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and without the leaft intention whatever upon thefe grounds he thought it would be no very difficult matter to frame a plan that fhould more impartially adminifter juftice and prevent fuch a number of ufeful manufactures from being cooped up within the walls of a prifon, to the injury of the country, and the difgrace of humanity; in hopes that fome plan therefore might be adopted, he wished their Lordfhips, either in the whole Houfe, or in a committee, which ever they should think would be moft effectual, to take the prefent ftate of the prifons into their confideration; they would then be able to order a return of the prifoners from every jailor, and every other particular they had a defire to be acquainted with; it had coft him much time and labour to gain that informa tion which he had acquired on the fubject, which indeed was much more than their Lordship's need be troubled with; his Lordfhip concluded with moving, "That a committee be appointed to examine into the prefent ftate of our different goals."

Lord Thurlow faid, that from the obfervations now made by the noble Lord, as well as what he had heard him remark on the fubject in private, he was free to declare, that his Lordship poffeffed a much greater knowledge on the fubject than he had thought it poffible for any man to ac quire, unless he had paid the attention of his whole life to it; he must have been at infinite trouble to gain that information, and was certainly very juftifiable in his remark, that some discrimination of their different cafes ought to be made. The appearance of diftrefs in fome of thofe poor creatures was trully pitiable, and he thought any creditor that would continue an unfortunate debtor in fuch a fituation, was unworthy the name of man; he had oppofed the infolvent bill the noble Lord had brought in last year, because he difapproved of its nature; it was founded on the principles of those which had already been tried, and proved inefficacious. He would most cordially fupport one that appeared as a remedy, or any plan that tended to that end; he regretted as much as the noble Lord poffibly could, to fee our jails fo much crowded, but he conceived in a nation like ours it was a delicate fubject, it was impoffible for a commercial country to exift without credit, and it was therefore the bufinefs of the legislature to fupport that credit as much as poffible; to expunge imprifonment for debt might in forte meafure injure credit, for the creditor might be more tenacious of his property, by not

having a kind of punishment hanging over the head of his debtor, to inftigate him to fulfil his contract; it was fimilar in every commercial country in Europe, they had never thought it expedient to adopt any other, and he was apprehenfive it would be a dangerous experiment; in this, he did not think by any means, that the appointing of a Committee would be of any utility, as were there but an hundred cafes for their inspection, he doubted their being able to difcriminate between the unfortunate man and the knave. In fupport of his different arguments, his Lordship gave an account of the proceedings on what is called the Lords Act, in the year 1728; the infinite pains that was taken in framing it, the many alterations it underwent in the two Houfes of Parliament, and how very tenacious they were at that time, both in fupport of the credit and liberty of the fubject, an inftance of which might be drawn from their granting two fhillings and four pence per week to the debtor in cafes of execution, to prevent a malicious creditor from keeping him wantonly in prifon. After a variety of pertinent remarks on the fubject, his Lordship repeated his with, that fome effective plan might be adopted, promifing to give it his fupport, whenever it fhould be brought forward, but difapproved of the prefent mode as inadequate to the purpose.

Lord Effingham replied to feveral parts of the noble Lord's speech, and contended that the Committee would be competent to the task; nothing he said could more clearly demonftrate the neceffity of fome regulation, than the circumstance alluded to by the learned Lord, for the allowance of two fhillings and four pence per week; he fuppofed their Lordships would scarcely believe him, when he should inform them, that to receive this benefit, they must be actually worth more than four pounds, and yet lefs than five: however ftrange this might appear, it was an abfolute fact; for unless they were in poffeffion of four pounds, they were unable to pay the fees, and they were obliged to fwear themselves not worth five. He did not mean to caft the leaft reflection on any Gentleman who fat on the bench, by faying, there were many villainous proceedings daily practifed by lawyers, convinced it was impoffible for a Judge always to detect the impofitions of an artful attorney,

The motion was at length put, and on a divifion there appeared for it Against it

5

14

It was of courfe reject by a Majority of 9. L112

HOUSE

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stituted in its room, but this tax they confidered as vexatious and injurious to commerce, which was their reafon for wishing to have it repealed. He concluded with moving" that leave be given to bring in a bill to repeal fo much of the act paffed in the 22d year of his Majefty's reign, as impofed a tax on receipts."

Mr. Alderman Sawbridge feconded the motion.

Mr. Loraine Smith faid he had been inftructed by his conftituents (Leicester,) to vote for a repeal of the tax, and therefore he would give his fupport to the motion.

Captain Berkley obferved, that in the

The Houfe adjourned a little after four county he had the honour to reprefent, o'clock.

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The Houfe refolved itfelf into a Committee of Supply, to take into confideration the

NAVY ESTIMATES. Mr. Brett informed the Committee, that they were precifely the fame fums, and for the fame purpofes as those prefented and voted in the laft Parliament.

(Gloucester,) there were two large trading cities, from neither of which he had received a word of inftruction about the repeal of this tax. Their filence might fairly be conftrued into an approbation of the tax, for if they felt it vexatious and burthenfome, there was no doubt but they would have given inftructions on that head.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer faid, that when he heard the tax was disliked it gave him great concern, and if a better tax could be proposed, he should be glad to repeal the one and adopt the other. In confequence of the regulations that the legiflature had made upon the subject, the tax had been rendered infinitely more efficacious, than it had been, and it was now growing more and more productive. About twelve thousand pounds had been received upon it in town only, fince the 24th of March laft, when the new bill commenced its operation; its produce, therefore, as far as had been seen at prefent, amounted to one hundred thousand a year, and as he could not conceive it had yet had a fair trial, he was inclined to be

Some conversation took place refpecting the advantages and difadvantages of copper sheathing, after which the refolutions were put and agreed to and ordered to be report-lieve that its produce would continue to ed on Monday.

RECEIPT TAX.

Alderman Newnham rofe to move for the repeal of the receipt tax. He expatiated on the right of conftituents to instruct their reprefentatives, and ftated in what cafes a reprefentative ought to obey fuch inftructions. The tax he faid was particularly burthenfome to the city of London, as fo much more bufinefs was done there than in any other place in the kingdom. His conftituents, who had inftructed him to move for a repeal fpoke not from any defire to fpare themselves; they would chearfully pay their proportion of any other tax that thould be fub

increase, and become a ftill greater object than it was already. He believed that it was growing lefs unpopular, and that the prejudices raifed against it were diminishing daily. To give up a tax fo productive, therefore, fo important in its produce, and fo equal and fo eafy in its burthen, at a time when other new taxes must neceffarily be impofed, and when we had no refources to wafte, would, he flattered himfelf, neither be deemed prudent nor advifcable by the Houfe. For that reafon, he fhould think he did no more than his duty in oppofing any motion that had the repeal of the Receipt Tax for its object.

Capt. John Luttrell read a letter from the Mayor of Stockbridge, which stated

that

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approve.

Mr. Fox begged leave to fay a few words: he agreed with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that the tax was now much less unpopular than it had been a year ago; from which circumftance he was confirmed in the opinion which he had entertained from the begining, that the clamour raifed against the tax was merely artificial. Had the Parliament given way to the prejudices of the people in the first inftance, a tax would have been given up, which now bids fair to be very productive; and which has this happy quality, that while it raises a large revenue, it by no means falls upon the poor. There was no man would go farther than he would, in obedience to the fenfe of his conftitu

ents; but if he found that, led by a wild delufion, they were hurrying on their own deftruction, he should hold himself a parricide, if by a blind obedience to them, on fuch an occafion, he should fuffer them to involve themfelves and their pofterity in ruin.

- Several other Members fpoke; and on a divifion there appeared,

For the motion

Against it

29

118

At half paft fix the House adjourned.

HOUSE of LORD S.

Monday, June 21.

No debate. Adjourned till to-morrow.

HOUSE of COMMONS.

Monday, June 21.

Sir Richard Hill reported from the feJect committee to determine the undue election for Mitchel, that Charles Haw kins, Efq. is duly elected, and not Mr. Wilbraham. The Clerk of the Crown attended, and amended the writ.

Mr. Stanhope took the oaths and his feat for Hull.

RECEIPT TAX.

Mr. Whitbread complained to the Houfe of the practice of many perfons in trade, by whom the tax on receipts was wholly evaded, while others who were willing to obey the laws, religiously paid the duty on receipts. He then held in his hand a pa per, which he had received from a friend, which was fubftantially intended for a receipt, though in point of form it might perhaps not be thought one: the form of it was this-" Memorandum"-fo much Witnefs, ***. He faid he would not paid on fuch a day, on account of Mr.→→→ mention the names of those, in whose houfe this memorandum was given; it was enough for him to fay it was a house, which was generally understood to clear little fhort of 50,000l. a year.—He said, he thought it his duty to throw out these obfervations, that thofe whose duty it more particularly was to watch over the evafions of the law, might turn their attention to fuch as were openly, and in the face of day, practifed with respect to the receipt-tax.

Mr. Attorney General faid he would take time to confider the Memorandum ; and if he should be of opinion that it was a receipt within the ftatute, he should cer-. tainly profecute the perfon who had given it. Here the business rested.

NEW WINDOW TAX.

The House refolved itfelf into a Committee, to take into confideration the report from the Committee on Smuggling, Mr. Gilbert in the chair.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer then rofe, and made a long fpeech, which confifted principally of calculations and figures. He obferved that the illicit trade of the kingdom had of late years been carried to an amazing height, and very alarming to the revenue in many of its branches, but more particularly in the article of tea which, he faid would appear very ftrikingly from this circumftance, that though no more than 5,500,000lb weight of tea were fold annually by the Eaft-India Company, it appeared from good authority, that there were confumed annually in this kingdom, from 12 to 13,000,000lb. fo that the illicit trade in this article, was more than double the legal trade. To meet this evil, and remove it, it had ftruck the Committee that the beft poffible plan for that purpose, was to lower the duty on tea, to fuch a degree, as to take away from the finuggler, the

temptation

temptation to carry on an illegal trade: this idea met his hearty approbation; but as the revenue could not afford a diminution at prefent, it would be neceffary to propofe a new tax, as a fubftitute, in order to raife as much money, as would be loft by the lowering of the duty on tea. The amount of the tea at prefent was between 7 or 800,000l. it was his intention not to raife upon tea in future above 169,000l. fo that there would be a falling off at least 600,000l. per annum. His reafon for lowering the duty at all, was, that he might take away the temptation to fmuggling, by diminishing the profits of it; but there was no occafion, in order to effect this purpose, to take off the whole of the duty the nature of the illicit trade, was pretty well underftood; the market price of tea in the foreign markets was well known: It was well known alfo, that the price of infurance, in fo hazardous a trade, and the freight, were about 251. per cent. to the fhore; that the infurance for the inland carriage on it in this kingdom was about rol. per cent more; and the profit upon the whole he would not reckon at more than five per cent. because the voyage from the continent to England might be very often repeated in the course of the year, fo that at five per cent. might upon the whole of the Smuggler's capital, be reckoned in the end at 40 per cent. per ann. From the expences attending the fea and inland infurances, freight and profit, it was clear that the Smuggler muft fell at 40 per cent. above the prime coft. Now his plan was to take off all the Excife duties on tea, and impose a cuftom duty of £12 10 per cent. ad valorem on Bohea, 25 o ditto ditto Souchong, ditto

30 o ditto

35 o ditto

ditto

40

ditto

Singlo, Hyfon, Congou,

o ditto The quantity of tea legally imported into this kingdom, appeared from the Company's fales; the quantity fold for exportation at Canton in China was eafily afcertained; the confumption of the different countries on the continent was pretty well known, which deducted from the quantity fold at Canton, it was evident that the reft must be brought into England, and from this calculation he estimated the home confumption at thirteen millions of pounds. There was another way of eftimating it. He reckoned the people of England to be in number 6,000,000, in which calculation he knew he was confiderably under the mark; of thefe, about 2,000,000 would, according to his plan,

be relieved from the payment of the pre fent duty on tea, without being obliged to contribute a farthing towards the tax which he fhould propofe as a fubstitution: the other four millions he calculated, would, one with another confume 3lb. of tea each in the year; for each pound of which, they pay at prefent on an average, 25. d. duty: the principal part of it being taken off, they could afford to pay to a fubftituted tax, which he proposed to raife in this way:

On every Houfe having under £. s. d. 7 windows

having 7

8

10

II 12

13

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This would produce above 700,000l. fo that with the new duty on tea, the produce would be near 900,000l. By this plan the public revenue would be confiderably a gainer, and yet the people would have no reafon to complain of additional burdens, as they would be favers by the plan. For inftance, a house which should be rated at 10s. 6d. would have a number of inhabitants fufficient to confume 7lb. of tea at 7s. per pound, which would come to 11. s. 10d. the whole of which being taken off, and in lieu of it a tax of ros. 6d. being laid on, there would be a faving to the family by this new mode of 155. 4d. In England, Scotland, and Wales, there were 782,077 houses, which might be divided into the following different claffes :

Under 7 windows each
7.
From 8 to 10 ditto

11 ditto

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286,296 211,483

38,324

24,919

67,652

52,652 17,734

of thefe, about 200,000 as being excufed from the houfe-tax, would pay nothing to this new tax, and the inhabitants, being

the

the poorer fort, would be delivered from the duty on tea. The great benefit then that would arise from this new regulation, would be in the firft place the checking, or rather the abfolute ruin of the smuggling trade; another benefit would be

:

that the fair trader would be relieved in a great meature from the difagreeable vifits of excife officers: the Eaft India Company would also be benefited in an eminent degree, by having to fupply the whole kingdom with tea, when fmuggling fhould be got under, inftead of lefs than one half; or in other words, would find a veut for 13,000,000 of pounds of tea inftead of 5,500,000; and two happy confequences would flow from this circumftance, that the Company would be enabled to take 20 more large fhips into their fervice, and find employment for 2000 additional feamen, a circumftance in itfelf of great national importance: a plan therefore which had all this to recommend it, and which would encreafe the public revenue, at the fame time that it made a faving to the people, would, he hoped, meet the approbation of the Houle, and of the nation at large. He forefaw two objections might be started to the plan one was, that the India Company having the market exclufively to theinfelves, might avail themselves of the monopoly, to raife the prices of tea. To this objection he anfwered, that he did not believe they would do fo, because it would obviously be their intereft not to do it; for as the fmugglers now carry on their trade against the high duties, in this cafe they would carry it on against the high prices: and that illicit trade would be restored, which it was now the wifh of the Company to reftrain and deftroy. But not to truft to the difcretion of the Company, or leave the people at their mercy, he would propofe that if ever the price of tea at the Company's fales, fhould exceed a given price, then the ports of the kingdom fhould be thrown open for the importation of tea from the Continent. Another objection was, that where a perfon might haphen to have more houfes than one or two, it would be a hardship upon him to make him pay for them all': in fuch a cafe, he propofed that he fhould pay for two of them; and even then, he faid, the owner would be a gainer by the plan. He concluded by moving that the prefent duties on tea do ceafe, and in their room, he moved the 12l. 10s. on bohea, and fo on for other teas, as we mentioned in the beginning: he alfo

moved above thirty different refolutions, relative to the different claffes of houses, and the different taxes that were to be im-' pofed upon them.

Mr. Eden faid, he was ready to exprefs his hearty approbation of the principle of the plan; whatever objections he might have to particular parts of it, would be more properly urged when the bills that fhould be ordered in, fhould get into the Committee. He did not think that the opening the ports for the importation of teas from the continent, would answer the end of keeping down the price of the Eaft-India Company's tea, if they fhould be fo imprudent as to attempt to raise it: for though the warehouses on the continent were at this moment full of tea, it was merely becaufe this country had hitherto afforded a great vent for that article, that fuch great quantities had been imported by our neighbours: it certainly was not for their own confumption; for it was very well known, that very little tea indeed is ufed on the Continent, in comparison with what is confumed in England; and therefore, as by the illicit trade being cut off, there would be no means to fend any of this tea from the Continent into this country, very little more of this article would be brought to Europe by our neighbours; and therefore the refource of opening our ports for foreign teas, in cafe of any emergency, would fail us. He did not expect much benefit from thefe regulations juft at the moment; for, as he had faid before, the warehoufes on the Continent being stored, the fmuggler would pour in as great quantities as poffible immediately, and fell rather at a lofs, than keep the commodity in hand, till the time fhould come, when he could find no market for it. He did not agree entirely in all the calculations made by the right hon. Gentleman, but in moft of them he did; and therefore, if the new regulations fhould happen to prove unpopular, he was ready to take his fhare of the unpopularity.

Mr. Gafcoyne fen. was of opinion that fome regulation ought to take place refpecting tea-gardens, &c. where there was a vaft confumption of tea, and where the new window duty would bear no proportion to the lofs that would be fustained by the lowering of the duty on that article. In Greenwich, and other hofpitals there was a great confumption, where no window-tax would be paid, and where of courfe there would be a heavy lofs by lowering the duty.

Mr.

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