partiality. But the citizens of London have pronounced it to be partial to extremity; and that while its burdens will hardly be felt by the landed intereft, it will weigh down the commercial with a heavy oppreflion. To the country gentleman it operates as a tax upon income; and not on the property from which that income is derived. It is a tax upon the two thoufand pounds a year which he fpends; and not on the fifty thoufand pounds which make up the value of his eftate. Now to a perfon in trade it is a tax upon the whole amount of his capital; for his capital, or at least the greatest part of it, is laid out by him in the courfe of the year. If therefore he fhould employ fifty thousand pounds in his bufinefs, the tax will operate upon the whole of that fum; and he will pay towards it twenty-five times more than the country gentleman who has an equal fortune. By the fpirit of the act every gen tleman may at his pleasure throw the expence of the tax upon his tradefman. He will fay to him, "If I pay you this bill you must give me a legal difcharge." The tradefman may indeed fay, "It is you who must provide the ftamp." But the gentleman might reply to him, "It is enough for me that I pay you the money: I cannot take the trouble of providing you with ftamps; and if you difturb me with your impertinence, I must give my custom to those who are worthy of it." The tradefman is, undoubt edly, in a fituation where he muft fubmit, or endanger his ruin. Now fince the expence of the ftamp muft fall on him who gives the receipt, what will a country gentleman pay for the receipts he is to give to his tenants? The queftion is obvious. He will not pay more than forty fillings per annum. But it will turn out very differently with the merchant and trader. Commercial houfes in the city of London will pay to this tax from ten pounds to two hundred a year; an expence that is oppreffive and moft unequal. It is a rule of policy, that every individual fhould contribute to the neceffities of the ftate, in propor tion to the revenue he enjoys under its protection. This rule has a deep foundation in the nature of civil fo ciety, and in the immutability of juftice. It might be afked, there fore, with propriety, what have the merchants and traders done, that they fhould be excluded from the benefit of this rule. To opprefs them is individually an infult to them; and it acts as a ftab to commerce. It must bring down ruin upon the trade and manufactures of the kingdom. The people appeal against the tax, not only to the justice, but to the humanity of the houfe. After having borne with patience the bur dens of a cruel and unneceffary war, they beg not to be fubjected to a tax more ruinous and cruel than any which they have hitherto endured. The merchants in particular, after having contributed beyond their proper proportion in fuftaining the weight of a most expenfive war, infift not to be fingled out as the objects of a peculiar and refined oppreffion. They afk not for any indulgence. They are willing to fuftain the fhare that belongs to them in the taxes of their country; but they folicit that no double portion may be forced upon them. fuffering calamities, they deprecate the wantonnefs of oppreffion. They defire to be treated as men, and not to be infulted as flaves. They are ready to fubmit to a jaft affeffment of their means, But they must remonitrate After monftrate against injuftice, and cannot bur recollect that they ought to be governed by the equality and the virtue of a free ftate, and not the caprice and the violence of a master or a defpot. Notwithstanding the objections which were made to the receipt-tax, it appeared to the generality of the houfe to be a wife and falutary re gulation. The question for the recommitment of the bill was loft without a divifion; and upon the third reading it was paffed. In the house of peers petitions a gainst it were prefented by merchants and traders, and by the city of London; but thefe obftructions were unavailing; and there it was agreed to without any amendment. CHAP. XVII. Reduction of the Army. Eftimates. New Army Regulations. Bill for taking away the Right of Compounding for the Duty on Malt made for private Confumption. Petition of the American Loyalifts. Bill for their Relief. T HE houfe of commons being difpofed to take into confideration the army estimates for the remainder of the current year, colonel Fitzpatrick, the fecretary at war, intimated that it was a pleaJune 13. fing circumstance to him to have it in his power to announce the intention of his majefty to make a very confiderable reduction in his army. No more than fixty-four regiments of infantry were to be kept on foot, excepting out of this regulation the fixty-fifth and the fixty-eighth regiments, which were to be upheld in the room of two regiments now in India, in the pay of the Company. The cavalry alfo were to be greatly reduced. The principle of thefe reductions But while it was right to confult this principle in the prefent condition of the empire, it was no less expedient to proceed upon it with a due confideration to the fafety of the country. On this ground it was proper to reft and to paufe; and a queftion very naturally prefented itself, whether in a reduction it was most eligible to pre was œconomy. fer ftrong battalions thinly officered, or thin battalions ftrongly officered. The point had undergone a fcrutiny and attention; and as he believed that a private foldier was very foon formed when placed among veterans; but that it was a difficult matter to form an officer; he was firmly inclined to prefer thin battalions ftrongly officered. Upon this way of thinking, a determination had been taken to reduce the companies from ten to eight, except in the guards and household troops. At the fame time it was proposed that the captains of the two reduced companies fhould remain in full pay. He alfo adverted to a faving which would be made in confequence of an intended converfion of two regiments of heavy dragoons into light horfe, for the purpofe of giving af fiftance in the prevention of finuggling. Upon the reduction of the force beyond the fea, he was not refolutions prepared to advance any or opinion. The regulations, however, which were about to take place in the army, might produce a faving to the amount of one hun dred dred thousand pounds. He moved accordingly the following refolu tions. "That a number of land forces, including two thousand and thirty invalids, amounting to feventeen thoufand four hundred and eightythree effective men, commiffion and non-commiffion officers included, be employed from the 25th day of June 1783, to the 24th day of December following, both inclufive, being 183 days. "That a fum not exceeding three hundred and eight thoufand two hundred seventy-feven pounds, fix fhillings and three-pence be grant ed to his majefty for defraying the charge of 17,483 effective men, for guards, garrifons, and other his majefty's land forces in Great Britain, Guernsey, and Jerfey, for 183 days, from the 25th day of June 1783 to the 24th day of December following, both inclufive. "That a fum, not exceeding for ty thousand two hundred forty-one pounds and fourteen fhillings, be granted to his majefty for defraying the charge of eight battalions of foct for 183 days, from the 25th day of June 1783 to the 24th day of December following, both inclufive. "That a fum, not exceeding one hundred thirty-fix thoufand eight hundred eighty-eight pounds, eleven fhillings, and fix pence, be granted to his majesty upon account for defraying the charge of his majefty's forces ferving abroad, exceeding the propofed establishment for 183 days, from the 25th day of June 1783 to the 24th of December following, both inclufive. "That a fum, not exceeding thirty-eight thousand pounds, fourteen fhillings, and three-pence, be granted to lis majefty for defray ing the charge of five provincial corps formed in North America, for 183 days, from the 25th day of April 1783 to the 24th day of October following, both inclufive. "That a fum, not exceeding two hundred and five thousand five hundred forty-two pounds, and twelve fhillings, be granted to his majesty for maintaining his majefty's forces and garrifons in the plantations and Africa, including thofe in garrison at Gibraltar, for 183 days, from the 25th day of June 1783 to the 24th day of December following, both inclufive, "That a fum, not exceeding eight thoufand one hundred thirty-seven pounds, and eight fhillings, be grant ed to his majefty for defraying the charge of full pay to the commiffioned officers reduced with the ninth and tenth companies of feveral regiments of foot, for 183 days, from the 25th day of June 1783 to the 24th day of December following, both inclufive. "That a fum, not exceeding eight thoufand one hundred thirty-one pounds, thirteen fhillings, and eight pence, be granted to his majesty for the pay of the general, and generat ftaff-officers in Great Britain, for 183 days, from the 25th day of June 1783 to the 24th day of December following, both inclufive." These refolutions were agreed to without difficulty; and the commons foon after confidering that the ferjeants of the army were a meritorious body of men, concurred in opinion that two hundred of them, who were infirm, fhould be admit ted to the king's letter lift. By this bounty one Thilling per day was now to go to four hundred men who had spent their lives in the fervice of the public; and whofe infirmi fies and age precluded them from farther exertions. This regulation was followed by a measure not lefs humane and liberal. Lord Mulgrave stated the miferable condition of the widows of the officers of the navy, and ftrenuously contended that a proper relief should be adminiftered to them. An attempt fo reasonable was feconded and applauded from every quarter. It was accordingly refolved by the house, "That an humble addrefs fhould be prefented to his majesty, humbly to befeech his majefty, that he will be graciously pleafed to take the cafe of the poor widows of captains, lieutenants and mafters of his majesty's navy into his confideration, and to make fuch farther and certain provifion for their fupport, in addition to the proportion which they are at prefent intitled to, of the threepence in the pound on the pay of commiffion and warrant officers, and of the wages and victuals of the widows men, when fuch proportion fhall not amount to forty-five pounds per annum for a captain's widow, and thirty pounds per annum for a lieutenant's and mafter's widow, as his majesty in his great wisdom fhall think fit, fo as that the faid annui ty, including the aforefaid proportion of the three-pence in the pound, and of the wages and victuals of the widows men to each captain's widow fhall not exceed forty five pounds per annum, and to each lieutenant's and mafter's widow thirty pounds per annum; and to affure his majelty that this houfe will make good fuch expence as fhall be incurred on that account.' This addrefs was received moft graciously by his majefty; and the earl Ludlow was commanded by him to report to the commons that he would give his directions to carry it into execution. The commons proceed, June 18. ing in the national affairs, lord John Cavendish brought forward. "A bill for taking away from the commiffioners of Excife in England and Scotland the power of compounding with perfons making malt not to fell, but to be confumed in their private families." To this bill it was objected by Mr. Hill, that it would infringe upon the liberty of the fubject. To allow excifemen to enter into private houses at their pleasure was an act of tyrannic power. Against the bill therefore there was in full force all the ar guments which had been applied against the cyder-tax; and what had been faid on that occation by the great lord Chatham, might now be repeated with the greatest propriety. It was obferved by that confummate politician, "That every Englifhman's house, however mean it might be, was his castle. If it were a wretched clod hovel without either door or window; if it were even fuch a one as the rain and the wind could enter, ftill the king could not enter. Thus the poor man's hut was his afylum, and place of fecurity; not because it was garrifoned by walls and bulwarks, but because it had no need of fuch protectors; fince the laws of a free country were his defence and protection against the vifits of arbitrary invaders." It was contended that as the perfons compounding for the malt du ty committed fo many frauds, the right fhould be taken from them. To hold out this fact and conclufion as an argument, did not appear to him to be proper. He would be equally just in affirming, that all honeft men fhould be hanged from the fear that any rogue fhould efcape. Because fome frauds were committed, was it right to involve the innocent with the guilty? Was it not a violation of justice to deprive an honest man of the priviledge of compounding for his malt, becaufe his roguifh neighbour fold the malt for which he compounded? This method of proceeding was as inhuman as that of Herod, who commanded that all the young children throughout Bethlehem thould be put to death, in order that the facred infant fhould not efcape. The expedient was dreadful; yet the merciless tyrant failed of his purpose. It was his wifh that every fimilar expedient fhould be ineffectual. The bill in its fpirit was totally oppofite to the temper and genius of the English constitution; and he could not think of it for one moment without horror and indignation. Mr. Huffey pronounced the bill to be just and neceflary. No real or folid argument could be flated against it. The point it held in view was the fecurity of the revenue; and, under our prefent circumstances, if its collection was not rendered efficacious, the decline of the nation must enfue. Mr. Pultney could not coufider the bill as the regulation of a tax but as the impofition of a new tax on the fubject. The law enacted that gentlemen fhould have a power of compounding for the malt-tax. Now the tendency of the prefent bill was to abrogate one tax, and to impofe in its place a new and an odious one. The thing was in itself unjuftifiable: and the pretence for it was most fallacious. It was faid that various frauds were committed. The affertion might be true; but was it not the duty of government to discover and to prevent them?. The neglect of government was not the fault of the nation; and it was infinitely cruel, that its negligence fhould be a foundation for heavy taxation. It Mr. Kenion oppofed the bill, on the principle that it introduced a new fyftem of revenue laws. went to the eftablishment of a general excife. Now the wit of the moft ingenious man could not prove that any other argument of weight had been employed against the cyder tax, but that it was in effect a general excife. The bill, accordingly, ought to be confidered with the greatest attention. If a tax on cyder was an oppreffive tax, the operation of the prefent bill would not be lefs fo. The fame reafonings were applicable against both. The precedent too, was to the highest degree hazardous. For if the bill paffed, a cyder-tax would foon follow; and extenfions of the excife laws take place, to the most cruel injury of the country. Lord Surrey could not conceive that there was any thing in the bill which ought to raife an alarm. To a tax on cyder, he confidered it not as the chief objection that it threw open private houfes to the officers of the excife. There were against it arguments far more forcible. Cyder, in the counties where it was com mon, ought invariably to be confidered as on the fame footing with milk in other countries. It was by no means a proper article of exeife, As to the compofition which the bill under deliberation was to take away, it was deftructive to the revenue. The annual amount of the tax on malt extended to one million and four. hundred thousand pounds. Now of this tax the compofition produced no more than five thou fand |