100] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1S12. 



of April, 1812, exceeded the cor- 

 responding quarter in 1811, by no 

 less than 4t>3,000/. a sum much 

 surpassing any increase which the 

 new duties could have occasioned 

 in that quarter, and which suffi- 

 ciently proved that the revenue 

 was, upon the whole, in an im- 

 proving state. 



He had formed the estimate 

 of the war taxes, in a similar 

 manner, upon the average of the 

 three years, ending the 5th of 

 April, 1812. The war duties of 

 customs and excise amounted, up- 

 on such an average, to 9,502,905/. 

 to which were to be added 38,600/. 

 for the further expected produce 

 of the duties imposed in the last 

 year, and 500,000/. which re- 

 mained due from the East India 

 Company, on account of tea 

 duties, making, in the whole, 

 of custom and excise duties, 

 10,041,505/. Of the property tax 

 there remained due on the 5th of 

 April, 1812, on the assessments of 

 preceding years, 8,515,000/. to 

 which was to be added the esti- 

 mated assessment of the present 

 year, which, supposing it to be 

 equal to the assessment of the last 

 vear, would be 12,200,000/. 

 making together, 20,715,000/. 

 From this was to be deducted 

 the sum still remaining due to 

 make good the grant on the war 

 taxes for ISll, being 7,ti00,000/. ; 

 which would leave, for the service 

 of the present year, 13,055,000/. 

 and adding that sum to the 

 amount of customs and excise, 

 there would be a total of war 

 taxes of 23,090,000/. From this 

 was to be taken 2,700,000/. ap- 

 propriated to the charge of various 

 loans, which would leave for the 

 ways and means of the present 

 year, 20,390,000/. a sum ap- 



proaching very nearly to that of 

 20,400,000/. which he proposed to 

 vote. 



It now remained that he should 

 explain tne conditions of the loan 

 which had been contracted, and 

 he had to regret that the present 

 situation of the country did not 

 enable him to congratulate the 

 house on so advantageous a bar- 

 gain as some which had of late 

 years been stated to them. The 

 sum raised on account of Great 

 Britain by the loan concluded the 

 preceding day, was 15,050,000/. 

 The capital created on account of 

 this sum was 27,544,000/. 3 per 

 cent stock. The amount of in- 

 terest 826,320/. and of sinking fund 

 and management 283,500/. mak- 

 ing in all a charge of 1,110,023/. 

 The rate of interest to the sub- 

 scribers would be 5/. 5s. Id. per 

 cent, and the total charge to the 

 public 11. ^s. \Old. This might 

 appear a high rate of interest, but 

 it should be remembered, that, 

 includinar the former loan in the 

 5/. per cents, and the exchequer 

 bills funded, the sum borrowed in 

 the present year had rarely been 

 equalled, and he believed so large 

 a sum had never been raised on 

 better terms in any other period of 

 war. Indeed, he feared that the 

 contractors for the loan had more 

 reason to complain of having been 

 hardly dealt by than the public. 

 He should feel happy if the bar- 

 gain should hereafter prove more 

 profitable to them than it had 

 hitherto promised. Such an im- 

 provement of the public credit 

 would be hailed with the greatest 

 satisfaction by his Majesty's mi- 

 nisters. 



He must now revert to the 

 former loan, and the funding of 

 exchequer bills : the terms of 



which 



