68] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



therefore, of the permanent taxes 

 ■would be 850,000/. from the gene- 

 ral increase in the consolidated 

 duties of customs, 100,000/. from 

 the duty on tobacco, and 30,000/. 

 from the duty on French wines, 

 making in the whole a sum some- 

 what short of a million, to answer 

 two objects — the support of the 

 sinking fund, and to make good 

 the defalcation caused by the aban- 

 donment last year of the auction 

 duty. And here he would observe, 

 that although he had thought 

 proper thus to propose a substitute 

 for the auction duty, he had by no 

 Trieans lost sight of it. He did not 

 think it would be satisfactory to 

 take it for the purpose of contribut- 

 ing to the immediate supply; but 

 he reserved to himself the liberty 

 of proposing means to prevent 

 fraud, and to regulate the duty, if 

 he should thereafter find it neces- 

 sary so to do. Those which he 

 had mentioned were permanent 

 taxes. He should next propose to 

 lay some further taxes under the 

 head of war taxes, for the general 

 purpose of assisting the supplies for 

 the year, and for the particular 

 object of providing for the one per 

 cent sinking fund on exchequer 

 bills outstanding on the 5th of 

 January of each year, to be granted 

 to the commissioners for the reduc- 

 tion of the national debt. These 

 war taxes he wished to class under 

 the heads of imports and exports. 

 The first that he should propose 

 would be a gener il increase of duty 

 on the importation of all goods and 

 merchandize, the manufacture of 

 the French empire, and of all 

 countries dependent on France. It 

 was true that trade licences to 

 France and her dependencies were 

 not now granted by government, 



but it was obvious that circum- 

 stances might render it politic to 

 renew them ; and we had an un- 

 doubted right to retaliate on the 

 enemy all the oppression in which 

 he had persevered against our com- 

 merce. He proposed to double 

 the war duty on such articles. 

 Those war duties were at present 

 equal to one-third of the consoli- 

 dated duties, He proposed to add 

 to them the amount of the other 

 two-thirds, thus making the whole 

 of the duties in war double the 

 duties in peace on French goods- 

 It was extremely difiicult to esti- 

 mate the probable produce of this 

 increase. It would vary with the 

 state of our intercourse with France. 

 If he took the average of the last 

 three years, he would say that it 

 might amount to 200,000/. Some 

 articles were wholly prohibited ; of 

 others, the difficulty of importation 

 was great ; but by taking the 

 various articles, and allowing one 

 as it were to insure the other, he 

 was confident the produce would 

 not fall short of that which he had 

 just stated. With respect to the 

 exports, the trade about to open, 

 would, in all probability, be so 

 great, that no material inconve- 

 nience could, in his opinion, arise 

 from adding a half per cent to the 

 present export duties. In peace, 

 such a proposition would be im- 

 politic — not so at the present 

 moment. He calculated that it 

 might produce about 150,000/.; 

 and on this branch of increased 

 revenue he thought he might con- 

 fidently rely. [Mr. Baring here 

 adverting to the increased import 

 duties, asked the right hon. gentle- 

 man to what countries they were to 

 be applicable ?] Certainly the in- 

 creased import duties would be on 



