£.20,750,000

To be funded

By the estimates on the table it would appear, that the remaining naval services, for which votes would shortly be proposed to parliament, amounted, under the head of Ordinary and Extraordinary, to 1,218,2381. and for building and repairing ships of war, to 901,140l.; making a total expense, for this great branch of our national defence, of 6,669,3781.

For the army there had been voted about 5,500,000l. and when the amount of the extraordinaries was laid before parliament, which could not take place till the end of the year, a farther vote would be proposed for repaying the excess which had arisen under that head, and for providing an estimated sum for the service of the ensuing year. These sums, as nearly as he now could judge, would amount to 2,000,000l., making a total of military expense of 7,500,000%.

For the ordnance there had been voted 787,9471.

For the repayment to the consolidated fund for bounties on the importation of corn, advanced out of the revenue of customs, 524,5731.

Of the miscellaneous services for the united kingdom, he could not at present form an accurate statement; but judging from the expenditure of former years, he thought they might probably amount to about 1,000,000l.; to which were to be added the permanent grants for the civil government of Ireland, amounting to 363,339%.

£.13,899,000

The total of these various sums, amounting to 16,845,237. formed the joint charge to be provided for by the dif ferent parts of the united kingdom, in the proportions settled by the act of union.

The proportion of Ireland, being twoseventeenths, would be 1,981,7921. and that part of the united kingdom was likewise bound to contribute two-seventeenths of the expense of the civil list of Great Britain, and of the other charges on the consolidated fund, not connected with the public debt, amounting to 141,2237.

He should now proceed to state the separate charges to be provided for by Great Britain, omitting those of Ireland, which would, on a future occasion, be stated by his right hon. friend, the chancellor of the exchequer for Ireland.

The first sum arose from a vote, which had lately been agreed to by the House, to pay off exchequer bills charged upon the aids of 1801, amounting to 2,781,000l.

The next to be considered was, a sum, of which an account was on the table, and for which a vote would shortly be proposed, being the remainder of an advance of 3,000,000l. made by the Bank in the year 1798, upon the credit of exchequer bills, and which had been annually renewed till the present year, when one-half of them had been paid off. The remaining sum amounted to 1,500,000l.

A farther charge arose from an account subsisting between government and the East India company, for military expenses

incurred in different expeditions. As the accounts of the armament which had been sent from India to Egypt were not yet brought home, no precise estimate could at present be formed of the balance. But it appeared probable, from an investigation which had already taken place, that a considerable sum would be due to the East India company, and he should for the present make provision for a payment on account, of 1,000,000l.

There were other separate charges, the amount of which could not at present be ascertained with complete accuracy; they arose from interest on exchequer bills, discounts on the loan and lottery, and certain other payments which, in the account annually laid before parliament, of the distribution of the money granted for public service, were classed under the title of payments, not being part of the supplies of the year. He should estimate them at 700,000l. and he had no reason to think they would exceed that amount. The total of these separate charges was 5,981,000l.; which, added to the total of the joint charge before stated, at 16,845,2371. amounted to the sum of 22,826,237. From this sum deducting 2,123,015l. to be contributed by Ireland, it would appear that the expense to be provided for by Great Britain was 20,703,2221.

To meet this supply Mr. Addington said he should propose the following Ways and Means: The annual malt tax, and the other taxes usually granted from year to year in the room of the land tax had already been voted by this House. Their amount had been taken at 2,750,000l. and there was no probability of a deficiency arising upon these annual grants, as had formerly been the case, the land tax having usually fallen short of its nominal amount, while the taxes substituted for it have constantly produced the estimated

sum.

The next head to which he should proceed, was the surplus of the consolidated fund, which he should estimate at 6,500,000l. His reasons for expecting a produce to that amount, and for the difference between that sum and 4,000,000l. for which a vote would be proposed to the committee, he begged leave to defer to another part of his statement.

The produce of the lottery for the ensuing year he should estimate at 500,000!.; and without entering at present into any detail on that part of the subject, [VOL. XXXVI.]

it would be a satisfaction to the committee to know that the new system which had been introduced into the drawing and regulations of the lottery, had been productive of the most beneficial effects.

The only remaining article he had to state, was an issue of exchequer bills on the aids of 1804, to the extent of 11,000,000l. Gentlemen might be surprised at his mentioning so large a sum, and it might be necessary for him to explain the grounds of this proposition, and the mode by which it was intended to carry it into effect. He had already observed, that the exchequer bills now in circulation amounted to about 11,000,000%. only exclusive of those which were held by the Bank and bore no interest; and that the amount of those outstanding, previous to the war, was about 9,500,000l. The increase of our trade, and the enlarged sphere of our money transactions since that period, made that additional sum no more than was commensurate with, perhaps necessary for, the convenience of our pecuniary dealings, and our commerce. Of this there were abundant proofs in the premium which exchequer bills now bore, notwithstanding the reduction of their interest; in the unwillingness of the holders to pay them into the exchequer in discharge of taxes; and in the applications made for fresh bills in place of such as were advertised to be paid off.-Assum ing, therefore, that the quantity of exchequer bills now in the market was not greater than public convenience required, he should proceed to show that it was not his intention to make any considerable addition to it, but that, at the end of the year, they would not be more than equal to their present amount.

The exchequer bills now outstanding including the sum advanced by the Bank amounted to 14,180,000l. of which it was proposed to vote the re-payment of 4,281,000l. This sum would be replaced by the gradual issue of the 5,000,000l. which have lately been voted on the aids of 1803; and when, by the addition of further sums which parliament might vote after the recess, such a number of exchequer bills should have been issued as to admit of the measure, without too great a reduction of their amount, it was his intention to propose that a part of them, to the extent of from 6 to 8,000,000l. should be funded. This, however, would not take place till a late period of the session; and it was the [4 C]

only financial operation which he had at present in contemplation. The committee would understand, that if at the time it should be found impracticable to make 'a bargain with the holders of the bills proposed to be funded, on terms sufficiently favourable to the public, it would be necessary to propose a loan to the same extent, for the purpose of paying them off. He should not now trouble the committee with any statement of the means which had occurred to him for defraying the additional charge which would thus be created; but he had a confident hope, that he should, at the proper time, be able to propose such as would be sufficient for the purpose, without any material addition to the burdens of the public. Supposing, therefore, 7,000,000l. of exchequer bills to be either funded or paid off, and adding that sum to 4,281,000l. for which parliament had already provided, it would appear, by deducting that aggregate sum from 14,180,000l. the amount of exchequer bills now outstanding added to the 11,000.000l. proposed to be issued, that the exchequer bills at the close of the year 1803, would be reduced to near 300,000l. below their present amount. In this statement he had supposed the 5,000,000, lately voted, although charged the aids of 1803, to form part of the 11,000,000l. intended for the service of the ensuing year, because such part of that sum as might bepaid off, would be replaced by other bills; and so many as might remain in circulation would be considered as constituting part of that sum. Upon a recapitulation of the Ways and Means, they would be found to amount to 20,750,000l. exceeding by 47,000l. the amount of the supply.

on

Mr. Addington then stated it to be important to take a review of the services of the ensuing year, distinguishing such as were of a permanent nature from such as were merely occasional and temporary. It was only by such a review that it would be possible for the committee to form a judgment how far the ordinary resources of the country were capable of meeting its permanent expenditure.

Amongst the permanent services, he included the navy and army, except such a part of the supply as might be necessary for defraying the excess of the extraordinaries for the present year, which which was to be considered, not as a part of the services for the year 1803, but as

the repayment of a debt contracted in 1802. To these were to be added the ordnance, the miscellaneous services of Great Britain and Ireland, and the interest on such exchequer bills as might be usually kept in circulation. In speaking of these services as permanent, he by no means meant to infer, that they were likely to continue at their present amount, but merely that they were heads of expenditure which might always be expected to exist, although varying in their extent according to the circumstances of the times. The total of these charges in the ensuing year would be about 16,000,0002. of which the British proportion would somewhat exceed 14,000,000l.

In the class of occasional payments, he should place the corn bounties, the repayment of the excess of army extraordinaries of 1802, the payment of the exchequer bills charged upon the aids of 1801, and of the loan from the Bank in 1798, and the discharge of the balance which might be found to be due to the East India company. The total amount of these several sums he estimated at 6,800,000.

With respect to the permanent expenses, he was deeply impressed with the conviction, which he trusted was no less strongly felt by the House, and by the country, that whatever might be the permanent expenditure, which a due regard to the support of public credit, and to our actual situation, might require, we ought resolutely to determine that the amount of our permanent revenue should be made to correspond with its demands. Even if, instead of the prospect of an increasing revenue, he had been obliged to lay before the committee the statement of a deficiency, his opinion on this subject would be the same. We must not attempt to compromise by endeavouring to reduce our expenditure to our revenue, but resolve to keep our revenue on a level with our necessary expenditure. In such a system alone could he see solid wisdom, or discern the probability of future honour and security.

He next called the recollection of the committee to the difference which appeared between the vote which it was his intention to propose to them on the credit of the consolidated fund, namely 4,000,000l. and the sum of 6,500,000. which in his statement of the ways and means he had estimated as the surplus in the ensuing year. He had proposed a vote

so moderate, because it would answer the immediate purpose of enabling him to apply to the public service the sums which might be realised as the surplus of the consolidated fund in the two next quarters, and would afford the means of ascertaining by actual experience, whether the expectations, which he thought himself fully justified in entertaining of its produce during the remainder of the year, were likely to be accomplished. By so cautious a proceeding, the public service would be guarded against the effects of any possible disappointment. He would, however, He would, however, shortly state to the committee the grounds of the confidence which he was disposed to entertain: it was founded on the actual produce of the three last quarters, ending the 10th of October last. The amount of the surplus of the consolidated fund in that period was 5,508,067. To this was to be added the bounties paid on the importation of corn within that interval, and not yet repaid by parliament, being 431,729/.; and the sum which might have been expected from the produce of the taxes of the present year, which were not in collection during the two first of those quarters, these might be taken at 2,000,000l. and the total would be 7,939,7961. From this was to be deducted the sums which had been paid into the consolidated fund during the same period on account of the income tax, and which amounted to 2,054,8931. Allowing for this deduction, the total produce of the three quarters would be 5,884,9031. If the ensuing year proved equally productive, the total of the surplus in four quarters would be no less than 7,845,000/.* And it was satisfactory to observe, that this sum greatly exceeded the produce of the most favourable year on record, as the largest amount ever known of the surplus of the consolidated fund, which was in the year ending 5th Jan. 1792, a period of increasing wealth and acknowledged prosperity, was no more than 4,300,000l. Yet though he saw no reason to apprehend a diminution of any part of the revenue, he would not reckon upon a sum so large as might have been inferred from the experience of the three last quarters, and he had therefore limited his expectations to 6,500,0002.

Inferences no less favourable might be drawn from the produce of the permanent taxes in the year ending the 10th of October. It would appear from the account referred to the committee, that the nett produce of the old permanent taxes in that period was 13,853,7244. To this should

be added the payments for corn bounties, amounting to 1,630,000l. This made a total of 15,483,7244. Comparing this sum with the produce of the same taxes in the year 1792, the most productive year previous to the war, and with the year 1799, the most productive year ever known, it will appear to exceed the amount in the former year by about a million, and to fall short of it in the latter by about 250,000l.; but it must be recollected, that for one quarter of the last year the distilleries were stopped, in consequence of which a very material branch of the revenue was considerably reduced; and as the distilleries were chiefly carried on during the interval between the months of September and April, the loss in the quarter, which ended on the 5th January, was nearly equal to the loss of half a year's produce. To the sum just mentioned of 15,483,7241. was to be added the produce of the taxes imposed since the commencement of the war, which in the same period was 11,345,3647. making a total of permanent taxes of 26,829,0887.

These statements, with reference to the last year, would be admitted to be satisfactory. Our future prospects were no less so. It would be found, by a reference to the accounts which from time to time had been laid before the House, that a progressive increase had for several years past taken place in the produce of the permanent taxes; not that every year had exhibited proofs of increase, as, indeed, the course of the seasons, and many other accidental circumstances must necessarily occasion frequent fluctuations; but if periods of three, four, or five years were compared, the average of the latter would be constantly found to exceed that of the preceding period. Considering how much the produce of the revenue was connected with the prosperity and comforts of the people, as evinced by their consumption of the articles on which it was levied, this continual increase was an undeniable proof of the growing wealth and resources of the country. But there were other indications not less satisfactory and decisive of its increasing prosperity-he meant those which were to be found in the accounts of our commerce and navigation.

It was not possible till the conclusion of the year, when all these accounts were made up, that they could be laid regularly before the House, or stated with exact

ness.

Great pains had, however, been taken to procure the most accurate and complete information which the period of

the year admitted, and he thought himself justified, by what had been obtained, in pronouncing the commerce of the country to be in a state of unrivalled and unexampled prosperity. It appeared that the real value of the principal articles of British produce and manufactures exported during the year ending 10th of October 1802, was 27,900,000l., while, in the preceding year, it was something less than 24,500,000l. Supposing these articles to bear the same proportion to the whole of our exports which they had done in former years, the total value of British manufactures exported in the year 1802 would not fall short of 50,000,000l. sterling, being an increase of 8,000,000l. above the year preceding; and, compared with any former year, the increase would be still more extraordinary.

The accounts of shipping were more imperfect than those of trade, as no quarterly account was made up, except in the port of London; but so far as the fact could be ascertained, it was no less satisfactory, especially with regard to the important circumstance of the increase of British shipping and seamen.

In the year ending the 10th of October 1801, 1,762 British ships, measuring 418,631 tons, and manned with 23,096 men, had entered that port, and 1,331 ships, measuring 350,634 tons, and carrying 24,070 men, had cleared outwards. In the year 1802, the British ships which entered inwards were 2,459, the tonnage 574,700, the men 33,743. The British ships which cleared outwards were 1,933, the tonnage 419,067, the men 28,112.The diminution of foreign shipping was not less remarkable than the increase of British. In 1801, the number of foreign ships which entered inwards was 3,385, their tonnage 452,677, their men 20,388. The foreign ships which cleared outwards were 3,381, their tonnage 445,651, the men 23,302. In the year 1802, the number of foreign ships entering inwards was reduced to 1,549, their tonnage 214,117, the men 10,555. The foreign ships which cleared outwards were 1,868, their tonnage 262,006, the men 14,826.-These details he feared might be tedious; but he was persuaded the committee would excuse him for having entered with minuteness into the proofs of the increase of our commerce and maritime strength, which were the great sources of our prosperity, and of our power.

Mr. Addington then said, that he was aware it would be useless for him to take up the time of the committee by any comments on these statements, or to attempt to strengthen the impression, which he trusted had been made by the plain and incontrovertible facts which he had laid before them. He might, however, be permitted to express some satisfaction in looking back to the period to which this statement applied, and to the circumstances which had, as it now appeared, justified the hopes he had held out in the last session of parliament. It would be recollected, that strong appre hensions were then expressed, that the conclusion of peace would be followed by a diminution of our commerce, and consequently of our revenue. The event had happily proved that such apprehensions were ill founded. He added, that whilst every individual in the united kingdom, capable of feeling for the welfare of his country, must rejoice at these unquestionable indications of our commercial prosperity, there was perhaps no country in Europe which might not justly participate in that feeling, as being interested in our commerce, and partaking of its benefits. What was gained by Great Britain, was very far from being lost by the continent. So far from the pre-eminence of Great Britain in this respect having proved injurious to other countries, it had not only enabled her to stand forward as the protectress of civilized Europe, but of the trade and commerce of the rest of the world. In the known and established policy of this country-in our resourcesin our maritime strength, the greater part of Europe had, for more than a century past, found its best security. And he would affirm, that whatever might have been our views, whatever our principles, whatever our motives, in some of the contests in which we had been engaged, the general tendency of our connexions with the continent had been to preserve the due relation between the foreign powers, and to maintain their rights and their independence. Such had been the effect of our operations on the continent: such had been the consequence of our exertions on the ocean. He could not look forward to the renewal or improvement of the commerce of other countries with any apprehension of inconvenience or danger from their rivalship. It had been well said by a noble friend of his (lord Castlereagh) in a preceding debate,