MINISTERS had an easy task in the "department of finance. Here they had, indeed, succeeded to a bed of roses; the thorny business of making which had been performed by their predecessors. The first measure which the Chancellor Feb. 10. of the Exchequer brought forward, was an arrangement with the Bank concerning, 1st, The management of the public debt: 2dly, The balance of the public money in the hands of the Bank: and, 3dly, The unclaimed dividends.Upon the first of these heads, it was agreed, that the allowance for management should be 3401. per million, when the debt should amount to 400 millions, and from that to 600 millions inclusive; 300l. per million for all debt above 600 millions. If 600 millions, continuing at 3401.; and 450. per million between 300 and 400 millions, in the event of the public debt being reduced so low. The saving to the public by the arrangement would be from 60 to 65,000l. a-year.-The next head of the arrangement was the advance of three millions, by way of loan to government, without interest, till six months after the conclusion of a definitive treaty, in consideration of the advantages of management, and in participation of the benefit of the balances. The average amount of these balances might be taken at about

ten millions and a half. Mr Pitt, in his arrangement with the Bank, had asserted the right of the public to participate in the advantages derived from the management and balances; saying that, whether the participation should be in the proportion of a fourth, a third, or a half, it would be greatly to the advantage of the public. This shewed that not more than a participation was intended; and therefore, as the proportion of onethird, being the middle rate, was probably considered as most equitable, that proportion was agreed to.

Upon the third head, the Bank agreed, that 500,000l., being part of the balances arising from unclaimed dividends and lottery prizes, should be paid into the Exchequer, in addition to the sum of 376,339 1. advanced under the act of 1791. Provided that, if, at any time, the balance in the hands of the Bank, on both of these accounts, shall be reduced below 100,000 l., exclusive of these sums, a proportion of the 500,000l. shall then be refunded from the Exchequer, sufficient to make up the deficiency.

When this statement was laid before Parliament, Mr Bankes observed, that the large rate of allowance which the Bank enjoyed, for the management of the national debt, was strongly to be condemned: and great as was his respect for Mr Pitt, he

was another point which must be contemplated with some jealousy. The Bank had in their hands the complete coinage of the circulation of the country, without an equivalent paid. It would be as easy for them to coin the sums advanced to Government, as to coin the amount of their notes cancelled yesterday. He did not like any thing that drew the Bank into too close a connection with ministry; he wished them to feel mutual good-will, but to be perfectly independent of each other.

Mr Tierney commented unfavourably upon the arrangement. It was liable, he said, at the outset, to this vital objection, that, while the public restricted the Bank from paying in specie, it was at least highly indelicate that the public should derive benefit from that restriction. But could a loan of three millions have been asked for, or would it have been granted, had it not been for that restriction? With regard to the rate of allowance for management, the Bank ought to do that business without any allowance whatever: They would then be on the footing of every private banker. To the loan there were many objections. In the present state of Europe, it was most desirable to shew the enemy, that our resources were such as enabled us to meet him with confidence: but could an advocate of

Buonaparte's have better materials for depreciating the means of England, than by a reference to this arrangement? Government, desirous of avoiding a public loan, had exerted its influence on the Bank, to procure a loan of three millions without interest! After this step, the Chancellor of the Exchequer would find it difficult to convince a Frenchman that we were not driven to shifts and subterfuges; and this, too, at a time more favourable than any other for negociating a public loan, owing to the stagnation of trade, and the great quantity of money necessarily afloat, for which no employment could be discovered. Whence did this three millions proceed? In nine years the Bank had advanced six millions to the public. Since the restriction upon the payment of specie, they had shared no less than four millions in bonuses among themselves: They had increased the dividends on their capital from seven to ten per cent. If their profits had been extensive enough to justify all this, then the Chancellor of the Exchequer had not made half so good a bargain as he ought to have made. It was wrong to take this loan while the restriction upon the payment of it existed: it would be worse to take it, if, by so doing, the taking off that restriction would be retarded:-Would the Chancellor of the Exchequer say that the measure would not retard it?-The Bank Directors consented to lend three millions, which, in his apprehension, would not cost them three-pence. Did they mean to increase their notes for this purpose? If so, it was a strong argument against the step. If they did not mean to increase their notes, did they mean to distress the trade of the country, by refusing to discount

the bills of the merchants? This also would be a strong argument against it. Let the subject be referred to a committee; and, he believed, no committee could be found which would not say, that not half enough had been taken in interest by this arrangement, and too much in principle. Arguments to the same purport were advanced by Lord Henry Petty but he admitted, that, as the Bank acted as agents in the management of the public debt, they had a right to be paid as agents, and not merely as bankers. It was replied to these various objections, that the Bank could not possibly supply the loan by an issue of notes; and that a loan would not be rendered a contingent advantage by peace, if large balances still remained in the hands of the Bank; for, by this arrangement, a principle had been established which would be acted on in future, that in proportion to the balances in the hands of the Bank, must be the advances made by the Bank to the public.

The supplies voted in the session amounted to 48,653,170l., of which the proportion to be furnished by Ireland being deducted, viz. 5,713,560l. there remained 42,939,604l. to be defrayed by Great Britain. The ways and means for answering this demand were, three millions upon malt and pensions; three millions and a half advanced by the Bank; 726,870. unappropriated surplus of the consolidated fund; war taxes twenty millions; the lottery 350,000l.; four millions on exchequer bills, to be issued in place of others funded to the same amount. These different items, with a loan of eight millions, made an aggregate of 39,576,8701. Adding to this three millions and a

half, the surplus of the consolidated fund, there would then be a surplus of ways and means above the supplies, of 137,000l. It remained to provide for the interest, charges, and sinking fund of the exchequer bills funded, and of the loan, which amounted to 750,000l. To raise this, short annuities to the amount of 380,000l. had fallen in. There was a saving of 65,000l. upon the management of the public debt. An improved mode of collecting the stamp duties would yield 200,000 7.; and a new arrangement with respect to the assessed taxes would produce 125,000. In the whole 770,000, being a small excess above the sum actually required.

The alteration in the stamp duties and assessed taxes certainly infringed the principle which had been recognised in Parliament, founded upon the suspension of farther taxation for three years, and resorting to the war taxes to cover the necessary charges of loans. That principle had been unanimously approved; and Mr Perceval said, that, though he thought it necessary to depart from it in the present instance, to the amount of about 300,000 7., it was not because he considered the principle as unwise; but, having felt how desirable it was to consolidate the different acts relative to the assessed taxes and the stamp duties, he considered it a good opportunity, when making improved regulations for the collection of both, to make a small addition to certain items. The number of acts relating to stamp duties amounted to sixty or seventy, and those for the collection of them made the number in the statutebook nearly one hundred. It was desirable to consolidate all those re

lating to the duties into one; as also those for the regulation and collection. The manner in which the schedule was to be prepared, was by disposing the several duties under different heads, by a distinct arrangement in alphabetical order. The addition to the amount of the duty would arise from an application of the ad valorem principle to other instruments than those to which it was at present applied. In all conveyances of real property, and all admissions to offices of courts and government, he proposed that a specification should be made of the amount of the consideration, and the stamp should be in proportion. At present the duty was 207. upon all offices of the courts, without regard to the amount of the income. He would reduce it upon the lower offices, and raise it upon the higher. No duty should attach upon those of which the incomes did not exceed 60%. Upon all over 60l. and under 150l. the duty should be 87. Upon all between 150l. and 300 l. 20., and so in proportion upon higher incomes. The duty at present on articles of indentures to an attorney of the superior courts was 1007. and of the inferior courts 55 l. The same duty which applied to solicitors in Chancery ought also to apply to proctors: And the duty of 55 l. he proposed to extend to indentures to writers to the signet in Scotland. When collections and donations gave the right as fully as induction and institution, they were to be liable to the same duty. The duty upon enfeoffments, which was only 17. 10 s. he proposed to double; thus subjecting it to the same impost as another mode of conveying real estates by lease and release. He proposed an addition to the duty upon the grant of honours and preferments. At pre

sent it was only 20%. in all cases. But in Ireland it was 2007. on the creation of a duke, marquis, or earl; on that of a viscount, 150%; on that of a baron, 1007. There was no reason why this country should not adopt the same rate. Upon the grants of money and pensions, the duty should attach upon the ad valorem principle, on the higher grant, and apply in consequence, on a reduced scale, to the lower. Policies of insurance on houses were no longer to be exempted from duty. All persons issuing promissory reissuable notes, should pay 20l. a-year for a licence. The duty upon such notes was at present 3 d. each, he proposed to make it 4 d. and, when the notes were payable only in one place, 6 d The duty upon transferring shares of joint-stock companies was collected at present in proportion to the nominal value; hereafter it should be in proportion to the real. Law proceedings were already so heavily burthened, that no addition could possibly be made to them. There were, however, some small instances which seemed to have been omissions in the former act. Hence he proposed 1 s. upon all summonses before a Master in Chancery. The duty should apply to probates of administration in Scotland as it did in England. The duty upon residues should be the same as upon legacies. With respect to conveyances of land, he would apply the ad valorem principle. At present it was 30 s. on all conveyances. When the consideration did not exceed 150l it should be 17.; between that and 300., 1. 10 s.; thence to 500l. 27. 10s.; thence to 750l., 5.; thence to 10007., 77. 10s.: but in no instance to exceed one per cent. upon the consideration. He calculated that these various additions would

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increase the amount of the stamp duties to the extent of 200,000 l. With respect to the assessed taxes he proposed two alteraApril 3. tions: To consolidate with them the additional ten per cent.; and to transfer to them the licence-duties for shooting game. The additional ten per cent. having been brought forward, he said, hastily, to make up a deficiency in the ways and means arising from the abandonment of the irontax, had not been apportioned with that mature consideration which was desirable; and there were fractional payments in almost every instance, which it was proper to do away. For this purpose he would, in all the lower classes, reduce the fraction to the integer next below it; and, in the higher classes, advance it to the integer immediately above;-integer in this statement meaning 6d. And, as alterations afforded a good opportunity for addition, he would add 2 per cent. upon the whole; making in all an addition of 107,600 l. The transfer of the game licences would remedy that inconvenience which gentlemen now felt in obtaining their certificates from the clerk of the peace, if they resided at a distance from the county town; and it would prevent that evasion of the duty which was now so frequently practised. He deemed it also desirable to include woodcocks and snipes in the enumeration of game; because unqualified persons, who were in pursuit of game, usually pleaded the liberty of shooting these birds as their pretext. When this subject came to be farther discussed, it May 5. was proposed that rabbits

also should be classed as game; but the mischief which these animals do to the farmer being represented, the project of rendering

it criminal to destroy them was abandoned. One might have hoped that the game-laws would never more have been mentioned in the British Parliament, except to be abolished; and the plain common-sense principle, of considering game as private property, substituted in their place.

The supplies for Ireland amounted to 9,767,550l. Irish currency, which Mr Foster, the Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer, admitted to be a very large sum. To meet this there were, the ordi- June 8. nary revenue, 4,800,000l.; the loan contracted in England for the service of Ireland, 2,708,3321.; the loan to be granted by the Bank of Ireland for the renewal of their charter, 1,250,0001.; the loan contracted in Ireland, 750,0001. The charges per annum of the interest and sinking fund upon these three loans would be 280,4621. This he thought it better to raise by laying on a large tax at once, than by a number of single ones: And, therefore, he proposed to extend to all raw-corn used in distilleries, the duties at present imposed upon malt; and, by an additional duty on foreign spirits, these sums, with the saving in the management of the debt, would more than equal the annual charges. The arrangement with the Bank of Ireland was, that its capital should be increased from one million and a half to two and a half; and that its charter should be continued till the first of January, 1807, the Bank engaging to manage the whole debt of Ireland free of further expence, whatever addition is to be made to it; and advancing to Government a million and quarter till the end of its charter. It was objected by Mr Bankes to the arrangement, that an

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