out the existence of any danger being even remotely proved. General Tarleton then made some observations relative to the achievements, mentioned in his majesty's speech, by our troops in different parts of the world. Considering the expense with which the armament for the West Indies had been attended, and also the present state of our islands there, he saw no great cause for exultation; we had rather borrowed from our allies than conquered from the enemy. Mr. Fox having made some re`marks relative to the treaty with the Maroons, Mr. Bryan Edwards rose, and gave to the house an historical account of the late war between those people and the inhabitants of Jamaica. The Maroon negroes, he said, were descendants of the Spanish negroes, who, when the island surrendered to the English in 1655, took to the woods. In the account which general Venables transmitted to government of these people, they were represented as wild and lawless savages who had no mora! sense; on whom neither persuasions nor gentleness could make any impression, and with whom it was impossible to come to any treaty. They were therefore left in possession of the interior country, and continued masters of it for near a century, murdering, without mercy, all such white persons as attempted to make any settlements near them. He then entered into a history of the late war with these people, nearly as it was stated in our preceding volume. After this digression, the house voted the following sums. L. S. d. 1 0 For the charge of 60,765 effective men for guards 1,505,905 and garrisons For forces in the plantations, &c. guards} For difference between British and Irish pay of forces for service abroad For recruiting regiments in India. For contingencies for land forces For charge of general and staff officers For charge of embodied militia and fencible infantry For clothing for ditto For charge of fencible cavalry For allowance to ditto The house being resumed, the report was ordered to be received on the Monday following. On that day the report was brought up accordingly, and agreed to. On the 2d of December the house resolved itself into a committee of supply, when the secretary at war observed, that the estimates upon the table were so much matter of course, and so little different from those of last year, that he did not conceive it was necessary for him to say more than to move the different resolutions meant to be founded upon them. The first of which was, that the sum of 70,000l. be granted for horses' furniture, &c. for the year 1797. General Tarleton said, that, when the army estimates were first brought forward, he had remarked that the articles articles which had been omitted would amount to 550,000. but, in justice to his own moderation in that statement, he was bound now to observe, that they amounted to 707,000/. The whole sums granted this day were as follows. For horses' furniture and clothing for the augmentation For Scotch roads For allowance to reduced horse-guards For reduced officers of land forces and marines For increased rates of subsistence for quartering soldiers For officers late in the service of the States-General For ordinary of the navy For building and re-building ships of war For ordnance land service not provided for in 1795 For ordnance land service not provided for in 1796 For the civil establishment of Nova Scotia For the civil establishment of New Brunswick For the civil establishment of Cape Breton For ditto of the Bahama islands For ditto of Newfoundland For ditto of New South Wales For the salary of the chief justice of Bermudas In order to give our readers the whole of this subject at one view, we shall trespass a little on the chronological order, and mention the whole of the extraordinaries of the army previous to the account of the budget. The secretary at war, on the 5th of April, 1797, moved a resolution"That a sum, not exceeding 3,280,513. 18s. 2d. be granted for the purpose of defraying the extraordinaries of the army, from the 6th of December, 1795, to the 6th of December, 1796, voted, and not provided for by parliament," General Tarleton said, that he was under a necessity of noticing two particular objects of expense; the advances to the emperor, and the campaign in the West Indies. He blamed the conduct of administration in both these points, and insisted that the emperor had continually lost ground, and that the war in the West Indies, particularly in St. Domingo, was to be considered as the bane and destruction of the British military, who perished ignobly, and who were sent to a grave in that charnel-house, as it had proved to them; and though the the island had cost so much money and the lives of 14,000 gallant men, to this country, there was not a single post in our possession that could not be taken by three hundred fresh troops: on these grounds he opposed the motion. The resolution, however, was agreed to by the house. The chancellor of the exchequer, on the 7th of December, introduced into the house of commons his first budget for the year 1797 (we say first, for in the June following he brought up a second). He proceeded to state the resources upon which the people might confidently rely to defray the expenses which they had to incur. He premised that, great as the demand was, the nation was fully equal to the emergency, and prepared to meet it. The amount of the supply which had been then voted, and which it might be necessary to vote during the session, was as follows: SUPPLIES FOR THE YEAR 1797. NAVY. L. For the ordinary of the navy for 120,000 seamen and marines 6,240,000 Extraordinaries for the same To which might be added for this favourite service the further sum of Total for the service of the navy 1,420,000 2,500,000 L. 10,160,000 ARMY. for} 6,613,000 The amount of the sums which had been then voted for the army was The account of the extraordinaries was not then complete, but Mr. Pitt estimated them at Total for the army Sums for the diminution of the national debt The amount of the ordnance Miscellaneous services, including the relief to emigrant priests, &c. Deficiency of land and malt The deficiency of taxes, after deducting the surplus of grants for 1796, which amounted to 420,000l. was Total of the supply 4,300,000 L. 10,913,00O 200,000 1,623,000 378,000 350,000 1,023,000 L. 27,647,000 Mr. Pitt, in his statement, omitted fractions, and computed the navy expenses at the round sum of 10,160,000 whereas the real sum was 10,161,000%, for the Davy. For For raising this sum, the minister proposed the following Land and Malt Produce of the consolidated fund Surplus of grants of 1796 Surplus of the lottery, after deducting the sum due upon it to the loyalists L. 2,750,000 1,075,000 420,000 200,000 18,000,000 5,500,000 L. 27,945,000 Total of the ways and means Total of the supplies Surplus of ways and means The chancellor of the exchequer then proceeded to state the terms of the voluntary loan of 18 millions, so creditable and glorious to the country. The interest then to be provided for that loan was no more than 5l. 12s. 6d. per cent. per annum; he said he should not think himself justifiable if he were to provide a less sum than for the whole as a permanent annuity; and also to add the usual sum of one per cent. to the sinking fund, as if the loan was not to be paid off. In this view, taking the interest of 51. 12s. 6d. and adding one per eent. on account of the sinking fund, would make the whole of the interest to be provided, about 6l. 15s. for every 100l.; hence the interest on the 18,000,000 would be 1,215,000l. He proposed that exchequer bills should be issued to the amount of 5,500,000l. because he was convinced that so many might be circulated both with acconomy and advantage. Other species of floating debt had been found to be injurious, from the enormity of the discount to which they fell on account of the length of time they had to run. The interest on these exchequer bills would be 275,000l. L. The total excess of the navy debt beyond the estimate of } 8,250,000 1796, was Of this sum, a provision had been made for Therefore interest must be provided for the difference, viz. Having taken 2,500,000l. in the estimate of supply, he was confident he should cover every possible demand under the head of navy debt, if he provided interest for 3,000,000l. more.. 4,000,000 4,250,000 The items of the different sums for which interest was to be provided, and for which new burdens were to be laid upon the people, when recapitulated, stood as follows: For For the interest of 18,000,000l. of loan 1,215,000 275,000 315,000 277,000 140,000 For interest on 5,500,000l. of exchequer bills For interest of future excess of navy 5,702,000%. From this was to be deducted the interest upon the subscription to the loan of 2,000,000 by the East-India company Therefore the sum of interest to be provided for by new taxes would be L. 2,222,000 112,000 2,110,000 The following is the recapitulation of the new taxes which the chancellor of the exchequer proposed for raising the interest of the several sums above stated. EXCIS E. Ten per cent. on teas Ten per cent on coffee estates, and 3d. on goods On bricks, Is. per thousand Spirits 1d. per gallon 240,000 30,000 Additional duty on sales by auction, 24d. in the pound on Licences on Scots distillery Ten per cent. on brimstone, iron, oil olive, and staves and wine excepted Other articles on import, such as starch, bricks, &c. Addition to the assessed taxes and new house tax, 10 per cent. 290,000 Regulation of stamps Additional postage, and regulation of the post-office Stage coaches, additional Stamps on parcels (given up afterwards) 30,000 250,000 69,000 60,000 Canal navigation 120,000 |