very defirable on many accounts. He knew, that in order to induce people to place their money in a five per cept. ftock, it would be neceffary to make it irredeemable for a certain number of years: fome people thought that thirty years was a proper term: for his part he had rather adopt a different plan, and make it irredeemable only until a given fum (25 millions for inftance) of any of the other ftocks fhould have been paid off: thus thofe who fhould entertain an idea that fuch a fum could never be paid off, would be of opinion the five per cents. would be irredeemable for ever; and should the 25 millions be paid off in ten or twenty years, or a still more diftant period, the holders of this ftock would not have any reason to complain that faith was broken with them: thus the price of the stock would be raised by the idea that it would be fpeedily redeemed, and the nation would not find itself precluded from paying off this fund when its refources would enable it so to do. The price of his five per cent. fund he would eftimate at 93 1.; and the holders of navy-bills fhould have ftock in this fund for their bills; thus the holder of a 93-1. bill would be intitled to rool. ftock. Here he divided the navy-bills into different classes, giving a preference to thofe of the longest standing. The next thing he confidered was the means of paying the intereft on this new flock, on the fix-millions loan, and on that part of the unfunded debt which bears an intereft of four per cent.; and this brought the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the Taxes.

The first article that he propofed to tax, was he said, fo generally used, that it appeared to him a very proper object of taxation, because he had reafon to think that a tax on fuch an article would be very efficient and productive ;-the article balluded to was Hats. The total number of hats made in this kingdom annually, he estimated at four millions, of which about 750,000 were exported; fo that there were three millions which might fairly be taxed: for this purpose he divided them into two claffes, one confifting of hats made folely of felt, and thofe made of any other mixture on the former he propofed to lay a tax of 6 d. and on the latter 2 s. and the produce of the whole he estimated at 150,000l. per annum.

Ribbons and Gauzes were the next ar:

ticles. As the former tax would fall exclufively on the men, fo this, he obferved, would be almost exclusively on the other fex, except indeed at a general election. There were, he faid, about 25,000 looms employed annually for wea ving thefe articles; but as many of them were occafionally out of ufe, he would reckon only upon 19,000; and by these 71,136,000 yards were produced every year: he propofed to lay a tax of only one penny per yard, which he hoped would produce 120,000 1.

Coals. This article, he said, was already taxed pretty highly, but at the fame time very difproportionably; for while the coals confumed in London paid a duty of 8 s. per chaldron, those ufed in the interior parts of the kingdom were fubject to a tax of only 5 s. The reafon of the difference was this; when it was propofed in Queen Ann's reign to build fifty churches in London, a duty of 3 s. was impofed on every chaldron of coals confumed in the capital, towards raising a fund to carry on those build-. ings; and as the churches were to be built in London only, it was reafonable that London fhould bear the whole expence.When the churches were fi- ! nifhed, the legislature did not think proper to take off the tax, but applied the produce of it to the exigencies of the ftate; but though it was fit that London fhould defray the whole expence attending works from which the capital alone was to derive the advantage, it was not reasonable that after the works were finished the inhabitants of the capital fhould pay three eighths more on the article of coals, towards the public expence, than the reft of the kingdom; and therefore he intended that the coals carried into the other ports of the kingdom, fhould pay as much as thote brought into the port of London; this therefore would be 3 s. additional per chaldron, which would fall on the inland confumers; and from this tax he expected 150,000l.

Horfes, he obferved, had often been mentioned as proper fubjects for taxation; and he had refolved to propose to the committee, that a tax of 10 s. per horfe be laid on, with an exception in favour of thofe employed in the carryingtrade and agriculture. The number of horfes that would be liable to this tax, was very great; he calculated from the number of four wheel carriages and Y ya

Nage

ftage-coaches that pay to the wheel-tax, allowing three horfes to each carriage, that there must be 50,000 horfes for thefe conveyances, exclufive of the infinite number of faddle and race-horfes. This tax he rated at 100,000l. The mode of collecting the duties has hitherto not anfwered the purpose, by entry of the owner, and therefore he fhould propofe that a Stamp be fixed on each horfe in fome confpicuous part-[Here the whole House burst out into a loud laugh, which continued for fome time, and gave Mr Pitt an opportunity to collect himself By ftamp, he faid, was not meant an affixed mark on the beaft or the rider, but on-[here he paufed fome time]-the accoutrements, a vilible part, so as to have it afcertained whether the ftamp-duty was paid. [Here another loud laugh.]

Printed and Stained Linens and Callicoes. He proposed to tax these articles, which he believed to be very well able to bear an additional duty, because they now fold for 201. per cent. cheaper than during the war: he did not enumerate the different claffes into which he would divide these goods, but faid that he intended to impofe duties on them from 3 d. up to 12 d. per yard, according to their different breadths; which duties would produce 120,000 1.

He was forry that the very great exigencies of the ftate fhould make him fingle out fo very neceffary an article as Candles; but the duty he would lay on fhould be fo low, that he hoped it would not be found burdenfome: he meant to impofe only an additional halfpenny per pound; he believed in poor families not more than ten pounds of candles were confumed in the year; this therefore would be only an additional burden of 5 d. per ann. and yet so finall a duty on an article in fuch general use would pro duce 100,000l.

Stamp Licences. He propofed that all perfons dealing in excifeable commodities fhould be obliged to take out a licence; the diftiller he fhould rate at 50l. per ann. the brewer at 101. the callico and linen printers, and other trades, from 81. to 11. This he rated at 80,000l.

Bricks and Tiles. There were manufactured of bricks in the neighbourhood of London, 105 millions; in Lancashire, Cheshire, and Yorkshire, about the fame quantity; and about the fame also in the reft of England: a duty of 2 s. 6 d. per 1000, (the duty he meant to pro

pofe) would give 50,cool. per annum. Qualifications for fbooting, and regiflering of deputations foom lords of manors. It was difficult to lay down any data on which he could calculate how many perfons would be made liable to pay for a licence for shooting. He did not mean that a licence should be construed into a qualification for killing game, to thofe who are not otherwife qualified; he meant only, that those who are otherwise qualified thould be difabled from shooting, if they did not take out a licence: he reckoned three qualified persons in each parish in England, who would pay to the tax, and one guinea on each of thefe perfons would produce 30,000l.

He proposed to lay an additional duty, equal to one-third of what is actually paid on Paper, which would produce 18,000l.

Hackney Coaches. This was the last article in the budget: on these he propofed a tax of 5 s. per week, which on 1000 coaches would produce 12,000l.-He then recapitulated the different articles. Hats

Ribbons and gauzes Coals

Horfes

Callicoes, &c.

L. 150,000

120,000

150,000

100,000

120,000

The fum neceffary for paying the intereft of the loan, the part of the unfunded debt which he proposed to fund, and the 4 per cent. on that which he would leave unfunded till the next year, would amount to a little more than 900,000 1.; so that if the new taxes fhould produce the fums that he expected from there there would be a furplus of somewhat more than 20,000l. He concluded with moving the first resolution.

Mr Fox faid, it was not his intention to go into any dispute on the various ar ticles which had been so ably stated by the Rt Hon. Gentleman, as the proper time would be when the bills should be brought in. It was, however, melancholy to think, that in collecting taxes to pay only the interest of the debt, it was neceffary to recur for the greatest part of the 900,000 l, to articles fo mate

rially concerned in our chief manufactures. As to the article of ribbons, trifling as it might appear, it would be found to bear extremely hard; for as the population of the country was fuppofed at feven millions of perfons, the estimate of 71,136,000, was allowing ten yards to every foul; and as one half of the feven millions were males, of course it would be twenty yards to every female, from the moment they were first born. He concluded, by wishing to know what were the steps meant to be purfued with the bill-holder that did not chufe to fubscribe to the new fund.

Mr Pitt replied, that if the holder of navy bills did not chufe to fubfcribe, of course he must wait for the payment of his bills, until parliament fhould think proper to pay them.

Objections were started by different members to several of the taxes, particularly the coals and candle; but the refolutions were carried without much debate. Mr Pitt, on June 8. acquainted the House, that, in compliance with the with of many perfons, he had given up the tax on coals for this year.

On July 6. Mr Pitt, in a speech of upwards of two hours, introduced his promised India bill. No one, he said, could be more deeply impreffed than he was with the importance of the fubject on which he was going to enter; in what ever point of view he confidered it, he felt that no fubject could poffibly be more interefting. In this business were involved the profperity and strength of this country; the happiness of the natives of those valuable territories in India which belonged to England; and finally the very constitution of G. Britain. In dia had at all times been of great confequence to this country from the refour ces of opulence, and of ftrength it afford ed; and that confequence had of courfe increased in proportion to the loffes fuf. tained by the difmemberment of other great poffeffions; by which loffes the limits of the empire being more contract ed, the remaining territories became more valuable. He was aware that nothing could be well more difficult than to digeft a plan, which fhould at once confirm and enlarge the advantages derived to this country from its connections with India; to render that connection a bleffing to the native Indians, and at the fame time preserve inviolate the effence and spirit of our own conftitution, from

the injuries to which this connection might eventually expose it. To his lot fell the arduous task of propofing to the Houfe a plan which should answer all thefe great purposes. He was aware that no plan could be devised, to which fome objections would not lie; he fhould therefore confole himself if he should be able to fuggeft the means of doing the moft good to India and to the East-India Company, and the leaft injury to our conftitution. In the arrangements that he should propofe, it would be impoffible to proceed, without giving fome body of men an acceffion of power; but it was his duty to veft it where he should have reason to think it would be leaft liable to abuse; at the same time that it fhould be fufficient, and not more than fufficient, for all the purposes for which it fhould be given: fufficient to fecure to this country the wealth arising from the commerce of the Company; to the inhabitants of Hindoftan peace and tranquillity; and to enforce obedience on the part of the fervants of the Company, to the orders that should be fent to them from home. In framing fuch a system, he thought it his duty, never to lofe fight of this principle, that though no charter could, or ought to supersede state-neceffity, ftill nothing but abfolute neceflity can justify a departure from charters. With respect to the India Company, its affairs were not in a state that called for a revocation of the charter; and though others had attempted to annihilate and deftroy it, he fhould propofe only fome regulations by which it might be altered and amended. He did not find it neceffary to create any fyftem absolutely new for the government of our territories in India; he thould rather endeavour to improve on the fyftem by which those territories were governed at prefent. For this purpose he propofed to leave in the hands of the court of directors, the right of fending out orders and dispatches to their fervants in India; subject neverthelefs to a fuperior controul. The idea of a controul was not new; but where to lodge it was the queftion. He knew, that different opinions prevailed with many able men on that point. For his part, he could by no means adopt that part of the plan which paffed the House of Commons laft year, and which had been condemned by the nation at large; he meant the establishment of a permanent board of commiffioners, not appointed

pointed by the Crown, and confequently not removable by the Crown; for he was convinced the difadvantages attending fuch a board would greatly overbalance the advantages expected to be derived from its permanency. He was clearly of opinion that fuch a board ought to be dependent on, or annexed as a branch to the executive government of this country. He was as ready as any man to admit, that permanency and ftability of government were abfolutely neceffary for the well-being both of India and G. Britain: but it was a ftability of executive government in general. For these reasons he had refolved to veft the controuling power over the Eaft-India Company, in perfons who should be part of the executive government of this country; and who fhould be responsible for their conduct in governing India, in the fame way that his Majefty's other minifters are at this moment for the government of all the other poffeffions of the British crown. Looking over a lift of those who are employed in the service of his Majefty, he had found there were fe. veral great officers who filled ftations of great honour to which great emoluments were annexed, but which required little or no attendance; ftations, in a word, which might be considered merely as high honorary finecures. The perfons filling thofe offices not having their time taken up with any fhare of public bufinefs, would be able to devote themfelves en. tirely to the duties of their new office : and from the appointment of such men to the fuperintendency of Indian affairs, two good confequences would refult to the public; that no burden would be laid either on the Company or on the public, for raifing falaries for them; as they would receive no other falaries than those which they enjoy at present for doing nothing and fecondly, it would become neceffary in future to take care that none should be advanced to thofe high of. fices, who should not have talents equal to the government of this country or of In. dia. He would propofe that the new board, confifting of fuch officers as he had already alluded to, fhould not only have a negative on fuch difpatches prepared by the directors as they fhould not approve, but also a right to originate dif. patches, and fend them out to India without the confent, but not without the privity of the directors. Its authority fhould be confined folely to the political

government of India; the commercial he would leave exclufively in the hands of the directors and proprietors, by whom the commercial interefts of the Company had been administered with no difgrace to themselves, before they were entangled with territorial poffeffions. As to the patronage of the Company, that engine from which the public had so justly entertained the moft alarms for the fafety of the constitution, he would not have one particle of it invested in the new board: it should remain in future where it was at prefent, where it always refi. ded-in the Company, with only two refervations to the Crown, of a negative on the Company's choice of a Governor-General of Bengal, and the absolute appointment of the commander in chief, which ought, for very obvious reafons, to rest in the Crown. He thought it would be proper alfo to veft in the new board a power to recal the Governor-General, without the interference of the Company, if it fhould think proper to exercise fuch a power. The inferior patronage in India he would leave to the Govenor-General, and fuch other officers, as at prefent enjoy it; but means fhould be provided for rendering the patronage lefs dangerous in India, by contracting it within narrower bounds than it is circumfcribed by at prefent. When the boards of the fupreme council and other prefidencies fhould be reduced by recal, death, or refignation, to the number of three members in each, it should be enacted, that the number should not be increafed; and rules fhould be eftablished by which the Governor-General should be bound to regulate promotions by feniority and gradation, except on very particular occafions, when he might be at liberty to depart from thefe rules, pro. vided he should be able to affign fubftantial reasons that should justify the departure. With refpect to the directions which should be fent out to Bengal, and to the other prefidencies, it was impof. fible that an exact detail should be given to the House; he would therefore con. tent himself with faying, that a fyftem of peace and tranquillity fhould be laid down, which the Company's fervants a broad should be bound to purfue: they fhould be enjoined not to make war or alliances without directions from home, except on fuch extraordinary occafions as may call for fudden measures; and then they must immediately fend home

advice, in the speedieft manner poffible, of the fteps they have taken; and they muft alfo juftify their conduct, in departing from their general instructions: and in order to make them the more cautious how they depart from the letter of their inftructions, the public fhould not be bound to prove that they had acted wrong; but they themselves fhould be bound to prove that they had acted right; the very departure from their inftructions fhould be prima facie evidence that they had acted criminally. It was his intention alío, that the Company's fervants fhould be reftrained from taking any other prefents from the native prin. ces or others, except fuch as, by the custom of India, are deemed mere matters of ceremony and left any abuse should be committed under this indulgence, these should be registered by the persons who fhould receive them; and if they should be found to exceed what is usual to give as prefents of ceremouy, they fhould be deemed to have been extorted, and the perfon afking them thould be punished as for extortion.

Mr Pitt next proceeded to lay open that part of the plan that related to the natives of India. All thofe who had been unjuftly difpoffeffed of their lands fhould be reftored to the poffeffion of them; but as different claimants might arife, in order to do them justice, an inquiry fhould be inftituted to examine whofe claims were founded in equity, and to determine accordingly. He fhould then recommend that some plan fhould be devifed by which the ftability and fecurity of property which the laws of this country held out to the subject, fhould be imparted to the natives of India, in as great a degree as their manners and cuftoms would admit. The tribute which the Zemindars and others are bound to pay to the Company should be ascertained once for all and being regularly paid, the Jandholders fhould have the moft ample fecurity for the tenure of their lands and property. As to the claims of fome of their native princes on each other, they fhould certainly be concluded; and when determined, the different parties must be informed that the decision must be final and conclufive; and that the claims must never be revived. Thus muft the mutual claims of the Nabob of Arcot, and the Rajah of Tanjore be determined. But as it would be improper for the legislature to make the determination, the final de

cifion ought to be preceded by an inqui ry, which fhould take place upon the fpot; and the hopes of one party, and the fears of the other, should by final adjudication be laid for ever at rest.

There were only two objects more on which he would touch-the one related to the expences of the Company's efta, blishment abroad; the other to the pu nifhment of its delinquent fervants. To preferve the Company's affairs from fu ture embarraffments, he conceived the most effectual means would be to lessen the expences, by lowering the different establishments in India, where fuch reductions fhould be made, as would great. ly diminish the expences, without cramping the fervice. For this purpose it would be neceffary for the Houfe to order lifts of all the civil, military, and marine officers, in the Company's fervice in India, with an account of the falaries and expences attending the fame; and then the Houfe would fee what retrenchments could be made with propriety; and care should then be taken to restrain the Company from fending out any perfons in civil employments, or as cadets, until the establishments abroad should cease to be overburdened as they were at present. By thefe means, one great fource of patronage would be cut off for fome time; and when this kind of patronage should begin to flow again, the channel would certainly be confiderably narrowed, to the great benefit of the public and of the Company, whofe funds would increase in proportion as their expences diminished. The directors might then have a greater opportunity to extend their com>, merce, the increase of which would enrich the country, without endangering the conftitution.

But all the regulations that the wisdom of the legislature should devise, would be of little avail, if there were not means to bring delinquents to juftice. It was very well known, that the ordinary courts of juftice in this country were not compe tent to try with any effect delinquents from India: indeed the common law had no provifion for many of the crimes which the Company's fervants might commit abroad; it would therefore be neceffary to establish some tribunal, which fhould be empowered to try offences committed in India, and which should not be bound by the strict rules of common law. In establishing such a tribunal, it would be with caution that he

fhould