60 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



the faith of ministers so frequently 

 and flagFaiitiy violated, what secu- 

 rity had the house that the reduc- 

 tion, which now went down to 

 40,000, might not next year be ex- 

 tended to '^0,000 men ? 



Lord Stanley, the raanjuis 

 Donsjias, and colonel Calcraft, 

 spoke against the measure, and sir 

 James Pultcncy and Mr. Fuller in 

 favour of it. (lolonel Bastard said, 

 the measure appeared to him ab- 

 solutely nothing less than an en- 

 deavour to excite a spirit of mutiny 

 in the militia, and render them dis- 

 contented with the service, in which 

 thej' were engaged. The militia 

 oflicers considered it as a measure of 

 debasement, and thought the dif- 

 ficulty of procuring militia oiiicers 

 was owing to the degrading situa- 

 tion they had been placed in, of 

 serving as mere drill Serjeants, to 

 raise men for the militia, and the 

 moment iliey became disciplined, by 

 their labour and attention, to be 

 seduced awiiy and enlisted into the 

 army. After a reply from the 

 chancellor of the exchequer, leave 

 was given, and the bill brought in, 

 and read a first time. 



In a committee of supply, on the 

 22d, the chancellor of the exche- 

 quer opened a supplementary 

 budget, in order to provide substi- 

 tutes, by new taxes, for the duty on 

 horses used in husbandry, rejected 

 by the house, and the alterations 

 made in the duty upon salt, which 

 would produce a deficiency, in the 

 ways and means of the year, of 

 405,000/. Thesubstitutcs were meant 

 to be drawn from the excise and 

 customs, and the first he should 

 propose was an addition of 50/. per 

 cent, on those duties already exist- 

 ing, which he estimated at 80,000/. 

 •R briclvK and tilc«, an additional 



duty, with an exemption to those 

 used for sheds, and erections for tha 

 purpose of farming and husbandry, 

 of js. per thousand, 37,000/. an ad- 

 dition of Gd. to the present duty 

 on ull sales by auctions of estates, 

 and of lOd. on the sale of goods, 

 31,000/. an addition of 6(/. a pound 

 on colfee, tS-QOOL ditto on cider 

 and perry, made forsalc,of 10.9. per 

 hogshead, 15,000/. an additicyial 

 duty on vinegar, 11,000/. a double 

 duty on gold and silver wire, 5000/. 

 an additional duty of 20 per cent, on 

 slalcs and stones, carried coastways, 

 4,400/. ilitto 1.0/. per cent, upon 

 iron, barilla and turpentine, '22,000/, 

 ditto on all other goods, wares, and 

 merchandize, imported, 2.'/. per 

 cent. 170,000/. total 409,4007. being 

 somewhat more than the requisite 

 sum of 405,000/. He then moved 

 the several resolutions, which were 

 agreed to. 



On the (bird reading of the legacy 

 tax, it was strongly opposed by sir 

 II. RiiUlmay, lord (i. Cavendish, 

 Mr. Spencer Stanhope, and Mr. 

 Gro}', who objected to the cruelty 

 and r)ppression of exempling (lis 

 heirs at law of landed estates, while 

 it severely affected the provision 

 made for younger children, who 

 were the least able to defray such a 

 burthen. In that way it would 

 operate, not on celibacy, but as a 

 tax o* pi)piila(ion, and would fall 

 directly on deformity, feebleness, 

 blindness, and those personal mis- 

 fortunes, w liich should rather be ob- 

 jects ot])ity than taxation.'lMie chan- 

 cellor of the exchequer, on the con- 

 trary, contended, that parents would 

 always have an opportunity of 

 covering the tax, by increasing the 

 legacy, no as to transfer the payment 

 to the heir at law, by savings, in va- 

 rious waySj or by a small yearly in- 



kuraB«# 



