Imatges de pàgina
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1736.

Anno Geo. II. certain Revenue of 70,000l. a Year, and give nothing in Return but an uncertain Produce, which may for what we know be worth little or nothing; for even by the very Calculations that have been mentioned of the other Side, it appears that the Excife on Beer and Ale does not always increase, or decrease, in Proportion as the Duties on Spirituous Liquors decrease or increase. In the Year 1729, the Duties on the latter produced but 104,3731. whereas in the Year 1735, they produced 154,0941. from whence we ought to conclude, that the Produce of the Excife on Beer and Ale was much higher in the Year 1729, than it was in the Year 1735, yet we find that in 1729, the Excife produced but 963,763 1. and that in the Year ended at Midsummer laft, 1735, it produced 1,021,3701. which is 57,607 1. more than it produced in 1729.

This fhews, Sir, that the Proportion between the Increase or Decrease of the one, and the Decrease or Increase of the other, does not always hold; and in Fact it has certainly always been, and will always be fo: The Increase or Decrease of the Excise upon Beer or Ale, as well as the Increafe or Decrease of the Duties on Spirituous Liquors, depend upon fo many other Accidents, that they cannot depend entirely upon one another, nor can any Man guefs at the Increase of the one, from any Knowledge he may have of the Decrease of the other. I fhall mention only one Accident, which was, I believe, the chief Reafon of the Decrease of the Excife on Beer and Ale in the Year 1729. It happened in that Year, the Price of all Sorts of Corn, efpecially Malt, was much higher than it was for feveral Years before or fince, and for this Reafon we may fuppofe none of our Brewers brewed any more Beer or Ale in that Year, than what was abfolutely neceffary for the immediate Confumption; none of them brewed any large Quantity for Staling, as they call it; whereas, in a Year when the Price is low, they all brew great Quantities, which they keep by them as a Stock in Hand, to be ready to answer any future Demand. This is more particularly the Cafe with refpect to thofe Sorts of Strong Beer or Ale, which the Brewer may keep several Years in his Cellars, and is generally the better, the longer it is kept; and to this Accident, I believe, we ought chiefly to afcribe the great Decrease in the Excife on Beer and Ale in the Year 1729.

Sir, I am fo far from thinking, that the Increase or Decrease in the Confumption of Beer and Ale, depends upon the Decrease or Increafe in the Confumption of Spirituous Liquors, that I believe they generally increase or decrease together; it is not the Confumption of either of the Liquors, neceffary for the Support of Nature, which raifes the Excife

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to its present Height: It is the Confumption occafioned by Anne 9. Geo. 11 the Debauches and Extravagancies of the People, and these re depend upon fo many Accidents, that it is impoffible to account for them in Time paft, or to guess at the Confumption that may be in Time to come. But I am perfuaded that nothing will tend more to the rendering our People sober, frugal, and industrious, than the removing out of their Way the many Temptations they are now exposed to, by the great Number of Gin-Shops, and other Places for the Retail of Spirituous Liquors; for before a Man becomes flustered with Beer or Ale, he has Time to reflect, and to confider the many Misfortunes to which he exposes himself and his Fa mily, by idling away his Time at an Alehoufe; whereas any Spirituous Liquor in a Moment deprives him of all Reflection, fo that he either gets quite drunk at the Gin-Shop, or runs to the Alehouse, and there finishes his Debauch. From hence, Sir, I think it most natural to conclude, that the Bill now under our Confideration, if paffed into a Law, will diminish the Confumption of Beer and Ale; and confequently the Produce of the Excife on thofe Liquors, as well as the Confumption of Spirituous Liquors, and the Produce of the Duty on them.

⚫ I come now, Sir, to the Propofition this Day made to us, which I must say I look on as a very extraordinary one ; because it would entirely alter the very Nature of that Grant of the Civil Lift, which was made to his Majesty in the first Year of his Reign; and I wonder how Gentlemen can propose making any fuch Alteration in that Grant without his Majefty's Confent: I think they fhould, at least, in Decency have afhered it in with a Motion for an Address to his Majefty, humbly to pray that he would give his Confent to their making fuch an Alteration; for by the Establishment of the Civil List as it stands at prefent, and as it was granted to his Majefty in the first Year of his Reign, he is to have during his Life the Produce of all those Duties then appropriated to that Revenue without any Account; yet now it is modeftly propofed, that he should from henceforth be obliged to give an Account, every Year, to Parliament of the Produce of every one of thofe Duties, or otherwise to lofe, at least, a Part of the Benefit of that Establishment which was intended, and was then actually granted to him by Parliament.

Having thus, Sir, put this Propofition in a true Light, I am convinced that we cannot come to any fuch Refolution, or agree to fuch a Claufe in any Bill, without his Majesty's Confent; and as I have fhewn that there is no Certainty, that the Civil Lift will be a Gainer by the Increase of the Excife on Beer and Ale; but on the contrary, that there is a ProVOL. IV. bability

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1736.

Anno 9. Geo. 1. bability that it will be a Lofer by the Decrease of that Excife, I think there arifes from thence a fufficient Reason for our making good to his Majefty the Lofs he muft fuftain, by taking from the Civil Lift its Share in the Duties on Spirituous Liquors, therefore I fhall add no more, but declare that I am moft heartily for agreeing to the Claufe as it now ftands."

Reply to the Arguments in Favour of

To this it was replied by the Members who oppofed the the Refolutions of Grant of 70,000l. Sir,

the Committee.

• From fome of the Arguments now made ufe of, I think we may already begin to fee the Truth of what was foretold in the Beginning of this Debate. We were then foretold, Sir, that if it fhould hereafter appear, that the Civil Lift had got 200,000l. a Year, additional Revenue, by the Increase of the Excife on Beer and Ale occafioned by this Bill, the Parliament would never be able to lay hold of any Part of that Increase, or even to re-affume the 70,000 1. An nuity, we are now to grant, upon a Suppofition that the Civil Lift will get nothing by fuch Increase of the Excife on Beer and Ale. The Truth of this, I fay, Sir, begins already to appear; for the honourable Gentleman [Sir Robert Walpole] has told us, that by increafing the Confumption of Beer and Ale, and confequently the Excife on thofe Liquors, we give nothing to the Civil Lift but what it had before a Right to; whereas by diminishing, or taking from the Civil Lift its Share in the Duties on Spirituous Liquors, we take from it what it had formerly a Right to, and that therefore we cannot pretend to compenfate a Right which we actually take away, by a Right which we do not give. If this can be admitted as an Argument for our agreeing to this Clause, it must always be a much stronger against the Parliament's ever pretending to take any Part of the Increase, that may be occafioned in the Excife, or to re-affume the 70,000 1. Annuity we are now to establish.

Altho' I have never yet admitted, nor can admit, that the Civil Lift's Share in the Duties on Spirituous Liquors ought to be computed at 70,000l. yet now, Sir, I fhall take it for granted, because it fignifies nothing to the prefent Difpute; for the principal Queftion now in Difpute I take to be, Whether the Civil Lift has fuch an abfolute Right to that Share, that we can make no Regulations whereby the Value of that Share may be diminished, without granting a Compenfation from fome other Fund? And the next Queftion I take to be, Whether, if by the fame Regulation the Value of the Civil Lift's Share in fome other Duties or Excifes be increased, we may not in Juftice and Equity infift upon it, that the Advantage occafioned in the one Cafe may

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be admitted, fo far as it will amount, as a Compenfation Anno 9. Geo. II. for the Lofs in the other.

As to the first Question, Sir, 'tis true, the Crown has a Right to the whole Produce of certain Duties appropriated to the Civil Lift, but that Right is to be confidered in a twofold Refpect. The Crown has a Right to the whole Produce of all thofe Duties, fo far as may amount to 800,000 1. Eftablishment, without being fubject to any Accident or Contingency whatsoever, because if the Produce should not amount to that Sum yearly, the Parliament ftands obliged to make it good; and if the whole Produce of those Duties fhall amount to more than 800,000l. the Crown has likewife a Right to the Surplus: But that Right is fubject to all Accidents and Contingencies, because if that Surplus fhould be by any Accident diminished, the Parliament is not obliged to make it good. Now, Sir, among the many Accidents to which that Surplus in its own Nature remains liable, furely this is one, That it may hereafter become neceffary for the Welfare, perhaps for the Prefervation of the Nation, to prevent or put a Stop to the Confumption of fome Commodities, the Duties upon which contribute towards the producing of this Surplus: Would the Parliament be obliged in fuch a Cafe to make that Surplus good; or to establish any other Fund for compenfating the Lofs the Civil Lift might fuftain by fuch an Accident? No, Sir, it certainly would not; unless that Lofs fhould become fo heavy, as to reduce the Surplus, and even diminish the Establishment; then indeed a Demand would arife upon the Parliament, and we should be obliged to make the Establishment good.

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Suppofe, Sir, that France, Spain, Portugal, and the greatest Part of Italy, fhould be united in an Alliance against us, which by our late Management may happen to be the Cafe; would it not then be abfolutely neceflary for us to prohibit the Importation or Consumption of all French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian Wines? Would not this very probably almoft quite annihilate the Whole of what I have called the Surplus of the Civil Lift? Yet will any Gentleman say that the Parliament could not prohibit the Importa tion or Confumption of thofe Wines, without making good to the Civil Lift its Share in the Duties upon them, to be computed at a Medium of the Produce for the preceeding feven or eight Years, when perhaps the Confumption of them was at a higher Pitch than was confiftent with the good of the Nation, or Health of the People? Surely, Sir, no Man will pretend to fay any fuch Thing; the Parliament would not be obliged to make good any Part of the Lofs the Civil Lift fhould fuftain by fuch Prohibition, unless the Produce of he Duties appropriated to that Revenue fhould be fo far Cc z

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1736.

Anno 9. Geo. 11. reduced as not to amount to 800,000 1. yearly: And even in that Cafe, the Parliament would be obliged only to make the 800,000l. good, they would not be obliged to make good any Part of that Surplus, which the Crown had formerly received and enjoyed by Means of the Duties upon those Wines.

Is not the Cafe now before us the very fame? Our People have by Accident lately taken fuch a Turn, that it is become neceffary for their Prefervation, to prohibit the Confumption of Spirituous Liquors by Retaile. Is not this, as well as the one I have mentioned, one of thofe Accidents, to which the Crown's Right to the Surplus of the Civil Lift Revenue always was, and ftill is fubjected? And can any Gentleman with Reafon fay, that we cannot prohibit the Retail of fuch Liquors, without making good to the Civil Lift the whole Surplus that has accrued to it, computed at a Medium of the Produce of those very Years, when the Abuse of those Liquors was at its highest Pitch?

The other Queftion, Sir, is, Whether, if by the fame Regulation by which the Civil Lift's Share in fome Duties is diminished, its Share in other Duties be increased, the Advantage occafioned by that Regulation in one Cafe, ought not in Juftice and Honour to be admitted, fo far as it will amount, as a Compenfation for the Damage occafioned in the other? This, Sir, is a fair and a true State of the Queftion, without that Difguife of compenfating a Right which we actually take away, by a Right which we do not give. Having thus ftated the Question in its proper Light, I fhall make use only of a familiar Parallel in private Life, for fhewing that it ought to be refolved in the Affirmative. Suppofe a Gentleman in my Neighbourhood has a very large Marsh in his Eftate, every Year increasing so as to threaten his Eftate with almost entire Ruin, and that the Water from that Marsh, after running through a Part of his Estate, falls upon a Part of mine, and there makes a new Marth, by which a great Part of my Eftate is rendered useless, and the whole brought into Danger: Suppofe that upon furveying my Neighbour's Marfh, and the feveral Fields round it, I find that, by a Cut through another Part of his Estate and a Part of mine, his Marth may be thoroughly drained; and that the Water, by being carried into a new Channel, will be prevented from overflowing any Part of my Eftate, and will very much improve my Neighbour's: Suppose again, that upon a fair and juft Survey, it appears, that the Rents of his Eftate will, by the Cut or Water-drain to be made, be diminished to the Value of 201. a Year, but that by the draining of his Marth, and rendering it good Pafture or arable Land, the Rents of his Eftate will be augmented

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