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perfectly right; and if his intention was to form an administration in which there will be no counting of noses, I believe he has completely succeeded. If, Sir, for our opposition to this bill, we are told that we are "a faction," we are told no more than the right honourable gentleman himself was told, a few hours before the late administration were turned out of office; and told, too, by that very noble lord (Hawkesbury) who has consented to accept the office of secretary of state for the home department, under the administration of the right honourable gentleman. The right honourable gentleman has mentioned the change which has taken place in the secretaries of state with some exultation, and contends, that in such a proceeding there is no degradation. The right honourable gentleman is most undoubtedly at liberty to form his own judgment on such an humiliation; I can only say, that I totally differ from him in opinion.

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Now, Sir, having made these few observations on a subject which it is my constant desire to avoid, I shall trouble the House with a few words on the bill itself; which, whatever the right honourable gentleman may please to surmise, I declare to be the sole object of my opposition. After all that has been said of the army of reserve bill, the right honourable gentleman must be perfectly aware that this bill cannot be agreeable. He has laid great stress on the clauses which he has introduced this day, by which 70,000 men are to be embodied during the war, and then disbanded at the peace, but registered, so that in case of any future war, they may be called on to serve again. I cannot help suspecting that these clauses are a new thought, and not at all belonging to the sent bill. This, I will venture to say, is by no means so good as a militia; for in that kind of force you know where to find the men. You look for the Yorkshire militia in Yorkshire, and the Kentish in the county of Kent. But where will you find this army? These battalions are to be composed of such a mixture of men from all parts of the kingdom, that you may have to look for the Yorkshire in Cornwall, and the Cornish in Lancashire. In short, there will be no knowing where to find them. The right honourable gentleman says, is not my mode more likely to be efficient than any other system? I answer, No. It will not be so efficient either as the militia or the army of reserve. The mode of raising recruits by parish of ficers I must severly condemn. The influence of parish officers can be attended with no other advantage in the raising recruits than what results from a system of terror and oppression, which cannot fail to be the case in such a system as the present, where persons are to be fined for not doing what it is impossible they should be able to do. Besides, fines are in

themselves a species of punishment, and punishment ought never to attach to persons who have been guilty of no crime.

As a measure of finance, the public most assuredly have not gained by the present bill. I contend that there is the greatest inequality in a system of taxation by fine, such as this is. For instance, suppose I send my servant to market to buy a bushel of wheat, or any other grain, but I tell him, at the same time, that he must not, on any account, give more than half-a-crown for the bushel. "Half-a-crown, Sir," says the servant, "I cannot buy a bushel of wheat for that sum; it is worth seven shillings a bushel, and no one will sell it for less." "No matter," say I; " you must give no more than half-a-crown, and if you do not buy it for that money, you shall be punished with a fine." In the same way will it exactly turn out with the recruits under this bill. Men will not enlist for the sum to which these parish recruiting officers are restricted, and then the parishes must be fined, which will prove as great a hardship as can well be conceived. The whole system is also very unequal, for it falls much heavier on the landholder than on any other description of persons, and with the greatest inequality even on those. I see no reason why the mode of recruiting for the regular army advised by my right honourable friend, (Mr. Windham,) who has taken the lead on military subjects, in a manner so honourable to himself and so beneficial to the country I say, I see no reason why that mode should not be tried. Why not enlist men for a limited time, or for limited service? I am one of those who are exceedingly sanguine of such a mode of recruiting the army. I have no doubt but such a trial would be attended with success. I can, however, see no possible advantage, but only the contrary, in enlisting men for a limited service, in order to seduce them afterwards into general service, which is to be the operation of the present bill. Because the army of reserve could not do its service with the ballot, it is rashly presumed that this bill will effect the same purposes without the ballot; a mode of arguing, which militates expressly against the nature of things. For my own part, I voted for the suspension of the army of reserve bill, for the express purpose of giving this measure an opportunity of being fairly and fully discussed; and now that has taken place, I am convinced it is one of the most oppressive, as well as one of the most inefficient measures, that could well be devised, for the purposes it is intended to effect. Indeed, to speak of the absurdities of the bill in detail, would be ridiculous. I just now said that the bill would be found both inefficient and oppressive. But then comes the right honourable gentleman with his famous dilemma. "How," says he, "do you make that out? How can my bill be oppressive and in

efficient too." I say, Sir, the bill will occasion very considerable oppression without producing any considerable addition to your force. The bill appears to me, in every part of it, full of oppression and injustice, and tending to a more circuitous mode to recruit your regular army, than the plan proposed by my right honourable friend, (Mr. Windham,) and as such I must continue to give it my determined opposition.

Before I sit down, there is one observation which fell from the right honourable gentleman, upon which I cannot avoid saying a few words. The right honourable gentleman says, "if you throw out my bill, I shall be sorry; because you and the country will lose a good measure, but you will not thereby be the nearer getting rid of me." A more indecent and disrespectful expression from a minister to a House of Commons I never heard. Is not this bill a bill of considerable detail, requiring the general consent and approbation of all ranks of the community? Is it possible, I ask, that this House can so far lose sight of its duty as to send a bill of such unexampled severity and oppression to be executed all over the country, contrary to the opinion of nearly one half of its members? Can such a bill be well executed by a country that disapproves of it? It must be allowed that the bill, with all the influence of government, will be carried by only a very trifling majority. Under such circumstances, it cannot be executed with that general good will and general consent by which only its operations can be rendered beneficial to the country.

The House divided on the motion, That the Bill be engrossed:

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MR. PITT having this day proposed, among the Ways and

Means of the year, an addition of one-fourth, or threepence in the shilling, on the Property Tax,

Mr. Fox said, the addition now proposed to be made on the property tax, I am sorry to say, will, if I am not much mistaken, lay the foundation of endless calamity to this coun

try. One great objection to the tax on income is, that it affords a facility of getting near what we would most lament -that state in which a minister could take the property of the subject indiscriminately. This is precisely what we have to lament in regard to the tax on property, which can only operate as a facility to that deprecated end. This time 25 per cent. are added, possibly there will be next time 25 per cent. more put on it; after that, possibly, it will be doubled, then trebled, until the principle is silently, but fatally established, of taking the money of the subject wherever and however it may be found. I have also another objection to this tax, that though it is less unequal than the income tax, it is still very unequal. Landed property and property in the funds contribute fairly. But the other descriptions of property, such as arise from commerce and industry, do not pay in any proportion. If this is the case, I tremble for the consequence of going on increasing this tax. If a property tax be allowable, even in time of war, it is only on the ground of its being regular and moderate. If this is to continue many years, and consumption, so far as yielding a revenue, is at an end, it is likely the property tax will be considered as a land tax, or any of those other taxes that are voted annually as matters of course. I do not say that this crisis is near, God forbid it should be! If ever we come to the state when we cannot levy taxes on consumption, we shall inevitably be going the road that leads to the point at which we take from our income, where we can, and all we can, till we go to the principal, and in time take that likewise. With these impressions of the vast impolicy of such a growing tax as this, I own that I do from my heart wish the right honourable gentleman could have devised any other measure. I never approved of this tax, nor of the principle on which it was founded, and I think that limits should be set to it which cannot be exceeded.

In reply to Mr. Pitt,

Mr. Fox denied that the arguments for the increase of the property tax were such as applied to all taxes. For when a house tax became too high, a man might avoid it by ceasing to keep any house; but property was a thing to which there could be no limit till the whole was taken. With respect to wine, tea, or any other articles of consumption, taxation might proceed without reserve, because the individual would always have it in his power, as soon as the tax became oppressive and intolerable to him, to desist from them. He therefore preferred taxation of this sort to proceeding on dangerous principles, taking by little and little from the property of the

subject, till the reduction was tantamount to the risk of the whole. Every body knew how human nature was worked upon by every thing that assailed it by degrees. He remembered a fable, which, to elucidate the force of habit, related, that a woman in a certain village had a calf, which she accustomed herself to take in her arms every day, and from the gradual increase, was able to bear it when it came to be a large ox. The fable was a good one, but he did not like it in its application to the present case. For, however we might be able to bear this little calf, we could not possibly bear the great fat ox it would grow to. He, therefore, could not possibly approve of a tax that had no natural limit in itself.

THIS

PROCEEDINGS RESPECTING LORD MELVILLE.

April 8.

HIS day Mr. Whitbread brought under the consideration of the House the subject of the Tenth Report of the Commissioners of Naval Inquiry, and concluded a speech of great length, with moving the following Resolutions:

1. "That it appears to this committee, that on the 18th of June, 1782, the House of Commons in a committee of the whole House came, amongst others, to the following Resolutions: That it is the opinion of this committee, that some regulations ought to be adopted for the purpose of lessening and keeping down the 'balances of public money, which appear to have usually been in the hands of the treasurer of the navy; and it would be beneficial to the public if the first and other clerks in the different branches belonging to the said office, were paid by fixed and permanent salaries in lieu of all fees, gratuities, and other perquisites whatsoever.'

That it is the opinion of this committee, that from henceforward the paymaster-general of his majesty's land forces, and the treasurer of the navy, for the time being, shall not apply any súm or sums of money imprested to them, or either of them, to any purpose of advantage or interest to themselves, either directly or indirectly.'

That it appears to this committee, that the commissioners appointed to examine, take, and state the public accounts of the • kingdom, have, so far as appears from the reports which they have hitherto made, discharged the duty intrusted to them with great diligence, accuracy, and ability; and if parliament shall carry into execution those plans of reform and regulation which are suggested by the matter contained in the reports of the said VOL. VI.

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