might then have been said for slackening the springs, and eking out with expedients; but to begin with secret shifts and hazardous expedients, what is that but confessing to a certainty, that you foresee the enormity of the expence; that you take every means of concealing it from the public eye; that you know and feel the inability of your country to support a civil war, which will destroy every source of its strength and power; but that you are secretly and treacherously meditating to lead us on, confiding as we are, uninformed, and unsuspecting as you would have us to be, step by step, to ruin?

The public have been alarmed, and perhaps not without reason, upon some supposed measures of the Bank, with respect to navy bills. Wherever there are mysteries in matters of importance suspicion is justifiable. Immediately after the navy debt was moved for in parliament, it was announced, that the Bank had stopped their hands in buying up navy bills, and they fell to a double discount. It was the calling for the navy debt that first brought to light the total amount of the outstanding bills, which, on the 31st Dec. 1775, was greater than in any of the five first years of the late war. The public concluded very naturally, that there was some secret understanding between the ministry and the Bank upon this subject. Doubt less buying up the navy bills by the Bank was a voluntary act of their own, even if it were concerted with the ministry; but still the circumstances, taken altogether, appear suspicious. Why should the Bank have prevented themselves, as they seem to have done, from purchasing navy bills at the double discount? For the moment they left off buying, the discount became double. Why should they even seem to be assisting government in their system of contracting debts secretly and underhand? This is tender ground. It was not originally any suspicion of mine; but I confess I took it from a paper circulated, and which I believe was sent to most members of this House, stating, that the Bank had advanced above eight millions to the treasury, upon distant funds, out of the reach of circulation, to the great risk of public credit. If that be so, I think it is a most dangerous system. Its tendency is to convert the bank of England into a ministerial engine of state; and the danger nothing less, than making the executive power independent on the knowledge and consent of parliament for money. May [VOL. XVIII.]

not 24 directors, in some future time, be prevailed upon materially to sacrifice the interest of the proprietors at large to serve a minister? Even in the case just mentioned, it was a fortunate incident for the ministry, that, just at a time when it was their object to get what advance of money they could in secret, the Bank should seem studious to take up their navy bills at half the discount to which they fell, upon the very day on which they ceased to purchase. I repeat it again, this is tender ground: more so than is generally imagined. I believe no one can doubt the responsibility of the bank of England: but any bank, whether public or private, may be broken, notwithstanding a very certain final responsibility of paying 206. in the pound, and even a great surplus remaining. It is a ready responsibility that must support any bank at a pinch; distant funds, out of reach, will not give support against a sudden alarm and run. Any indiscretion of the Bank in advancing large sums upon very distant funds, may be extremely hazardous to themselves, and to every shop, which by habit and gradual custom considers bank notes to be as good as coin. They are all upon one bottom. I have not all the alarms about paper credit that some gentlemen have, particularly not about bank paper; but still I think it a point of material prudence, that the Bank should not be too free in advancing millions upon very remote funds. This is a very important point. I hope that I have touched it tenderly. I think I need say no more in support of my last motion, for making a satisfactory provision for the outstanding navy bills.

I will now state my remaining motions as they follow each other argumentatively in order: 4. "That the supplies already voted in this session amount to the sum (or thereabouts) of 6,157,000l. exclusive of several other services as yet unprovided for. 5. That the expence of the navy for the year 1776 may probably exceed the provisions hitherto made by parliament, to the amount of 2,500,000l. 6. That the extraordinaries of the land forces for one year, from March 9, 1776, may probably amount to 2,500,000/. 7. That the expences of the office of ordnance for land service for 1776 may probably exceed the provisions hitherto made in this session by the sum of 300,000l. 8. That there are exchequer bills outstanding, charged upon the first aids of this session, to the amount of 1,250,000l. 9. That the navy debt on [4 P]

the 31st Dec. last amounted to the sum (or thereabouts) of 2,698,000l. 10. That for the better security of public credit it would be proper to provide for the navy, victualling, and transport bills, outstanding on the 29th of February, 1776, amounting to the principal sum of 2,308,000l. or thereabouts (exclusive of interest already due) or at least for such part of the said bills as do at present carry interest at 4 per cent."

Lord North said, the hon. gentleman looked for impossibilities, he could not divine what the expence of the campaign would amount to. It was impossible to tell, till the expence was incurred; and in some instances not till long after. Such accounts as were brought into the respective offices, were regularly laid before the House, and that was all that could be done. He was against the motion, because it could not be complied with; the sums might be right, but the House had no documents before them to come to such a vote.

Lord John Cavendish seconded the motion. He desired to know what money would be wanted, that the House might be enabled to judge fairly of the expediency of the undertaking, and entreated that administration would desist from their shameful disingenuous conduct, of bringing in their accounts by piece meal, recommending them to speak out like men, who had nothing to fear or conceal, and were ready to submit the measure at large, with all its consequences, to the eye of parliament.

Hon. James Luttrell supported the motion. He however thought the information required would be very insufficient, if parliament were to be imposed on by such mutilated and garbled estimates as were laid upon the table, tending to mislead rather than inform the House. He would undertake to prove that they were replete with fraud and imposition, the money not having appeared to be applied to the several purposes for which parliament had granted it.

After a reply from Mr. Hartley, the motions were all negatived.

Debate in the Commons on the Budget.] April 24. The House being in a Com

mittee of Ways and Means,

Lord North began with recapitulating the grants made in the committee of supply, which he said, amounted to 9,097,000l. He next stated the sums

granted in the committee of ways and means, consisting of land and malt, produce of the sinking fund and exchequer bills, to be issued for the service of the year 1776, all which amounted to 7,143,000l. The difference between the amount of grants and monies provided for, he computed to be 1,956,000l. To balance this deficiency between the grants and supplies, he meant to borrow two millions, which would make an overplus of 44,000!. To raise this sum, he proposed that annuities should be granted at 3 per cent. per annum, on 1,400,000l. and that the other 600,000l. be raised by lottery, the prizes of which were to be funded and incorporated into the two millions stock.

His lordship then gave a particular account of the present flourishing state of the sinking fund. He observed, that the preceding session that fund had been charged with 2,800,000l. besides 100,000. paid to his Majesty for the purchase of Somerset-house. Yet notwithstanding this heavy charge, there was a surplus at the end of the Christmas quarter, of 17,000l. which was now brought to the credit of the ways and means. To this prosperous state he said it might be objected, that the present troubles in Ame rica being foreseen, greater importations might have been made from that country in the course of last year than usual, which produced a kind of unnatural increase of the customs; but the very reverse, he assured the committee, was the fact, for, in the course of the last quarter, however unaccountable it might appear, the produce of the sinking fund on the 4th of the present month, was found to be 960,000! so that the last five quarters produce amounted to the almost incredible sum of 3,877,000l. Though this state of that fund might appear as if the trade with the colonies was of little or no consequence to this nation, he did not mean to draw any such conclusion. He was convinced of the great importance of that valuable branch of commerce; but it authorised him to draw another conclusion of singular importance, which was, that it proved the great opulence, private consumption, public wealth, and immense resources of this country. When those facts first came to his knowledge, he confessed he was much astonished; he suspected that the imports from America must have been much greater than at any other time, at least in the beginning of the preceding year; found to his surprise that that was

he

four-wheel carriages which paid the tax last year, he said, was 18,600; but supposing that gentlemen, who had several of them, would on this account lay down one, or that the number of four-wheel carriages might from other causes actually decrease, he would allow for that decrease, and fix the number at 17,000, which, at 20s. each, would produce the sum of 17,000l.

The next proper object of taxation, he thought, would be stage coaches and machines. He said, that gentlemen who paid the tax for their own carriages, thought it a little extraordinary that hackney carriages should be exempted, particularly when they saw four or six insides, and eight or ten outsides daily passing them on the road, without contributing a shilling towards the public expence. the public expence. Those he computed at 400, though he believed them to be considerably more, which, at 5, each, would produce about 2,000l. a year.

There had been taxes already laid on all deeds and paper writings sealed, but he thought from the easy manner of collecting the stamp-duties, and the benefits supposed to arise to the parties from such transactions at the time, that deeds would bear an additional stamp of 1s. The shilling stamp laid on in 1736, produced the last year 32,000l., but taking it on an average of 30,000l., he proposed that an additional tax of 1s. each should be laid on all deeds or paper writings sealed, heretofore liable to the payment of stamp

duties.

Cards and dice were matters of real Juxury, and ought therefore to be taxed. 164,000 packs of cards had been stamped the last year, which amounted to between 3 and 4,000l. Another 6d. stamp would produce a like sum, and the half crown stamp on dice, about 400/.

Newspapers in general, he thought a very fit object of taxation. Many persons thought they did more harm than good, while others looked upon them to be of great public benefit. He did not pretend to determine whether they were, or were not; but he could not help observing that they inculcated one thing which he believed was not to be credited, which was, that the liberties of this country were in danger from cruel, ambitious, and tyrannical ministers, when, under this tyrannic government, news-writers were daily permitted to abuse the persons, and misrepresent the measures, of those very men

whom they described as enemies of liberty, with impunity. He could further inform them that those calumnies and falshoods, were propagated and repeated in the course of a year, in no less than 12,230,000 news-papers. It was difficult to determine whence this avidity for reading news-papers arose. He could not say it was from a thirst of knowledge or improvement. He presumed, therefore, it was from a general desire of knowing what was passing, of spending half an hour that lay heavy on their hands, or from an idle foolish curiosity; but let the reason be what it might, it was a species of luxury that ought to be taxed, and from the propensity just mentioned, would, he made no doubt, well bear it. By the last returns in the Stamp-office, the amount of the tax was 50,000l. on the penny-stamp. He proposed now to lay on an additional halfpenny, which would, if the sale were to continue the same, produce 25,000l. but as the sale might possibly decrease somewhat, he would compute the produce of this tax to be no more than 18,000l. per annum. Taking those several sums together, they made about 72,000l. per annum, out of which deducting the interest of the 2,150,000l. which was 64,000l. there would remain about 8,000l. a year to be applied to the uses of the sinking-fund.

His lordship then reminded the committee, that the power and wealth of this country were great, and its spirit high, notwithstanding the pains that had been taken to depreciate one, and vilify and traduce the other. Though Englishmen were degraded in the eyes of all Europe as tame, spiritless, and cowardly; though this country had been represented to be exhausted, borne down by taxes, and on the eve of a general bankruptcy: though the disappointments of the last campaign were magnified into defeats; and though America was represented, to be the seat of virtue, liberty, courage and heroism, he nevertheless trusted that this country had both the spirit left to assert her rights, to resent the insults she had re ceived, and to convince her public and domestic enemies, that as she had the will, so she had likewise the means, of repairing her injured honour. He observed, that this country, when roused to a sense of her injuries, had never failed to chastise her foes, whether foreign or domestic; and that however slow she might be in the be ginning, experience had taught them that she was not to be insulted with impunity.

tially served the people, and no surer test could be given than this, that if the people withdrew their confidence from government but for one day, he would engage that the next the individuals who compose the present administration, would have no more influence with the Bank, than any other set of individuals whatever; and on the whole, he could fairly declare, that he did not know a single instance in which the Bank had assisted government, which was in fact assisting the public, but in circulating the exchequer and navy bills, which brought them into the market, and lowered the premium half per cent.

His lordship spoke above an hour, to prove the solid grounds the credit of the Bank of England stood on; and contended, that it was no less supported by its own ability, than its known regard to public faith, which had secured it a credit and reputation, not only within this island, but in almost every part of the mercantile world. He alluded to Dr. Price, lord Stair, &c. several of whose arguments, he said, were built on hypothetical reasonings. They often contained matter well deserving of public and private consideration; but there was one observation he learnt by perusing them, that however their facts might be just, pertinent, or important, their conclusions and predictions generally turned out to be false. When even men, the best versed in business, and who had acted in the most important stations, quitted practice for theory, they were no less liable to fall into error than mere abstract reasoners. Such was the case of a great minister (sir Robert Walpole) who was often heard to say, that whenever the nation owed 100 millions, it would be undone, and become a bankrupt. The event had since falsified the prediction of that able politician, for in less than thirty years after pronouncing this authoritative sentence, the nation owed near 150 mil. lions, and was neither bankrupt nor undone.

He observed, that great pains had been taken to decry the Bank, and to depreciate its credit, but to no purpose. It had been called a bubble; but it was the characteristic of a bubble to burst speedily. This, he said, was by no means the case with the Bank; the poet had well sung

"Now a bubble bursts, and now a world."

but though he could not pronounce the Bank of England as possessing the stability of a world, yet it was not probable that it should fail; the prudence of its management, the frequent change of its directors, and the smallness of its dividends, all tended to support its credit. Many attempts have been made to prove its connection and dependence on government, and the influence it gave the minister. If by the minister was meant the first lord of the Treasury, he sured the committee he had no influence on them; if he had, he should, he hoped, use it to the best purposes, that of the public welfare. It was said too, that the Bank had joined government against the people, than which nothing could be more fallacious, for by co-operating with government, they essen

It might be objected, he said, that the grants already made, and the services already provided for, would not be sufficient, particularly that no provision had been made for the army extraordinaries, which would be a certain expence. The observation would be a just one, if made, for there was none. He foresaw it, and intended, if something had not prevented him, to have taken his Majesty's directions on that point. He, however, would take the earliest opportunity of waiting on his Majesty, in pursuance of which, he presumed, he should to-morrow deliver a royal message, desiring a vote of credit.

The events of war were uncertain; but he had every reason to be satisfied, that such steps had been taken as would be the means of bringing America to a proper sense of her duty. There was nothing more disagreeable to him, than to assert the rights of this country by force of arms, if it were possible to secure them by any other means. He sincerely wished for accommodation, if it could be obtained consistently with the honour and interests of the parent state. But he trusted to the spirit and insulted honour of the British nation, that it would not let its most important rights be wrested by violence, and rebellion, out of its hand; and if occasion should require it, that it would exert that strength, which, when properly exerted, never failed to prevail.

Governor Johnstone observed, it was a little extraordinary that the gallery should be open on that day, and shut up upon almost every other, since the commencement of the session, on which matters of importance came under discussion. He assured the House, that he was always pleased to see the gallery as full as the convenience of the members would permit; but the admission on such a day as this, which gave the minister an advantago