XXII. 1787. was indeed ridiculous to imagine that the French BOOK would consent to yield advantages without the idea of compensation. The treaty would doubtless be a benefit to them; but he did not hesitate to say it would be a much greater benefit to us. She gained for her wines and other productions a great and opulent market. We did the same for our manufactures to a far greater degree. She procured a market of eight millions of people, we a market of twenty-four millions. Both nations were disposed and prepared for such a connection. France, by the peculiar dispensation of Providence, was gifted, perhaps more than any other country upon earth, with what made life desirable, in point of soil, climate, and natural productions, in the most fertile vineyards, and the richest harvests. Britain, on the other hand, possessing these advantages in an inferior degree, had, from the happy freedom of its constitution, and the equal security of its laws, risen to a state of commercial grandeur, and acquired the ability of supplying France with the requisite conveniences of life, in exchange for her natural luxuries." Very plausible objections were nevertheless sug gested by the leaders of opposition against this treaty, and predictions hazarded of the injury which would be sustained by Great Britain in consequence of this measure, which were far from being eventually verified, and which it is therefore XXII. 1787. BOOK Superfluous to particularize. Such, nevertheless, was the impression made upon the house by the arguments advanced, that no less than 162 members divided against the minister on a motion for an address to his majesty, declaratory of the approbation of the house; which was ultimately carried by a majority of 76 voices. The opposition in the house was not however supported, as in the case of the Irish propositions, by any commercial clamors beyond its walls. And Mr. Pitt accurately and satisfactorily accounted for this difference, by observing " that in the former instance the clamors of the manufacturers, though he thought them founded in error, had been general and violent, because they perceived no great and positive advantage in the intercourse to balance the apprehended evil of a rivalry and competition, England being already in possession of the Irish market. But now that they saw so manifest and valuable a benefit to be reaped, they were willing to hazard the possibility of the injury." The topic on which the opposition insisted with the most advantage, and indeed the only real difficulty respecting the execution of this treaty, arose from its palpable inconsistency with the famous Methuen treaty, concluded with Portugal early in the present century, in conformity to which the duties on Portugal wines were to bear in future the proportion of only two-thirds of those import XXII. m 1787. ed from France and other countries. But this BOOK point being candidly conceded by France in the progress of the business, the measure received, as it well deserved, the necessary concurrence and sanction of parliament, and the whole transaction terminated greatly to the honor of the minister, and the advantage of the nation; the sole cause of regret, in fact, being the limitation of the treaty to the short period of twelve years. tion of the Another very useful commercial measure, Consolidathough of very inferior importance, a measure customs. founded on the reports of the commissioners of public accounts, was early in the present session brought forward by Mr. Pitt for the consolidation of the customs, by the total abolition of all the existing confused and complex duties, and substituting in their stead a single duty on each article, amounting as nearly as possible to the aggregate of the various subsidies now paid; taking universally, instead of a fraction, the nearest integral number above it. By this means the revenue would be considerably benefited, and the merchant relieved from a serious inconvenience. It is a curious circumstance, that the series of resolutions presented to the house, but of which they chose to wave the formality of reading, amounted to more than three thousand in number. A regulation of finance, much less generally ap- Post-horse proved, was also proposed by Mr. Pitt, relative to tax farmed. XXII. J787. BOOK the tax on post-horses, which he affirmed to have been most grossly and scandalously evaded. By way of remedy, he recommended that it should be farmed by auction to the highest bidder, on the usual plan of the turnpike duty. This was represented as repugnant to the genius of the English constitution. It might prove, as the farming of the revenue had notoriously done in France, the source of infinite abuse and oppression. It established a dangerous and alarming precedent, and required to be resolutely resisted in the onset. Upon the question for going into a committee on this bill, the numbers were only 147 ayes to 105 noes. It must however be acknowledged, that this obnoxious regulation has not been found productive of any practical inconvenience. Mr. Fox's motion for of the shop tax. In the course of the session Mr. Fox moved for the repeal the repeal of the odious Shop Tax, which, in consequence of the pertinacious adherence of Mr. Pitt to a measure in itself very trivial and uninteresting, had become a matter of permanent and serious concern. It appeared from the statement of Mr. Fox, that the city of London and its environs paid forty-three shares in fifty-nine of this duty, the whole produce being estimated at only fifty-nine thousand pounds. This was affirmed with reason to be an unjust and monstrous disproportion. But in truth the Commutation Tax fell as heavily in proportion upon the country, as the XXIL 1787. Shop Tax upon the metropolis; however com- BOOK paratively destitute of the means of enforcing their complaints, or procuring redress. On the division the numbers were, ayes 147, noes 183; the ministerial majority in a full house being, on this second attempt at repeal, reduced to 36 voices only. repeal of laws. On the 28th of March, 1787, a motion of great Mr. Beaufoy's moimportance was made by Mr. Beaufoy, a member tion for the of the house distinguished by his knowledge, ta- the testlents, and general respectability of character, for amending, and in part repealing, the laws known by the appellation of the Corporation and Test Acts, so far as related to the Protestant dissenters, who weakly flattered themselves that their recent services were not as yet wholly lost to the recollection of the court. In his introductory speech, Mr. Beaufoy gave a clear and judicious historical narrative of the origin of these acts. "The Corporation Act declared that no person should be elected into any municipal office who should not one year before his election have taken the sacrament according to the usage of the church of England. The Test Act required of every person accepting a civil or military office under the crown to take the sacrament in like manner within a limited time; in default of which he was liable to a fine of 500l. and incurred other penalties in the highest degree severe and rigorous. The first of these acts was passed in the year 1661; and the |