the Refolutions which the House had come to for granting to his Majesty a Duty of 20 s. per Gallon for all Spirituous Liquors fold by Retail, and for the Payment of the Sum of 501. Yearly to his Majefty by every Perfon retailing the fame, would bring, as the Petitioners apprehended, unavoidable Ruin on the Sugar-Colonies, tho' the Evil complained of did not arife from the Confumption of the Commodities imported from the faid Colonies; and reprefenting to the Houfe a State of their Cafe, with regard to the Confumption of Sugar, Moloffes and Rum, as it would be affected by the Bill brought in upon the faid Refolutions; in full Affurance, that the Wisdom of the Legislature would find Means effectually to fupprefs the Evils occafioned by the exceffive Ufe of Spirituous Liquors, without deftroying the Sugar-Trade, upon which the Subfiftence of fo many Thoufands of his Majefty's Subjects depended; and therefore praying that the Petitioners might be heard by themselves, or their Counfel, against fo much of the faid Bill, as they conceived might extend to their Prejudice, or affect the Britifh Sugar-Trade.

Anno 9. Geo. 11. 1736.

After the Reading of this Petition, a Motion was made, That the faid Petition be referred to the Confideration of the Debate thereon. Committee of the whole Houfe, to whom the faid Bill was committed; and that the Petitioners be heard by themselves, or their Counsel before the faid Committee; but it being alledged, that it was contrary to the Method of Proceeding in that House, to hear Counfel or Parties upon any Petition against a Money-Bill, [See VOL. II. p. 371.] the Members, who had made and feconded the Motion, defired that feveral Journals relating to the receiving Petitions against Money-Bills, might be read, viz. 1. The Journal of the Houfe, June 1. in the 10th of King William. 2. The Journal of the Houfe of April 15. in the 11th of King William. 3. The Journal of the Houfe of May 5. in the 13th of King William. 4. The Journal of the House of April 3. in the 8th of King William. 5. The Journal of the Houfe of April 7. following. 6. The Committee-Book of the Committee of the whole House, in relation to the Proceedings of April 9, 1696. 7. The Journal of the Houfe of May 9. in the 13th of King William. 8. The Journal of the Houfe of March 20. in the rft of Queen Anne. These being accordingly read, the Members who were for the Motion urg'd,

That with respect to thofe Money-Bills which were brought in for answering the current Service of the enfuing Year, there was fome Reafon for not admitting Petitioners to be heard against them; because fuch Services required an immediate Supply; they could not be carried on without

Money

1736.

Anno 9. Geo. 11. Money, and they generally could not admit of any Delay; therefore the publick Safety made it often neceffary to país fuch Bills with the utmost Dispatch, and for that Reason the Houfe had laid it down as a Rule not to admit Petitioners to be heard against them; but even in fuch Cafes the Rule was not without Exception, as appeared from the first of the above Journals, viz. June 1. in the 10th of King William, relating to feveral Petitions of the Bailiffs, Wardens, and Commonality of the Occupation, Art, and Mystery of Weavers, within the City of London, and of the Wardens and Affiftants of the Company of Worfted Weavers in the City of Norwich, and to the feveral Orders of the House thereupon; and to the Order of the House for referring the Confideration of the Petition of the Eaft-India Company to the Committee of the whole House, to whom the Bill for raifing a Sum not exceeding two Millions, for fettling a perpetual Fund or Payment of certain Annuities after the Rate of 81. per Cent. per Annum for every 100l. and for farther Advantage therein mentioned, redeemable by Parliament, was committed, and for hearing the faid Company by their Counsel upon the faid Bill before the faid Committee; where the Petitioners were admitted to be heard against that Bill, notwithstanding the great Sum that was thereby to be raised, and notwithstanding the greateft Part of that Sum was defigned, and was abfolutely neceffary for the Support of our Civil Government, and of our Land and Sea-Services, as appeared by the Claufe of Appropriation contained in that Act; and confidering the precarious Situation the Affairs of Europe were then in, it could not be denied but that the Demands for thofe Services were then as preffing, and required as much Dispatch as could almoft at any one Time be fuppofed.

That with refpect to the Bill then before them, it could not properly be called a Money-Bill: There were, 'twas true, fome Taxes to be impofed by the Bill, but those Taxes were not defigned as Supplies for anfwering the current Service of the Year; they were defigned only for putting an End to an Abufe which had lately crept in among our People, and therefore the Rule for not admitting Petitioners to be heard against a Money-Bill, could in no Manner of Way be applied to the Bill then before them.

That with refpect to any Trade in which the Subjects of this Nation had no Rival, the Legislature might pretty freely make fuch Regulations as they had a Mind, but with refpect to any Trade in which our Subjects were rivalled by Foreign Powers, we ought to be extremely cautious in making any new Regulation; because in fuch a Cafe the fmalleft Difcouragement might give Foreigners fuch an Ad

vantage

1736.

vantage over us, as might enable them to turn us entirely Anno 9. Geo. 11. out of the Trade; which might very probably be the Cafe with refpect to the Sugar-Trade; for in that Trade it was well known we had a moft powerful and a moft dangerous Rival; and for us to make a new Regulation which might affect that Trade, without fo much as hearing what our own Subjects, who were engaged in the Trade, had to fay against fuch Regulation, was fhewing fuch a Difregard to the Subjects, and to the Trade and Commerce of Great Britain, as they hoped would never in any Cafe be fhewn by that Houfe.'

To this it was anfwered by the Courtiers, That every Bill by which any Tax was levied upon the Subject was a Money-Bill, and had always been understood as fuch by that Houfe; and therefore the Bill then before them was as much a Money-Bill as any other. That with respect to the Rule of not hearing Petitioners against fuch Bills, it must be fuppofed to have had a Beginning, as all fuch Rules have ; and therefore before that Rule came to be fully established as a Rule for directing the future Proceedings of that House, many Precedents might be quoted against the observing of that Rule, because it was from thofe very Precedents that the Rule took its Rife: It had been obferved, that as foon as any Bill was brought in for laying a Tax or Duty upon any Sort of Goods, the Dealers in fuch Goods always petitioned, and defired to be heard by themselves or their Counfel against the Bill, and always under a Pretence, that the paffing of fuch a Bill would injure the Trade of the Nation; yet upon hearing what they had to fay, it was generally found, that all their Arguments proceeded from private Views, or that they had nothing to offer but what had been before under the Confideration of the House; fo that it almost always appeared, that the Hearing of fuch Petitioners by themselves or their Counfel, was taking up a great deal of the Time of the Houfe to no Purpose: For this Reason the House came at laft to establish it as a Rule not to be departed from, not to admit Petitioners to be heard by themselves or their Counsel against any such Bill; which Rule had then been inviolably obferved for many Years, and the Reason for obferving it was as ftrong with refpect to the Bill then before them, as with respect to any other.

• That they ought, without Doubt, to be extremely cautious in making any Regulation which might difcourage our Sagar-Trade, or our Sugar-Colonies, but neither that Trade nor any of thofe Colonies could be of any Weight, when put in the Ballance against the Health and the Happiness of the People of Great Britain; and if, for the Prefervation of the Health and the Morals of the People of Great Britain, VOL. IV.

they

.736.

Anno 9. Geo. 11. they found themfelves under a Neceffity of making a Regulation which might leffen the Confumption of Sugar among the People of this Ifland, they muft fall upon fome Way of giving an Encouragement to that Trade with respect to Foreign Markets, which would be a greater Advantage to the Nation, and would prevent the Ruin of our own People. But that for this Purpose they had no Occafion for hearing the Petitioners by themselves or their Counfel; because as every one of them had a Representative in that Houfe, they might communicate their Thoughts upon that Subject to their feveral Reprefentatives, [See VOL. II. p. 309.] by which Means the Houfe would be as fully informed of what they had to fay, as if they were to be heard by themselves or their Counsel at the Bar; and therefore, as the granting them any fuch Hearing would be taking up the Time of the Houfe to no Purpofe, they could not but be against it.'

Brifto! Merchants

The Question was then put upon the Motion, and carried in the Negative without a Divifion: Whereupon the Petition was ordered to lie upon the Table.

Immediately after this a Petition of the Mafter, Wardens, Affiftants, and Commonalty of the Society of Merchants Adagainst the Bill re- venturers within the City of Bristol, under their common Fiting to Spirituous Seal, was prefented to the House and read; fetting forth,

Liquors.

And from the Le verpole Merchants

to the fame Purpole.

that the Bill then depending before the House, to lay a Duty of 20 s. a Gallon on all Spirituous Liquors fold by Retail, and a Sum of 501. yearly to be paid by every Retailer of the fame, would, if enacted, be deftructive to the Petitioners, and many Thoufands more of his Majesty's Subjects, as well in the Sugar-Colonies, as in the adjacent Parts of the faid City; and therefore imploring the Houfe to confider the great Lofs, which muft immediately thereafter enfue to the Revenue, Navigation, Traders, and others concerned in Sugar and Rum, and what Advantage Foreigners might make thereof; and to afford fuch Relief therein, as to the Houfe fhould feem meet; for that in their humble Opinion, a proper Relief might be granted to them, without preventing the Evil complained of in the Bill from being effectually fuppreffed.

This Petition was likewife ordered to lie upon the Table. April 8. A Petition of the Merchants and Owners of Ships trading from the Port of Leverpoole in the County Palatine of Lancafter, to and from the British Sugar-Colonies in America, was prefented to the Houfe, and read; fetting forth, that the greatest and principal Branch of their Trade confifted in the Exportation of Manufactures, the Produce of Great Britain, to our Colonies in America, and bringing Mufcovado Sugars in Return for the fame, three fourth Parts of which Sugar, could not be confumed without being firft

refined,

refined, and two fifth Parts when refined were drawn into Moloffes, whereof near two thirds were diftilled into Spirits; and that if the Bill brought in upon several Refolutions of the House, in order to lay a Duty of 20 s. a Gallon upon all Kinds of Spirituous Liquors retailed within this Kingdom, Rum from his Majefty's Plantations not excepted, fhould pafs into a Law, the greatest Confumption of refined Sugars would be entirely loft, and Rum which is near a fourth Part in Value of the Produce of our Sugar-Colonies, would also be rendered of little or no Value, and two thirds of the Moloffes produced from refined Sugars, must become ufelefs, to the inevitable Ruin of our Sugar Plantations, and Destruction of the two most valuable Branches of our foreign Trade, to the British Colonies and the Coast of Africa; and therefore expreffing their Hope, that the Legislature would not hazard fo beneficial a Trade, to cure an Evil, that never would have happened from Rum, or any other Liquor of that Value, but would be able to find Means effectually to fupprefs the fame, without extending fuch Means to any of the Liquors that were distilled from the Produce of our own Plantations; and praying, that the Houfe would be pleased to take their Cafe into Confideration, and give fuch Relief therein, as the House should find most meet.

This Petition was likewife ordered to lie upon the Table. April 9. The Order of the House being read, for the Houfe to refolve itself into a Committee of the whole Houfe, to confider farther of the faid Bill, it was ordered, That it fhould be an Inftruction to the said Committee to have Power to receive a Clause for enabling fuch Perfons as had exercised the Bufinefs of Diftillation for a Time to be limited, or had ferved, or were then bound as Apprentices to fuch Business, to follow any other Trade or Bufinefs in any City, Town, or Place, in England.

ra

cerning the Appli

After this the House refolved itself into the faid Committee, but when they came to that Clause by, which it was enacted, That the Duties and Revenues which should arise by Licences for vending Brandy or Spirits, as alfo the pre- Farther Debate con⚫ fent Duties on Low Wines, Strong Waters, Brandy, Rum, cation of the ReveArrack, and all other Spirits, whether Foreign or British, nues arifing by the and fuch Duties as fhould arife by retailing the fame, tuous Liquors. fhould from and after the 29th of September 1736, be united to, and made Part of the general or Aggregate

6

• Fund established by the Act of the first Year of the Reign of his late Majefty King George I. and fhould be iffued ⚫ and applied to the Ufes to which the faid Fund was, or ⚫ fhould be made applicable.'

The fame was oppofed by feveral Members, as being unneceffary, because, tho' the Produce of thofe Duties was ap

Z 2

propriated

Retailing of Spai