fion for all the expences of the enfuing year. Since that time no unforefeen neceffities had arifen, no new demands had occurred, to juftify the impofition of fresh burdens upon the people. Mr. Grey then went into an examination of the statement which Mr. Pitt had given of the unfunded debt, in which he pointed out much fallacy and error. In 1794, he said, there was funded about 1,500,000l. and in 1795, 1,600,000l. and on the 31ft of December laft, there remained due for navy fervice, 12,335,000l. including 10,350,000l. incurred in the courfe of the last year: fo that though the taxes proved as productive as was expected, there would be left unprovided for, instead of 1,640,000l, near 7,000,000l. This event, however, refted upon the fuppofition of the taxes anfwering the minifter's expectation; which was much to be doubted. He urged that the expectations of the chancellor of the exchequer upon the produce of the wine tax were unwarrantably high; he thought that as much wine would not be confumed as before. He next called upon the committee to go into an inquiry into the state of the finances, and faid, that if the honourable gentleman, inftead of fine fpeeches, would only furnish him with a few papers, he would pledge himself to fhew, notwithstanding the enormous loan of twenty-five millions which had been voted, that he had not provided interest for the outstanding debt. He then re-ftated what he had obferved on a former occafion refpecting a peace establishment, which might now be estimated at twenty-two millions. "Now let us confider for a moment," faid Mr. Grey," the means we have to fupport this eftablishment. The 7 net produce of the taxes last year amounted to 15,735,8761. which, together with the land and malt, eftimated at about 3,000,000l. will make out a standing annual revenue of 19,000,000l. ftill leaving 2,500,000l. a year to be provided for by annual permanent taxes."— He deprecated comparifons between the fituation of this country and that of France, as infallibly leading to error, as a means which had deluded the people of this country into a conteft, conducted without ability, and not to be terminated by the prefent minifters with honour. He concluded with pledging himfelf to the houfe, if they would go into a committee of inquiry, to prove that the intereft of the public debt, to a great amount, ftill remained unprovided for. The chancellor of the exchequer replied to feveral of the obfervations made by Mr. Grey. The latter had afferted that the navy debt incurred in 1795 amounted to near 10,000,000l. Mr. Pitt maintained, that instead of such increase, the fums incurred for that period amounted only to 6,000,000l. the intereft of which had been provided for. The navy debt for 1796, the minifter calculated at 4,000,000l. but Mr. Grey estimated it at double that fum. This was a propofition to which Mr. Pitt could not agree; but allowed there might be fome variation in the navy debt, more or lefs, not, however, to an amount fo great as 4,000,000l. He called the attention of the houfe to the prohibition of the diftilleries, which occafioned a falling off, on an average, of one-third of the duties; but this accidental defalcation would be retrieved; and the duties, on the fair average of four years previous to the last year, were in a progreffive fate of improvement. Mr. Pitt L4 con concluded with entering into a detail to fhew that Mr. Grey had mifcalculated the probable peace eftablifhment, and vaguely allerted that there were refources fufficient to anfwer all future demands which could be foreseen. allowed to the French emigrants, who exifted from day to day upon that pittance, and whom we had fo fcandaloufly deluded, was not punctually paid. Mr. Alderman Newnham rofe, not to oppofe any part of the minifter's fpeech, but to make fome obfervations upon the loan. It was to all intents and purposes, and contrary to the approved fyftem, a hut up and clofe loan; a competition had been, to his own knowledge, offered by fifteen or fixteen refpectable houfes in the city; and they had received no anfwer, nor any reafon why their offers were not-attended to. Meffrs. Boyd and, Benfield feemed to have a fort of claim from the terms of the former loan; but while they infifted on this claim for themselves, they denied it to others who had been fubfcribers to the former loan; thus refufing to perfons equally entitled what they claimed to themfelves. Mr. Fox fupported, with his ufual ability, the fame fide of the queftion as Mr. Grey, and agreed with the generality of the exceptions taken by him to the statements of the chancellor of the exehequer. He said that much vehemence of language had been employed upon former occafions to fhew to that house the defperate fituation of the French finances. The minifter had exclaimed, "Hear what the French fay themfelves, and fee whether they are not in their last agony!" The houfe had been told that the French were not on the verge but in the gulph of bankruptcy." God for bid, faid Mr. Fox, that we hould fight a country under the hope, and no other, that fuch a country was in the gulph of bankruptcy: nothing could be obtained from fuch a conteft. By fuch folly we had added to the capital of our enormous debt from thirty to forty milkons in the course of little more than a year. Thefe very people of France who were in the gulph of bankruptcy a long time ago, had made it neceflary for the minifter to borrow 7,000,000l. more in the courfe of one feflion than he faid he had occafion for when he brought forward the fum. mary of the public expenditure. Mr. Fox took notice alfo of the arrears which government had incurred in various branches of the public fervice. He understood, that, even in the fmalleft penfions, government were in arrear. Even ment. the miferable pittance which was Mr. Grey approved of what had fallen from the alderman; and, to ufe a faflionable phrase, he should like to know when the Loan Leviathan was to be fatisfied, or how long he was to have loans upon his own terms, Mr. Grey here alluded once more to the difference between Mr. Pitt and him, on the amount of the peace eftablishment, the navy debt, and the mifappli-` cation of money,-contending that his ftatements were established by facts, and the right honourable gentleman's only rested on fpeculation. He infifled, that, when money was voted by parliament for any fpecified purpofe, it was a grofs violation of law to appropriate it to any other; and the perfon who did fo ought to be fubject to an impeach Mr. Sheridan concurred in the obfer. obfervations made upon the state of the finances by Mr. Grey, and contended, that, upon the event of a peace, new taxes would be neceffary for more than three millions; and, inftead of the ufual peace eftablishment of feventeen millions, he could prove, did not the latenefs of the hour prevent him, that our future peace establishment would amounto no lefs a fum than twen ty-three millions. General Smith afferted that the Eaft-India company would not be able to pay annually the fum of 500,000l. He alfo pointed out the Spirit of difobedience and difcontent which had been generated in the army in the Eaft-Indies by our late regulations. Mr. fecretary Dundas faid, that, when the Eaft-India finances came under difcuffion, the general would have a fair opportunity of ftating the inability under which he fuppofed the Eaft-India company to labour. He denied the other infinuations thrown out refpecting the difpofition of the army in that country. The refolutions were at length put, and agreed to without a divifion, and the report ordered to be received on the following day. On the 19th of April, previous to the report of the committee of ways and means being brought up, Mr. Grey rofe to afk fome explanations from the paymaster of the forces refpecting the expence of temporary barracks. He found it ftated that 314,000l. had been employed entirely in this fervice, in Great Britain, Guernfey, and Jerfey. And yet he faw a kind of diftinction drawn in the accounts between barracks and temporary barracks. He found the cftimates of Guernsey and Jerfey put at 64,000l. and agreeable to the fort of diftinction alluded to, only about 5000l. had been stated as the expence of temporary barracks. In the fame way in England, out of 250,000l. expended, he only found 9,500l. put under the head of temporary barracks. The excefs muft therefore have gone in fupport of permanentbarracks He faid he could not reft fatisfied with the official returns made to the house. Fortyeight thousand pounds had been fubmitted in February lait, as the extra-expences from June 1792 to December 1795; and afterwards an account was brought forward, amounting to 243,000, as the actual extra-expence of $795. To thefe obfervations Mr. Steel replied, that out of 314,000l. given in eftimates, 246, ool. had been expended in temporary barracks in England, together with 4000l. of contingent expences. In Guernfey and Jerfey, for the fame article, 64,000l. amounting in the whole to the fum eftimated. Thefe accounts were furnished in confequence of his orders to the barrackmafter; and he could not further account for their inaccuracy,though he was ready to confefs his own belief that they were fair and accurate. He obferved that he might, confiftently with his place, decline giving any antwer to the questions which had been put to him, if he did not feel himself called upon from refpect to the character of minifters. Mr. Grey faid that another day he fhould have occafion to go at large into the bufines, Mr. Hobart then brought up the report of the committee of ways and means; and, upon the first refolution being put, Mr. William Smith ftared that he intended to have made fome observations upon the terms of the loan the preceding night, but was prevented by the length length of time occupied by other gentlemen. He argued that the bargain for the old loan, for fo it was to be diftinguifhed, although fo recently contracted for, was half a million unfavourable to the public, inafmuch as three per cent. more was given to the contractors than another gentleman would have taken it at, and the bonus upon it was exactly 3 per cent, more than upon this fecond loan. It was neceflary to inquire under what circumftances both the loans were bargained for, that the profit fhould be fo much more at one time than ano ther. If the parties who purchafe a loan give lefs for one in April than they did in the preceding December, it was neceflary to account for it. A premium of feven per cent. came out in the market upon the loan bargained for in December, without any rife in the funds. It was true, the chancellor of the exchequer had given the market a temporary rife, by bringing down the king's meffage immediately after the loan was contracted for; but this favourable hope was of fhort duration; and at the time the new loan was made, the hope, which had been afloat ever fince, was entirely deftroyed by the anfwer of the directory refpecting peace. Mr. Smith used many ftrong and urgent arguments, to prove that a better bargain upon the old loan might have been made; that if minifters had gone to open competition upon the old loan, they might have had it taken off their hands by the very fame contractors, on the identical terms they had taken this last loan. Mr. Pitt faid he was extremely happy to find that the merit of the prefent loan received the approbation of fo nice a critic; and therefore, fince they were unanimous, he concluded, the best way would be to put their unanimity into prac. tice, and pass the refolution. Refpecting the terms of the former loan, he was guided in his judgment by a general view of the circumstances exifting at the time. Those circumftances were fuch as induced him to give the contractors a higher bonus upon the loan of December. He was aware of the reserve of unfunded debt, and had fome idea of an imperial loan, whence he had expected a fall in the stocks from one and a half to two per cent. which certainly would have been the cafe, if his majesty's meffage had not arrived at the time it did, and of which he had then no apprehenfion. This made the difference between that loan of eighteen millions, and the prefent one of feven and a half. If he had known beforehand that the stocks had fhewn a tendency to rife, he fhould certainly have made the premium lefs. Mr. Francis noticed in pointed terms the two acts of parliament which had been paffed in that feffion, to enable government to iffue 3,500,000l. exchequer bills, to replace the fame amount held by the bank. the bank. "It is now," faid he, "found neceffary to relieve the bank from this load; and money is raifed by the prefent loan to pay off the 3,500,000l. exchequer bills, which the bank hold. This, then, makes the iffue of that fum in exchequer bills, according to the two former acts of parliament, unneceffary for that purpofe." He then contended that as thofe acts, being made this feffion, could not be repealed, the minifter might ftill iffue this fum in exchequer bills, for fervices which were not in the contem, plation of that houfe. He therefore hinted at a parliamentary re ftraint ftraint over the poffible exercise of fuch a power. Mr. Grey alfo urged the dangerous tendency of fuch a power in the hands of the minifter. Mr. Pitt, in reply, faid, that to remove all fufpicion, a claufe might be inferted in the prefent loan bill, or a refolution moved to a fimilar effect. The first resolution paffed. The other refolutions of the committee were then read; and Mr. Pitt, Mr. Rofe, and Mr. Hobart, ordered to prepare and bring in bills upon the fame. On the 21st of April, the bill for the better regulation of hats was read a first time, and ordered to be read a fecond time the next day. The house on the 26th refolved itself into a committee on this bill; and it was determined, that, after the 5th of April 1797, every perfon wearing a hat with the fining unftamped fhould be liable to a penalty. A claufe was brought up, by which the owner of a hat is compelled to prove that his hat paid the duty. Several debates took place in the commons upon the dog-tax bill, in the course of which, Mr. Sheridan, in a ftrain of the most poignant wit and irony, amufed the house for a confiderable time upon this fubject. Mr. Rofe, on the 25th of April, obferved, there was an irregularity in the wine-duty bill, which would perhaps render it neceflary to withdraw it, and to introduce a new bill. A clause refpecting auctioneers felling wine had been by mistake inferted in the bill, with out the confent of the house. He had intended to have obviated this by inferting a new claufe; but as the neceffary form was not obferved, he moved for leave to withdraw the bill. The bill was withdrawn, and a new one ordered to be brought in. On the 5th of May, previously to the house refolving itfelf into a committee on the above bill, Mr. Grey faid he fhould mention fome particulars which had come to his knowledge, refpecting the conduct of revenue officers, in the mode of collecting the additional duty on wine. He conceived there was no authority whatever of fufficient power legally to enforce the payment of duties about to be levied by an act of parliament, until fuch act had paffed into a law; yet he was informed, and from good authority, that upon the arrival at Leith of the fhip Peggy, belonging to Mr. Murray, laden with Spanish wines, the additional duty upon one ton of Port had been demanded and paid. He mentioned a fimilar circumstance which had happened at Bristol. He thought fuch cases demanded the serious attention of the houfe, as they were certainly unjuftifiable in the highest degree. Though it might be right for bills to have a retrospective view in fome inftances, it was nevertheless highly dangerous to the principles of the conflitution, and the liberty of the fubject, for that retrofpection to operate previous to the bill being paffed. He faid he had obferved, with deep concern, the latitude in which minifters had indulged themfelves of late, in difpenfing with the laws of their country; and it certainly was the incumbent duty of the houfe of commons to watch their conduct with a jealous eye. These observations brought on aconverfation between Mr. Sheridan and the chancellor of the exchequer, in which the former obferved, that when the bill went into a committee, he should propose two amend |