Page images
PDF
EPUB

men who had given their advice to the government, though it was not possible for them to have obtained more information on the subject than they possessed at that time. The great object of the ministers had been to supply tea to the consumer of the lowest quality at the cheapest possible rate, consistent with maintaining the revenue. It had been said, that the lower orders did not drink bohea; but what had been the state of the importations? From the returns of the East-India sales, it appeared that, in the course of 15, 16, or 17, years the quantity of bohea sold had risen from 500,000lb. to 6,500,000lb. while the quantity of congou consumed had increased in a much lower ratio. It had been stated that, by making so great a difference as 8d. in the duty,

it would be found more advantageous to import bohea at even a higher price than congou-the difficulty of distinguishing them being so great. But the difficulty arose only where the qualities of the two articles approached very near to each other. Forty-four different samples had been submitted to tasters in this country when the inquiry was in progress, and, with the exception of two bad hits, the different qualities were most correctly distinguished. The most experienced officers of the revenue had been consulted, and they had declared their conviction that there would be no difficulty in collecting the duties under the new system. It was an experiment well worth trial. It had succeeded in America. These discussions did not lead to any result.

CHAP. VII.

Financial Statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer-The Navy Estimates-The Army Estimates-The Ordnance Estimates-The Irish Estimates-The Budget-The Reduction of the Four per Cents of 1826-Motions as to Pensions-Motion for the Repeal of

the Malt Tax.

O early in the session as the cellor of the Exchequer presented to a committee of Ways and Means an outline of the financial state of the country, and of his financial plans; premising, however, that it was impossible, two months before the financial year commenced, to enter into minute details, or to fix accurately, the expenditure of the ensuing twelve months. The amount of taxes repealed in 1831 and 1832, was 1,790,000l., and in 1833, 1,545,000l. The total amount of taxes reduced in 1831, 1832, and 1833, was 3,335,000l. Yet the balance of income and expenditure on the 5th of January last, presented a surplus of revenue larger than on the 5th of April last, and amounting to upwards of 1,513,000l.; so that, notwithstanding the continued and extensive repeal of taxes, the surplus had increased through the combined operation of improvement in other branches of the revenue and reduction of expenditure. In addition to this surplus, the estimates of the present year had been reduced by 500,000l., which would raise the surplus, in round numbers, from 1,500,000l. to 2,000,000l. Besides, he expected a considerable augmentation of revenue, without imposing an additional burden on the country,

from the graduated scale of duty

ad valorem duty on tea. A reduction in the price of tea, must be expected; and then a fixed rate of duty would bear a larger proportion to the price of the article than an ad valorem duty, although the amount of tax paid on a pound of tea would not be greater than it was under the old system. When by bringing a larger quantity of tea into the market, the price of the article was diminished, the amount produced by an ad valorem duty diminished also; but under a fixed rated duty, any increase in the amount of tea consumed necessarily produced a corresponding augmentation of the revenue. During the next year, instead of 8,000,000lbs. of tea, which the East India Company had of late brought to each quarterly sale, it was the intention of government to bring 9,000,000lbs. into the market every quarter. The average amount of the tea duty was 3,300,000l., which, by the increased quantity brought into the market, would be raised to 3,900,000l.; thus yielding an increase of 600,000l. to the revenue, and raising the surplus to 2,600,000l. The only additional obligation, which the country had to meet, was the interest of the twenty millions granted to the West-India proprietors; and, after

deducting 800,000l. on this account, there still remained a surplus of 1,800,000l. Under these circumstances, it was his intention to recommend to the house to reduce taxes to the amount of 1,200,000l.; and though, looking at the subject as a simple financial question, there were other taxes which, in his opinion, it was more desirable to repeal; yet as one of the ingredients in the impropriety of a tax was its unpopularity, he thought that the best suggestion he could offer was to repeal the tax on houses. The reduction of this tax would absorb nearly the whole of the surplus; for, after the reduction made in it last year, the remaining portion amounted to about 1,170,000l. He did not mean to say that he would not propose a reduction with respect to one or two other items of taxation, though he would not state what he contemplated, in this respect, until he was prepared to bring in a bill. He hoped, however, that if the house should think proper to reduce the house-tax, they would support him in resisting the reduction of any other considerable items of taxation. It was not his intention, at present, to introduce a bill for the repeal of the house-duty: he wished first to see how the questions, of which notice had been given, were met. He would probably be told, that he was giving relief to the trading interest, while he was giving none to the landed interest, the distress of which had been admitted and recognized by the government. He could not deny the force of that statement, and it would be for the house to decide whether it would relieve the country to the amount of 1,200,000l. by the repeal of the house-tax, or apply the reduction of taxation to that amount in some

other way.

At the same time, he held out to the farmers and landowners, the prospect of great and substantial relief, by promising them a commutation of tithes, and a new poor-law bill.

Mr. Cobbett expressed his surprise that the chancellor of the exchequer should have made any statement at all; for, to him, it did not appear that there was any good reason why the noble lord should have made one then, excepting it were to stop the house from asking for the repeal of taxation. The noble lord had spoken, to see how many would cheer his statement. He spoke to sound them

to see if they would consent to bear their present burthens, and to ascertain with what feelings they would continue to bear them, for the future. The house-tax was unobjectionable in itself, and was just in principle: and he would not have taken the house-tax off, had he been in the noble lord's situation. Such a proceeding, in a minister, was an encouragement to the people to demand the repeal of taxes; and the noble lord might have remarked that he (Mr. Cobbett) never recommended the nonpayment of taxes, either in speaking or writing. The taxes, which the people wanted to have repealed, were the malt-tax and hop-duties.

Sir Robert Peel considered, looking to what had been already done, that the reduction of half a million in the estimates was as much as could be expected, and did credit to the government: and the proposed diminution of taxation was greater than he himself would have ventured on, considering the precarious nature of some of the sources from which the surplus was to be derived. That surplus consisted-first, of an actual ba

lance of 1,500,000l. above the demands of the year:-then, of 500,000l. calculated as the amount of the probable reduction of the estimates of the present year, which however, could not be reckoned as permanent revenue; for, different circumstances might arise next year, which might render it necessary to increase the estimates:-and, lastly, of a sum of 600,000l. which was to arise from the increased produce of the duty on tea, in consequence of the government bringing 9,000,000lbs. of tea into the market at the quarterly sales, instead of 8,000,000lbs. But would the public take the 9,000,000lbs., when 8,000,000lbs. had been found sufficient for the quarterly consumption of the pub lic hitherto ? The noble lord thought a reduction of the price would produce an immense consumption; but, did it not occur to the noble lord, that if the government gained in the amount of the duty, it would lose by the reduction of the price of the tea, which had been transferred to the state by the East-India company, and with its other property, was now the property of the public?

Mr. O'Connell complained, that nothing was to be done for Ireland; and that, of the 1,200,000l. to be remitted for the benefit of the nation, not a shilling was to go to Ireland in other words, England and Scotland were subjected to taxes, from which Ireland was free; injustice had been long done to England and Scotland, in not making the burden of taxation press on Ireland equally with the other parts of the empire: therefore, it was unjust to Ireland to deliver England and Scotland, from a portion of the extra burdens, to which they had been subjected. Absurd, however, as is the

logic of this mendicant demagogue, the vice of his argument is generally outstripped by the baseness of his morality: for his insensibility to the difference between right and wrong, honesty and dishonesty, is on most occasions, not less striking than his disregard of truth and reason. And, accordingly, he told the chancellor of the exchequer to turn to the national debt. "Reduce the interest upon that debt, from three per cent. to two and a-half per cent.; by that means, you will at once save four and a-half millions annually; and then, and not until then, will it be in your power to do justice to all classes of the community, by reducing the house and window-tax, malt-tax, and several other of the taxes, which were most complained of." In former times, such a barefaced recommendation of robbery and rapine would have called forth universal reprobation from the house: and, never till now, did there exist a government, which would have submitted in silence, to the infamy of receiv ing such advice. But our legislative morality was now brought down to the standard of that of revolutionary France; and the sugges tion of the greatest of all crimesthe confiscation of the property of the innocent, by an abuse of legislative power, was listened to by an English house of commons without calling forth, from any quarter, any expressions of abhorrence, and without being repudiated by any of the ministers.

On the 17th of February, Sir James Graham brought forward the navy estimates. He stated that, since 1831, the reductions, in the navy estimates alone, had been no less than one million; in addition to which, he now proposed an es

timate containing further reductions to the amount of 180,000l.: so that, in this department of the public service, there had been effected, in three years, on an outlay of six millions, a saving of not less than 1,200,000l. The items, to which economy had been applied, were principally in the labour employed in the naval dock-yards. The expensive and complicated system of task-work had been abolished, and payment of daily wages had been substituted. The number of labourers, ship-wrights, and others, had been reduced to 6,000 -the number fixed by the predecessors of the present ministers, as a fit complement for a peace establishment and the wages in the dock-yards had been lowered 90,000l., out of an expenditure of about 400,000l. Another saving had been made in the victualling department. Hitherto, in order to meet the probable or possible advance in the price of provisions, a wide margin, as it was called, of ten per cent, had been allowed; but as the cost of provisions had, of late years, been comparatively steady, it had been' determined to leave only a margin of five per cent. In this way, together with the low price of all kinds of provisions, particularly corn, 42,000l. would be saved. It had been laid down as a rule by the admiralty, before he was in office, that only one promotion should be made for every three vacancies; a strict adherence to this plan had produced a saving on half-pay, since the present administration took office, of 65,000l. a year, of which between 24,000l. and 25,000l. would be saved in the present year. Other small items raised the total diminutions to 181,0007., making a to tal saving since 1831, of 1,200,000l.

The subject of the first vote he proposed was, the number of men for the service of the present year: and here he had made a diminution of 500 men, and an addition of 1,000 boys. He had done so advisedly, and in consequence of the suggestions and discussions of last session, when the attention of the admiralty was called to the fact, that it was of great importance to induce boys to go to sea, for the first time, in the king's service. The men would be 17,500, and boys 1,000; but the cost for wages would not be more than for 18,000 men, though the expense of rations would be as for 18,500, the same provisions being allowed to a boy as to a man.

Mr. Hume, of course, found fault with every thing. The tonnage of the navy, he said, amounted to 325,000 tons; and he thought it doubtful whether so many ships could be required under the present system of naval warfare. But if they were wanted, they might be built in six years. The sagacious member forgot to tell the house, how the naval ascendancy of England was to be maintained during the six years which he deemed sufficient for bringing our navy to its proper strength. He moved as an amendment," that the number of men be reduced from 17,500 to 15,000." The amendment was negatived by a majority of 196 to 20, and the original motion was agreed to.

The next question put, was "that 104,551. be granted to his Majesty, to defray the salaries of officers, and contingent expenses of the admiralty-office." Mr. Ruthven moved as an amendment, "that the number of the lords of the admiralty be reduced by two, and that the salary of the first lord of the admiralty

« PreviousContinue »