his fleet, and also to fir J. B. War ren and his fleet. On lord Nelfon, and his two next fucceffors, being heirs male, a net annuity was fet tled of 20001. per annum, for their natural lives. To the memory of captain George Weftcott, who fell in the naval engagement on the firft of Auguft, as noticed in our laft volume, a monument was or dered to be erected, at the public expenfe, in the cathedral church of St. Paul, London.

On the fame day, the minifter entered on the great and urgent bufinefs of finance, the grand fpring of all other bufinefs, external and internal. The houfe of commons having refolved itself into a committee, a relolution, moved by the chancellor of the exchequer, for granting a fupply to his majesty was agreed to.

On the twenty-fixth of November, lord Arden moved that it was the opinion of the committee, that one hundred and twenty thousand feamen fhould be employed for the fea-fervice of 1799, including twenty thousand marines: which after fome oppofition from fir John Sinclair were voted. The following fums were also voted, for their maintenance:

For the payment of the feamen, at the vote of 14. 17s. per man, per month, for thirteen months, 2,886,000!.

For victualling the fame for thirteen months, 2,964,6007.

For the wear and tear of fhips, 4,659,0007.

For naval ordnance, $90,000l. On the report of the refolution for 120,000 feamen, the twentyfeventh of November,

Sir John Sinclair, hefitated not to declare his full convictior, that

110,000 was the utmost extent to which we could poffibly go with any attention to propriety. The principal grounds on which he refted his opinion, were, the ruined ftate of the French navy; the fkill and fpirit uniformly difplayed by our own; the affiftance we were likely to receive from Ruffian, Turkifh, Portuguese, and Neapolitan auxiliaries, not forgetting the new maritime power that was rifing in America, and the aid which, according to report, we were to receive from Sweden and Denmark ; the inoccupation of a vaft number of our fhips, undergoing repairs or rotting in harbours; the neceffity of public economy; and the prudence of a gradual difbandment of our foldiers and failors, and leaving hands fufficient for the purposes of agriculture and commerce.

General Tarleton wifhed the houfe not to mistake what were the fentiments of gentlemen on his fide of the house, refpecting the importance of the navy to the country, He could affure them that not one of his honourable friends, entertained the fame fentiments on that fubject, as the honourable baronet. The refolution was then put, and, with the exception of fir John Sinclair's fingle vote, unanimoufly agreed to.

On the twenty-eighth of Novemher the following refolutions were moved and agreed to:

That it is the opinion of this committee, of the house of commons, that, towards raifing the fupply granted to his majefty, the feveral duties impofed upon fagar, by the 27th, 34th, and 37th, of his prefent majefty, and alfo the duties of excife on tobacco and fnuff, directed in the laft feffion of parliament,

from Ireland, in confequence of the troops fent from this to the affiftance of that country. Scotch roads and bridges were an article in former eftimates, but now they were totally omitted, being provided for in another manner. There now occurred another article to which he wifhed to lay a few words. In the prefent estimate, the expenfe of the war establishment is included. He much queftioned whether the new regulation of paying fixed falaries from fees would in the event prove any faving to the country. He very much doubted whether the regular and ufual fees would pay the permanent establishment of the office. He had now stated all that occurred to him to be neceffary.After fome obfervations by Mr. Tierney on the neceffity of economy, and on expenfes rifing inftead of being diminished, in the midft of victories and triumphs, the feveral refolutions on the army-eftimates, as laid down by the fecretary-atwar, were moved and agreed to.

-

On the third of December, the chancellor of the exchequer made a statement of the whole of the fupplies neceffary for the service of 1799, and of the ways and means by which he proposed to raise them. The fum, total of the fupplies required, was 29,272,000l. The ways and means for which there were the ufual refources, in the duties fubftituted in lieu of the landtax now made perpetual, the lottery, the consolidated fund, and imports and exports, extended to the amount of 6,150,000l. The remainder of the fum total of the fupplies for the year remaining to be raised, either by a tax within the year, in the fame manner as the affefled-tax bill of last year, or by a

loan, was upwards of twenty-three millions. Laft feffion, the plan of trebling the affeffed-taxes, not only was taken to furnish a certain portion of the fupplies of the year, but part of its produce was affigned for the extinction of fuch part of the loan of eight millions as was not covered by the finking-fund. Voluntary contributions had made up the deficit on the affeffed taxes; and the fuperior produce of the exports and imports beyond the eftimate of ways and means, had brought the amount of the fums to be raised to that of feven millions and a half, at which they had been calculated. The produce of the affeffed-taxes, which he had estimated at 4,500,0007. under all the modifications they had undergone, and all the evafions and tricks with which fo many perfons had fhifted the public burthen from their own fhoulders, was yet four millions. Inftead of 1,500,0007. the voluntary contributions already exceeded two millions: and the fum of feven millions and a half, for which credit had been taken, had been effective to the public service. Thefe particulars, refpecting the eftimate of 1798, being premised, Mr. Pitt proceeded to state a new plan for raifing a very confiderable part of the fupplies within the year, and of courfe proportionably diminifhing that of the fum to be borrowed. This tax was not like the affeffed tax, a tax on expenditure, but one on income. The commiffioners who should be invested with a power of fixing the vote of every one's income, fhould be perfons of a refpectable fituation in life, and men of integrity and independence. Amongst the commiffioners of fupply, from whofe voluntary fervices

had derived fuch benefit, men might be expected to be found, who would beft anfwer the defcription he had just given. He would propofe that no men fhould be admitted to act for the purpofes to be hereafter fpecified, who did not poffefs 3001. per annum to these a certain number of perfons fhould be added, refident in the different divifions or districts, and who fhould poffefs the fame qualification of 300l. a year-that fuch lift of commiffioners fhould be referred to the two laft grand juries for each county, who fhould felect a proper number of each divifion, and a fmaller number for appeals. In great cities and commercial places fome fpecial provifions might be neceffary. The commiffioners being oppointed, the next ftage of the business was, the manner of bringing before the commiffioners the firft view of the charge which each individual was to contribute; adopting it as a principle, in the fame manner as was done in the affeffedtax bill, that no perfons whofe incomes were under 601. a year fhould pay any thing. Every perfon fhould state what that fum was, which he was willing to contribute, under a declaration that what he fo contributed was not lefs then onetenth of his income. The difference between this plan and that of the affeffed-tax-bill was, that inftead of a treble and quadruple affeffment, the first charge would be from the declaration of the parties themfelves. But the next point to be confidered, was in what manner the declaration of the parties fhould be checked and afcertained. The mode Mr. Pitt would propofe, was, not any public statement of income,

Thefe ftatements from individuals, he propofed, fhould be fent to the furveyors of taxes, or fome other officers appointed for that purpofe; that thefe fhould only exprefs their doubts, and the foundations of them; and, that then the commiffioners fhould call for farther explanation. When these grounds of doubt fhould be transmitted to the commiffioners, they fhould have the power of requiring a fpecification of income arifing from the different branches, and according to the forms prescribed by a schedule annexed to the act. If the commiffioners fhould not be fatisfied, they might require another fpecification. Individuals alfo might ftate in what they had been overcharged. If the commiffioners fhould not be fatisfied with the fchedules given in, they should have, in that cale, the power to proceed to examinations by oath; but they should have no compulfory power to make a man anfwer.They fhould neither have authority to call for books, nor to examine any man's clerks or agents. If, however, the party examined should withhold any information on these points, it fhould rest with the commiffioners to form their own opinion. and their judgement fhould be final, unless the party chofe to appeal to the higher order of the commiffioners. But even in that cafe, no books or papers should be examined. If the party fhould be unwilling to produce thofe papers, he muft acquiefce in the decifion which the commiffioners fhould come to upon fuch other information as it might

be

be in their power to obtain. Such information the commiflioners fhould be ftrictly fworn not to difclofe, nor to avail themselves of it for any purpose separate from the execution of the act. If, however, any information fhould be made, upon oath, which the commiffioners fhould think to be false, they might carry on a profecution for perjury. Mr. Pitt proceeded to propofe certain exemptions from difclofure of income: abatements, and allowances in favour of certain defcriptions of perfons; and next to confider the probable amount of the tax. Having reviewed the general fources of the wealth of this country, he stated the national income tobe 102,000,001. annually, clear of all deductions; on this fum, a tax of ten per cent. was likely to produce 10,000,000l. a year. Now, it would be recollected, that in the laft feffion of parliament, the affeffed-taxes were the only part of the public refources which were mortgaged for the fum of 8,000,0001. borrowed for the public fervice, in 1797. He therefore propofed that the fum now to be raised in lieu of the affeffed taxes, after its appropriation to the fupplies of the prefent year, fhould

*

remain as a pledge for the discharge of that fum, for which the taxes were a fecurity, and alfo for the difcharge of the loan for the prefent year, beyond what would be paid out of the finking fund; that it fhould be applied to the fupplies of the year in the first instance; but, at the fame time, that the tax should be continued till it had discharged the debt for which the affefled taxes were mortgaged, and then to make a farther charge for what might be borrowed beyond what the finking fund would discharge.

Mr. Pitt having thus explained the nature and object of his prefent plan of finance, observed, that it was founded on an extenfion of the general principle of that financial meafure which had been adopted laft feflion of parliament. If the committee had feen the advantages of that principle, imperfect as its executibility was, in comparison of that of the prefent measure, they would find fomething better than reafon to induce them to adhere to it: they would find that their own experience decided in its favour.He exulted in the disappointment of our enemies, who had founded their hopes on the immoderate ac

Amount of tythes

6,000,000.

· 2,000,000.

5,000,000

1,000,000.

4,000,000.

12,000,000.

12,000,000. • 28,000,000.

£102,000,000.

cumulation