XXII. $784. BOOK reality of the facts stated in the Reports had been impeached. Why then would not the men who denied them stand forward and support their allegations? Oh! what, said this impassioned orator, would I not give to find the scenes of horror there described nothing more than a fiction! To me it would be a discovery more precious and grateful than the discovery of a new world. He declared, that he wished it for the honour of humanity, from sympathy to millions of suffering and helpless individuals, from an anxious desire to retrieve the honour of the house, and of the country at large, from infamy and execration. He conjured Mr. Pitt to reflect with seriousness on this business. The voice of India cried aloud for justice. He was at a loss, he said, how to account for the callous insensibility of the minister, at a time of life when all the generous feelings of our nature are most lively and suscepti-. ble :-and proceeding in reflections very pointed and personal, he was loudly called to order; and still persevering in his exclamations and reproaches, was at length compelled to sit down, amidst the universal clamor and tumult of the house. Bill for the of smug On the dismission of this unwelcome business, prevention the attention of the house was immediately transferred to a bill introduced by the minister for the more effectual prevention of the practice of smug gling. XXII. 1784. gling, which had of late years arisen to a most BOOK alarming height. This bill contained various prudential, but somewhat severe, regulations. The distance from shore, at which seizures should in future be deemed lawful, was extended, and the constructing of vessels of a certain form and dimension peculiarly calculated for contraband purposes prohibited. But by far the most extraordinary part of the present plan was the reduction of the duties paid by the East-India Company on the importation of TEA, which was affirmed to be the grand medium of the smuggling traffic; and the consequent imposition of a new duty on windows, already most grievously burdened, to the amount of the deficiency, estimated at no less than six hundred thousand pounds per annum. This was styled by the minister a Com- Commuta mutation Tax; and the equity of it was defended on the general and vague idea, that, teas being an article of universal consumption, the weight of the tax would be compensated by a proportional abatement in the purchase of the commodity. Nothing however could be more fallacious than this statement, nor perhaps any impost more oppressive in its practical operation. It is obvious, that in large towns and cities, ground for the purpose of building being very valuable, houses are erected on a comparatively confined scale, and the number of windows is very moderate. But in small tion Act. XXII. 1784. BOOK towns and villages, where ground is cheap, houses are for the most part constructed on a more convenient model, with ranges of offices, and win. dows commanding the court-yards, gardens, &c. contiguous to the dwelling. On these peaceful and rural retreats the tax fell heavily indeed; and the miserable effects of it are fully apparent in the multitude of windows stopped up in farm-houses and other country residences, to the inexpressible injury of the ease, health, and comfort, of a very great proportion of the community. But in the metropolis and other opulent and populous towns the tax fell lightly; and in consequence of the greater prevalence of luxury, the reduction of the duty on tea more than compensating in such situations for the addition of the new tax, this measure was applauded as a happy stroke of finance. A vigorous but unavailing opposition to the bill was nevertheless made by Mr. Fox, who asked, what connection there was between an impost upon tea and an impost upon windows, to entitle the latter to be denominated a commutation for the former? He affirmed it to be the essence of financial injustice and oppression to take off a tax upon luxury, and to substitute in its stead a tax upon that which was of indispensable necessity. Spirits were a leading article of smuggling, and a luxury in common use, as well as tea. But would the minister venture to pursue the commuting GEORGE III. XXII. 1784. principle of this bill to its full extent, and, abolish- BOOK ing the duties on spirituous liquors, to impose another tax upon windows, and assign as a reason, that all men may be presumed or expected to drink rum and brandy in their own houses? The obligations of this kingdom to the East-India Company, and the vast revenue we derived from the commerce carried on by them, had been much insisted on; but surely it was at all times easy, without having recourse to their instrumentality, to obtain the same revenue by the same means. Mr. Courtenay, a member of the house, distinguished no less by the readiness of his wit than the vigour of his understanding, remarked that the bill now before the house was the counterpart of the detestable Gabelle or Salt-tax in France. There an impost was laid upon that article, and every man was obliged to take and pay for a certain quantity, whether he wanted it or not. As the present administration had in other respects degraded the commons of Great Britain to a level with the parliaments of France, it was indeed perfectly consistent in them to introduce a similar principle of taxation.-The bill at length passed the house by a very great majority; after no very long interval receiving the royal assent: and it must be confessed, that in a commercial and financial view it has beyond the most sanguine previous calculation answered its intended purpose. 1 BOOK 1784. debts a discharged. The remaining great operation of finance during this extraordinary session was the providing for the arrears of the unfunded debt left at the conclusion of the war, amounting to more than twenty millions. This was disposed of partly in the four-per-cents, and partly in a newly created five-per-cent. stock, made irredeemable for thirty years, or until twenty-five millions of the existing funds should be extinguished. The taxes for the payment of the interest of this vast sum were, in the present exhausted state of the national finances, upon the whole allowed to be happily and judiciously chosen. King's It must not be omitted, that the sum of sixty fourth time thousand pounds was in the course of the session voted to his majesty, to enable him to discharge the debt contracted in the civil list. This was the fourth grant for the same purpose since the accession of the present king. Much altercation arose on this occasion between the old and the new ministry, as to the precise period when this new debt was incurred. All however that the public at large could be fully certified of was, that with a civil list revenue of eight hundred thousand pounds, afterwards increased to nine hundred thousand pounds per annum, exclusive of the revenues arising from the crown lands, more than fourteen hundred thousand pounds had been voted within the space of about fifteen years, for the |