HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



S7 



books of one distiller he saw a 

 charge of 1200/. paid to revenue 

 otficers. This howcTcr may, in a 

 great irjeasure.be remedied by raising 

 the present iuiidequate salaries of 

 the lower revenue oflicers. The 

 new taxes he had to propose, were 

 such as could little ali'oct the lower 

 orders of the people. The first 

 ■was an increase in the duties on 

 the importation of timber, raisins, 

 pepper,'tSi:c. which would fall only 

 on the superior classes, as there was 

 hardly a cabin of a poor man in 

 Ireland that v.as not built of Irish 

 timber. The increase in that way 

 would be to double the duty on all 

 timber except deal, and half the 

 duty on tliat article, which he would 

 take at 36,000/. The next was a 

 duty of 3?. a horse, not on agricul- 

 tural horses, but such as are used in 

 ridins;, and drawing carriages, 

 400,000/. a duty on dogs, which, he 

 took at 8000/. a duty on curricles, 

 equal to that of four wheel car- 

 riages, a small duty on gigs, and one 

 of 5.V. a piece upon jaunting cars, or 

 Irish vis-a-vis, in all 10,000/. a 

 duty of 15«. on every bachelor's male 

 servant, about 4000/. a ta^j upon 

 ])apers. Iiafs, and auctions, 12,000/. 

 an additional duty of one penny on 

 every letter sent by post ; in lieu of 

 the hearth money tar, which was 

 repealed in 1791, a tax of 3v. upon 

 windows, where there are seven 

 MJndows, and above seven, a duty 

 of '25/.. pur cent. The tirst he esti- 

 mated at 15,000/. and the latter at 

 31.000/. The last was a tax on 

 stamps, and licences . granted to 

 auctionrrs and brewers, 17,000/. 

 The total of these taxes, 262,2501. 

 and the . u ii wanted for the interest 

 of thi' loan and sinking fund, 

 '250,000/. leaving a surplus of about 



7000/. lie then concluded with 

 putting his resolutions. 



Mr. James Fitzgerald complained 

 of t!io inconvcnionco arising fronk 

 the practice of anticipAting the re- 

 venues of Ireland, and balances to 

 an enormous amount, constantly 

 left in the hands of the collectors. 

 He considered the proposed taxes 

 as altogether unnecessary, because 

 there remained due to the treasury 

 of Ireland, a great deal more than 

 was sullicient for covering the de- 

 ficiency, and the sums to which h% 

 alluded were the balances in tha 

 hands of the collectors, of 500,000/, 

 the revenues still due, and the ar- 

 rears of the quit rents, which were 

 not less than 1,129,000/. He thea 

 adverted to the disproporfioned ex- 

 change at which the last loan was 

 sent to Ireland, and contended that, 

 by borrowing so much money this 

 year, Ireland would increase the 

 proportion of its debt, compared 

 with that of England, and must 

 therefore extend the time for equa- 

 lizing the burthens, beyond what 

 was proposed by the act of union. 



Mr. Fosterreplied, that he should 

 not object to the proposed applica- 

 tion of the sums in the hands of the 

 collectors, but the dilhcuUy waste 

 get them paid, and the supplies of 

 the year should not be left depen- 

 dent on contingencies ; and as to 

 the other resources mentioned, they 

 had eitiier been already ajipro- 

 priated by parliament, to other pur- 

 poses, or had not yet come into the 

 Irisli treasury. After some further 

 explanntury observations, the reso- 

 lutions were agreed to. 



In the house of lords, onTuesday 

 the 15th, the order of the day bcin^ 

 read for the commitment of the 

 mutiny bill, the marquis of Buck- 

 ingham 



