BIS EFORY)cOF) LUROPE, 
that the myfteries of their trade 
were laid open, to the irreparable 
injury of their families and fortunes. 
~ Of the value of fome of thefe myf- 
teries the committee might form an 
“idea, when they recolleéted that it 
had been proved in evidence, thatone 
manufacturer had refufed 20,0001. 
for the difclofure of a fecret in the 
manufaCturing of tobacco that was 
peculiar to himielf. 
When the manufacturers were un- 
der examination at the bar, they had 
not let fall any expreffion, which 
~ might intimate, that it was their in- 
tention to quit the trade if the act 
_ was not repealed ; they thought that 
fuch an intimation would not be 
ecent in them, as it would appear 
i. a threat; but what their refpe& 
for parliament would not{uifer them 
to utter at the bar, they had faid to 
him in private; and he believed he 
might aflure the committee, if the 
bill was not yepealed, the tobacco 
manufatture would be loft, to this 
country. 
Mr. Sheridan now afked the chan- 
cellor of the exchequer, what were 
' the mighty advantages gained by 
_ the revenue, which could be .con- 
fidered as a compenfation for fuch 
hardfhips and encroachments upon 
the liberty of the fubje&t? The 
produce was but 25,000/. more 
than was collected on tobacco. be- 
_ fore this act paffed, and. the duty 
was raifed from 113d. per lb. to1gd. 
Would any man, to whom the rights 
of the people were dear, for fo in- 
fignificant an increafe of revenue 
~ invade thofe rights; but, above all, 
would he, for fuch an increafe, rifk 
the lofs of the whole? which he ve- 
rily believed would happen if the 
act was not repealed. Mr. Sheridan 
¢oncluded his remarks by moving 
the following refolution; « That 
=? 
[9x 
“ the furvey. of the excife is inap- 
«plicable to the manufactory of to- 
«* bacco.”’ fe ‘ 
The chancellor of the exchequer, 
in reply to Mr. Sheridan, obferved, 
that the chief turn of his argument 
had been direéted againit the whole 
fyftem of excife, a fyftem which 
raifed no lefs a fum annually than 
fix millions and a half of the reve- 
nue, and without which. fyftem, he 
believed, neither the refources of 
the country, nor the ingenuity of 
man, would be competent to raife 
fo confiderable a.fum. In his mo- 
tion, however, he ftopped fhort, and 
objected barely to the excife on to- 
bacco. He was willing toleave the 
manufacturer of malt, the manufac- 
turer of foap,. the manufacturer of 
arch, the manufacturer of candles, 
-and the dealers in wine and {piritu- 
ous liquors, {ubjeé to all that into- 
lerable tyranny and oppreflion which 
he had defcribed with fo much ener- 
gy and eloguence. If the tobacco 
act were to be taken up on general 
principles, the chancellor of the ex- 
chequer faid, he was at a lofs to 
know how it applied to the confti- 
tution more than any other excife 
bill, pafied at any former period, and 
therefore {topping fhort, as the ho- 
nourable gentleman had done, and 
confining himfelf folely to the to- 
bacco att, his general argument was 
inconfiftent and contradictory. 
The chancellor of the exchequer 
next obferved, that it was his duty, 
and the duty of that houfe, to re- 
ceive, with a confiderable degree of 
caution and doubt, the evidence de- 
livered at their bar; he meant no 
reflection on the gentlemen; he be- 
lieved they were very worthy men, 
but they might have been aétuated 
confiderably by prejudices, which 
naturally might be expected to have 
arifen 
