MIisTORyY 
advances of the bank and East In- 
dia company, amounting in the 
whole to £6,800,000. He was 
strongly impressed with the convic- 
tion, that whatever our necessary 
permanent expences might be, they 
ought to be provided tor by a per- 
manent revenue equal to the charge ; 
and he trusted, that in this opinion 
he was supported by a general con- 
currence of the house, and of the 
country. That we must not at- 
tempt to accommodate our expen- — 
diture to our revenue, but must 
resolutely determine to raise our 
revenue to a level with our expen- 
diture. He did not, however, at 
present, feel it necessary to recom- 
mend to the committee any such 
effort. The only operation of 
finance which he had at present in 
contemplation, was at some late 
period of the session, to propose that 
from six to eight millions of ex- 
chequer bills should be funded, in 
order to prevent any inconvenient 
accumulation in the market. The 
committee would be aware that un- 
less a bargain could be concluded 
with the holders of those bills, on 
terms advantageous to the public, 
it might be necessary to raise a loan 
to this extent, for the purpose of 
discharging them. In either case, 
he trusted, that the means of defray- 
ing the charge which would be 
brought upon the public, might be 
- found, withoutany materialaddition 
_ ito the burthens of the people.—He 
next proceeded to state to the com- 
mittee, that it might be observed 
that he had proposed, to vote no 
more than four millions as the pro- 
_ duce of the consolidated fund, al- 
__ though he had stated his expectation 
of a sum of 6} millions in the gene- 
_ fal account of the ways and means 
K 2 
OF EUROPE. 
51 
of the year. He had proposed a 
vote so moderate, because it would 
be sufficient for the immediate pur- 
pose of, and would avoid any incon- 
venience to, the public service, in 
case the hopes which he thought 
himself well warranted in entertain- 
ing, should not be realized by the 
experience of the two next quarters, 
He had, however, to state the pro- 
duce of the three preceding quar- 
ters in support of his expectations, 
The actual amount of the surplus 
of the consolidated fund in three 
quarters of a year ending the 
10th October, 1802, amounted to 
£5,508,067. To this was to be 
added the bounties paid on corn 
within that period, and not yet re- 
paid by parliament, being £431,729, 
and the sum which might be expect- 
ed from the produce of the taxes 
of the present year, which had not 
taken place in the two first quarters 
of that period. The total would 
be £7,939,796. From which, de- 
ducting the whole of the sums re- 
ceived on account of the income 
tax, amounting to 2,054,893, the 
total produce of the three quarters 
would appear to be £5,884,905. If 
the ensuing year proved equally 
. productive, the surplus, in four 
quarters would be no less than 
$7,845,000; and he therefore 
could not consider himself over san- 
guine in expecting a clear surplus 
of £6,500,000. It was also satis- 
factory to observe, that the above 
sum of £7,845,000 was little less 
than double the surplus of the con- 
solidated fund in any former year ; 
as the largest produce ever known, 
which was in the year ending the 
5th January, 1792, amounted to 
£4,300,000. In comparing the 
produce of the taxes, it would be 
found 
