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 situ ations 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 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. King's debts a 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. It must not be omitted, that the sum of sixty fourth time thousand pounds was in the course of the session discharged. 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 XXIL 1784. payment of the debts of the crown. And the BOOK stern observation of the famous MILTON could not but forcibly recur in such circumstances to the public recollection-" That the very trappings of a monarchy were more than sufficient to defray the whole expence of a republic.”* of the for estates in The last measure which came under parliamen-Restoration tary discussion during the present session was a feited bill introduced by Mr. Dundas, and of a nature Scotland. perfectly congenial to the urbanity and good humour which, notwithstanding his political frailties, characterized that able and versatile minister, for the restoration of the estates forfeited in Scotland in consequence of the rebellions of 1715 and 1745. Mr. Dundas declared the measure to be, in his opinion, worthy of the justice and generosity of parliament. He said, there was not one of the families comprehended in the scope of it, in which some person had not atoned for the crimes and errors of his ancestors, by sacrificing his blood in the cause of his country; and that the sovereign had not, for a long series of "I would rather," said Louis XII. of France, in answer to some satirical reflections on his too rigid attention to œconomy, "that my courtiers should laugh at my parsimony than that my subjects should weep at my prodigality." This was nobly spoken: But what would that monarch, so justly celebrated for his beneficence and patriotism, have said to a conduct which united at once the extremes of parsimony and prodigality? XXII. 1784. BOOK years past, a more loyal set of subjects than the Highlanders of Scotland and their chieftains. Of this the late lord Chatham was deeply sensible, and that illustrious statesman had publicly recognized the rectitude of the measure now proposed. And he trusted, that the remains of a system, which, whether directed at first by narrow views or sound policy, ought certainly to be temporary, would be completely annihilated under the administration of his son. He did not however mean, that the estates should be freed from the claims existing against them at the time of forfeiture. This might be regarded as a premium for rebellion. He therefore proposed the appropriation of such sums, amounting to about eighty thousand pounds, to public purposes; fifty thousand of which he would recommend to be employed in the completion of the grand canal reaching from the Frith of Forth to that of Clyde. This bill was received in a manner which did honour to the feelings of the house. Mr. Fox in particular, with his usual generosity, bestowed upon it the highest encomiums, and professed himself deterred only by the lateness of the session from endeavouring to enlarge its operation to what he conceived to be its just and proper extent. Nevertheless, when the bill was sent to the lords, it met with a most determined and malignant resistance from the lordchancellor, who expatiated with much satisfaction |