a simiJar gradation, till the scale came to eleven servants, as was particularly stated in the resolution. He next came to the horsetax :-In Ireland, the tax for a single horse was 15s.; here it was 21. 17s. 6d. Those who kept two in Ireland, only paid 17s. 6d. for each, while in England there was a tax of 41. 14s 6d. on each. He proposed to raise the tax for one horse to 1. 10s.; for two, 27. ; and so on in the same proportion. The right hon. gentleman then adverted to the carriage tax; at present a single carriage was liable to a tax of 84. 10s. which he proposed to raise to 10. 10s. He could not account for the absurdity which pervaded the present mode of taxation on carriages, by which, the greater the number of carriages, kept by an individual, the lighter the tax became. Or, in other words, the more capable an individual was of keeping a number of carriages, the less he was asked to pay. Thus, if a gentleman kept but one carriage, he paid 8 10s.; but, if he was able to set up four, he was only charg. ed 41. 4s. for each. Such was the general import of what he had to propose; he should abstain from any detailed observations, which, with many other remarks, would come with more propriety, when he should have the honour of laying be fore the House a general financial plan with respect to Ireland. The right hon. gentleman concluded by moving the first resolution, relative to the Irish Loan.

Sir J. Newport rose and said, that in the objections he had to make, he did not mean

to state them as applicable to the objects of the right hon. gentleman, considered as objects of taxation, but because he thought they would not answer his expectations at ail. He was far from wishing captiously to thwart the endeavours of the right hon. gentleman; for he was sensible he must find great difficulties in raising the supplies necessary for the service of Ireland. He congratulated the House upon the terms upon which he had concluded the loan. The additional custom duties he should advert to when they entered into the details upon a future occasion. The proposed increase of duty upon tobacco, he doubted would not prove permanently productive. The additional duty upon wine he thought a most incorrigible error: every additional duty since 1804, had only produced the effect of diminishing the consumption; and now an encreased duty would only occasion an additional burden upon the consumer, without benefiting the revenue. The additional duty upon malt he thought still worse. It would produce a moral evil upon the country, by substituting the drinking of spirits for that of beer and ale. That part of the right hon. gentleman's plan he would candidly tell him he meant to oppose, and in every stage to take the sense of the House upon it. He objected also to the proposed alteration in the rates of postage, which, by being lowered to all places near the capital, and encreased to all at a distance from it, would only have the effect of burthening every commercial town, the correspondence of which was vital to the interests of the empire, and relieving other towns where the correspondence could only arise from caprice, pleasure, or friendship. He thought the measure contrary to every principle of sound policy. The right hon. baronet concluded with some remarks upon the proposed encrease of the Assessed Taxes, which he apprehended would only operate as a bounty upon persons to evade them with more ingenuity and success.

Mr. William Fitzgerald shortly defended the propriety of the taxes, on nearly the same grounds which he had laid down in his introductory speech.

Mr. Tighe said, that the protection last year given to the breweries, would be destroyed by the measure proposed by the right hon. gentleman. The brewery was a new trade, and this was not a time to oppress it, when the American market was closed against the beer of Ireland, The

right hon. gentleman thought it would be no great harm, if the gentlemen of Ireland drank less wine. It certainly would not; but it would be a great evil if the revenues of that country were materially diminished. He had previously believed, that the Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer did not come into the House to protect the health and the morals of Ireland, but its revenues; the contrary, however, appeared to be the fact.

passages to the Houses of Parliament, and should recur to some other consideration with the view of taking care of the safety of all his Majesty's subjects.

CURATES' BILL.] The House proceeded to the consideration of the Report of the Curates' Bill, in which some verbal amendments were made, and the second clause struck out. On the clause being read compelling the incumbents to reside,

Lord Ellenborough took the opportunity of expressing his surprise that no provision had been made for compelling curates, as

The House then resumed-and the Report was ordered to be brought up on Monday.

The Report of the Committee on Sugar, the produce of the conquered islands, was brought up.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, that as the extra duty of 12s. 6d. per cent. on clayed sugar was thought too high, he would therefore alter it to 10s. The Resolutions, as amended, were then agreed to, and a Bill was ordered to be brought in accordingly.

ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL.] Mr. Grattan said, that it was his intention only to pass the Bill through the Committee pro forma, and then to postpone the further consideration of it till Monday. The Bill was accordingly committed, the Chairman reported progress, and asked leave to sit again on Monday.

HOUSE OF LORDS.

Monday, May 17.

the cure of which they were appointed.

The Lord Chancellor concurred in this remark, and observed upon the general inefficacy of the laws to enforce the residence of the clergy.

Lord Redesdale, with much warmth, attacked the lower orders of the clergy, complaining of their residence far from their parishes, in market towns, for the sake of a game at cards; of their riding with indecent speed from church to church, and hurrying through the service with unbecoming levity: one instance he stated, where a farmer's wife had compelled the parson to return to his pulpit, because he had omitted several of the prayers. On the whole, he thought that the sacred duties were very imperfectly performed, and attributed the neglect to the inattention of the dignitaries of the church.

The Archbishop of Canterbury with considerable energy repelled this attack, and denied its general accuracy. He insisted that residence was far more general than formerly; that clergymen were more attentive to their functions, not merely in their churches, but throughout their parishes. In the particular instance referred to, the person who had so il fulfilled his duties had been removed. He

The Lord Chancellor observed upon the dreadful inconvenience he suffered on Friday night, from the excessive heat of the House, and then adverting to another subject, called the attention of the House to the obstruction in Parliament-street, arising from the street being broken up by a water company. His lordship intimated that if the streets were not left in a proper state after being broken up by water companies, he should make some motion in the House so far as regarded the (VOL. XXVI.)

upon the church, which could produce no benefit, and only increase the enemies of the establishment, already too numerous. Since the appointment to his see, he had never met with a more painful circumstance than the unjust charge which had been that night preferred.

The Bishop of Bangor, after fifty years experience, declared the accusation to be void of the slightest truth, and accused the noble lord of unwarrantably concealing the fact of the deprivation of the negligent curate to whom he had referred.

(P)

Several other reverend prelates vindicated the conduct of the superior and inferior clergy with considerable fervour. The various clauses of the Bill having been gone through, and many verbal amendments made at the suggestion of lords Ellenborough, Eldon, Harrowby, Grenville, &c. the Report was agreed to, and on the suggestion of lord Harrowby, it was ordered that the Bill should be engrossed, printed, and read a third time on Friday.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Monday, May 17.

LORD MINTO'S ANSWER TO THE VOTE OF THANKS FOR THE REDUCTION OF THE MAURITIUS AND BOURBON AND OF THE

ISLAND OF JAVA.] The Speaker ac quainted the House, that he had received from the right hon. Gilbert lord Minto the following Letter, in return to the Thanks of this House, signified to him, in obedience to their commands of the 10th day of January 1812.

« Sir; Fort William, 30th July 1812. "I have had the honour of receiving your letter of the 14th of January, communicating to me the Thanks of the House of Commons upon the occasion of the reduction of the islands of the Mauritius and Bourbon, and of the island of Java, as conveyed in the Resolution of the House of the 10th of January 1812.

I should endeavour in vain to express, in adequate terms, my profound and grateful sense of the gracious and indulgent view taken by the House of the share which, in the situation I have the 'honour to fill, the course of public events afforded me the opportunity, or, I should rather say, rendered it a positive duty of my office to assume in those transactions. "If I had neglected to improve the favourable occasions thus presented to me of accomplishing objects which appeared to myself, which by the declared sentiments and by the measures of his Majesty's ministers, I know to be esteemed by them, and which are now finally declared, by the authority of the House of Commons, to be important to the public interests, I should have incurred the just displeasure of the House, and should have merited the disgraceful reproach of shrinking from the hazards of personal responsibility, by a sacrifice of the public good.

"That the performance of duties, which it would have been deeply culpable to omit, should have been deemed worthy of the highest and most gratifying recompence which the world affords, I can ascribe only to the liberality with which the House, in its wisdom, seeks to stimulate exertion, by adding to the sense and obligation of duty, the animating hope of public approbation.

"These important services have been achieved, in truth, by ability, prudence, and enterprize in the commanders, and by bravery and discipline in the troops, which have never been surpassed. In the splendid and immortal actions which have signalized these conquests, and in the glory which justly crowns victorious valour and conduct, I have never sought which my office afforded, of bearing to any other participation than the privilege them a true, cordial, and zealous testimony.

"My own duties were indeed directed to the same object, but were of a nature wholly distinct; nor did I omit, for a moment, any means in my power to prevent the possibility of their being confounded in the public eye. I shall never reflect, without gratification and pride, on the genuine uninterrupted cordiality, and on the sound sincere spirit of co-operation which prevailed, from the first hour to the last, between the military authority and my own; but the utmost indulgence of those sentiments did not require that I should relax for a moment in the studied manifestation uniformly and anxiously displayed of the broad and sufficiently obvious distinction between the respective functions of the two.

Yet, far as I am from preferring what would appear to myself at once a groundless and dishonourable, as it would cer tainly and justly prove a fruitless, claim to the slightest share in the military fame. of these events, I will nevertheless rely so far on the goodness of the House as to avow that even the inestimable honour which I am now acknowledging is much enhanced, in my estimation, by enabling my name to descend to posterity in connection, a connection established by the proceedings of the House itself, with the illustrious conquerors of the French islands and of Java.

"I entreat you to lay my humble and grateful thanks before the House, for the high and eminent distinction it has been pleased to confer upon me.