attention it was a duty they owed to their conftituents, a duty they owed to themselves, to fet about the business with zeal, with earneftnefs, and with a fincere defire to attain their aim with certainty and effect. In fetting about fuch a bufinefs, however, plain dealing was first of all indispensably neceffary: above all things, it behoved that House not to deceive themfelves; to glofs over nothing; to avoid nothing that told against the defired purpose, but to convince the world not only of the fpring and vigor of the national refources, but that the Parliament had fpirit and ftoutness of mind enough, to dare to look the real fituation of the country in the face; to examine it thoroughly, and to hold it up publicly as it really was, without deception of any kind what

ever.

Under this impreffion it was, and not with any defpondent ideas of the national resources, that he meant to call their attention to the Report on the table; and he conceived, that he fhould be able to prove, that it was drawn up upon erroneous principles; that it was replete with mistaken calculations; that the Committee had acted under a delufion; and that the effect of the whole muft be fallacious, and not to be relied on, as the ground of a proceeding of fo ferious and important a nature as a bill containing and enacting a plan for the gradu ally paying off the national debt. When he said this, he begged leave once for all to be understood, as not meaning to convey any imputation whatever on the gentlemen who com pofed the Committee: they had acted, he was perfuaded, on honourable principles, and had rather given way to delufion themfelves than meant to deceive or mislead the Houfe. But meaning as he did, to object to the Report, and to disprove its ftatements he must take the liberty of declaring, that he thought the formation of the Committee highly objectionable. The right honourable gentleman oppofite to him had gone the length of avowing, that he fhould not be afhamed to deliver lifts of his own friends to be ballotted for to form fuch a Committee; and therefore he might be allowed to suppose, that fome of the right honourable gentleman's influence was exerted in the selection and appointment of the gentlemen who were returned by the ballot, and who actually had been members of the late Committee. Such a Committee, so appointed and chofen, he thought extremely improper; because, as every part and party in the Houfe, however they might differ as to the beft means of paying off the national debt, were undoubtedly agreed in their opinion, that it ought to be fet about as foon as poffible, and commenced in the manner moft likely to effect it on the best and most advantageous terms for the Public, he fhould have imagined, that on fuch an occafion, a fair and impartial Committee, compofed of

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men

men of different fentiments, and men who were as likely to draw out the dark fide of the queftion as the light one, would have been the fort of Committee beft adapted to the occafion. Mr. Sheridan now proceeded to examine the Committee's Report, the favourite object of which appeared to him to be, to hold up the measures recently taken by the Minifter of the day for the prevention of fmuggling, as the great and principal cause of the fuppofed increase of the public income. The Committee in the exordium of the Report fay, "The "large amount of the taxes propofed fince the commence"ment of the late war, in addition to the then fubfifting re

venue; the difficulties under which the different branches "of our commerce laboured during the continuance of that "war, and the great and increasing prevalence of fmuggling, "previous to the measures recently adopted for its fuppreffion, "appeared to your Committee to render any averages of the "amount of the revenue in former periods in a great degree "inapplicable to the prefent fituation of the country."

The very reverse of this reasoning ought, in his mind, to have prevailed; and the Committee would have done much more wifely to have stated the averages of the amount of the revenue, and of the expenditure of it in former periods, because as the Report ftood, there appeared a statement of the prefent receipt, to which was oppofed not the prefent expenditure, but the expenditure that it was fuppofed would be the expenditure of the year 1791; where, Mr. Sheridan asked, was the difficulty, fince peace was no new fituation to this country? The mode of ftating the prefent receipt, which happened to be remarkably high and favourable, against the probable expenditure of a year at fo great a distance, was a mode directly contrary to that ever before reforted to, as the beft means of getting at the true fituation of the country, and the reverse of what had been the conduct of a near relation of the Prefident of the Committee (Mr. Grenville) who, as an honourable Baronet (Sir Grey Cooper) on a late occafion had stated, at the clofe of the laft war, come forward with a plan, in which he had expreffly declared, that he did not think himself at liberty to take the receipt of the current year, as that was the year immediately after the conclufion of the peace, and of confequence a larger one than usual. He denied that the reasoning of the right honourable gentleman on the prefent produce of the revenue paid into the Exchequer, had been juft or correct: the mode of argument reforted to by a right honourable gentleman (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) to prove the increafing receipt, had been, by comparing one quarter with another, and inferring, that in proportion to the excefs of one quarter over another, fo would be the excess of one year over another: that fort of

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argument he confidered as weak and fallacious; and the laft quarter's receipt proved it.

:

Of the exceffive amount of our taxes and public debts, concerning which he might perhaps think rather fingularly, he fhould not hesitate to declare, that fuch an immenfe burden was thereby impofed upon the country, that it became almost impoffible for that House, on any occafion to withhold the fupplies fo much indeed was mortgaged to the public creditor, that it could fcarcely be done without creating an alarm of a nature extremely injurious to the national credit; and therefore, if it was to do over again, he, for one, fhould oppose the ntering into any bargain with the Crown for the grant of a ftipulated civil-lift revenue, fince that, added to the other circumftance, fettered that House in its votes, and in fo much took away from their rights. If, therefore, the right honourable gentleman was correct in his plan, he was fighting not only for the revenue, but for the conftitution of his country, which was certainly very laudable. Mr. Sheridan contradicted the favourite pofition of the Committee, in their Report, that the recent increase of the receipt of the revenue, had been owing to the measures lately taken to prevent fmuggling. He mentioned fugar and several others to prove this affertion indeed he knew not how thofe measures could in any refpe&t be faid to have tended to the increase of the revenue unlefs it was in the effect of the commutation tax; and fo generally admitted at this time was the pernici oufnels of that meafure, that he fuppofed they fhould hear fome alteration of it propofed even during the prefent feffion, fince no man need do more than look at the very fenfible pamphlet written by Mr. Rous, to be convinced of the extravagance and abfurdity of that tax: which tended to fend fuch immenfe fums out of the country in a trade, which in point of export had before been greatly against us. Mr. Sheridan took notice alfo of the pamphlet of Mr. Baring, ftiling him a man high in fituation at the India House, and who boasted in his writings that he enjoyed the confidence of Minift es. Mr. Baring profeffed to be the advocate of the tax, but his arguments appeared to tell the other way, and that very forcibly; for what could be more felf-evident, than that it was in the highest degree impolitic to encourage the import and ule of a foreign luxury, the introduction of which was carried to fuch an extent in confequence of the commutation tax, that according to Mr. Baring's account, four millions of money would be wanted of the Public to enable the Con pany to carry on the trade. This, he believed, was an overftatement; as doubtlefs, one million four hundred thousand pounds would do; but that fum the Company must borrow of the Bank, and the Public be the fecurity, which was ex

acy

actly the same as if they had lent it themselves. He objected to the statement of the produce of that tax, and said, that the Committee had taken credit for matters which could not be reckoned any more after they had been once received, as they would not be paid again.

Some falfe calculations had arifen alfo in. refpect to the game duties; the poft-horse-tax receipt; glove-duty receipt; the duty on medicines; the fhop tax; and the tax on attor nies. Indeed, a confiderable fum might be deducted from the total of their feveral amounts of produce; and fo much ought to be taken from the calculated receipt in their Report, because it had been erroneously affumed. The inefficacy of the glove tax, might prove the futility of every one of the fame fort, which could never be made productive but by means fo arbitrary that the House ought not to agree to them. At prefent, the glove duty was fo generally evaded, that almost every man who purchased a pair of gloves, would confider it as a fpecies of fhoplifting to take the stamp out of the fhop with him. The fyftem of extending taxation by ftamps, to fuch articles as the principle of a ftamp duty would not apply to, was abfurd in the extreme: ftamping-law proceedings and other documents was a good idea; the ftamp gave a weight, a fanction, and authority, where fo applied; but could that be faid of gloves, or of all the trumpery of a perfumer's fhop to which they were now about to extend stamp duties; would a ftamp legalize pomatum, or give validity to lavender water? With regard to the propofed tax on hair powder, the right honourable gentleman had borrowed it from a noble friend of his (the Earl of Surrey) who had paid his contribution to it by fuggefting and propofing the obnoxious tax. What a vaft number of years had they to look forward, even fo far as the year 1791, admitting that the Committee had been founded in all their arguments, before the completion of their wonderful defigns; the prefent members of the House would be departed, and their political exiftence terminated! They, the old grey-bearded ftewards, who had rack-rented the tenants, diftrained their goods, and levied executions, would be then no more, but would have left the new Parliament, like a young heir, to come into poffeffion of a clear unincumbered eftate. The Committee had indeed taken their average, in respect to the article of malt: an honourable Baronet (Sir Grey Cooper) had obferved, that a great number of Exchequer bills were out, and that disadvantages would arife from that circumftance in cafe of any fudden emergency; adding, that when a noble Lord (North) had only 1,800,000l. out, he paid off 700,000l. out of the number. To prove that the receipt would increafe under the

different heads or articles, it seemed fufficient to remark, that in every one of the reasonings a provifo was foifted in, and that in fact your "If," was your only furplus maker. With refpect to the navy expenditures, the papers figned by an honourable Baronet (Sir Charles Middleton) was a voucher that feemned unwillingly to speak the truth. He declared, that he thought 1,800,000l. for the navy establishment, was putting it too low, even for a year of peace: he reminded the House, that our fituation was different now from what it had been at the end of the war before the laft: we could then reft in fecurity with a much fmaller naval force than was now neceffary for our protection: the national glory and honour were at that day fufficient guards for the kingdom; now, alas! our fituation was different; though our efforts had been wonderful during the war, ftill it was to be remembered, that we had proved unfuccefsful; we required therefore a stronger navy than was before deemed neceffary. When the fyftem of fortification lately proposed was reprobated, the Houfe would recollect, they were all agreed in the premises, that it was right to protect the dockyards, but they deemed the conclufion drawn from thofe premises to be falfe; and when it was propofed by the noble Duke at the head of the Ordnance, to defend the dockyards by a newfangled mode, that mode was rejected, and it was determined to defend them in the old-fashioned vulgar way, by a strong navy. He, at the time, and he believed many other gentlemen expected, that though they had refused the money asked for fortifications, fome of it would be applied to ftrengthening our navy: the navy estimate was too low for a peace eftablfhment, the fituation and circumftances of other ftates confidered. jectionable alfo was the idea of calling out but a third of the militia, and glaring the impolicy of difgufting the country gentlemen upon a fubject with which they ought always to be kept in humour; as it was upon their taking commiffions in the militia, that its refpectability, its conftitutional effence, and its true character depended.

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France might affign an excellent reafon for difbanding a a part of her army: ftrengthened by alliances, fhe might reft fecure with a finall military force: nay, the French Ministers would be justified, in advising their Monarch confiderably to reduce the navy, because they might well fay, "Holland is "connected with your Majefty as an ally, and the navy of "Holland is in effect your navy." But far different was the cafe with us; we might almost be described to have but one foe, and that the whole world; while we were scarcely in alliance with our own empire. There were many expences which probably would come on the Public before the year 1791, of which the Committee had not taken the leaft notice'