102] 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 181^. 



accidental causes, and the loss of 

 which could not operate as any 

 discouragement to trade. To 

 him, therefore, this proposition 

 appeared free from all reasonable 

 objection. His task would have 

 been easy if he could have flattered 

 himself that what he had still to 

 propose was equally unobjectiona- 

 ble ; but of the remainder of his 

 plan he could only, as he had said 

 before, indulge the hope that, in 

 the choice of evils, he had selected 

 the least. 



To the first which he had to 

 propose he felt that it might be 

 reasonably objected that it would, 

 in a certain degree, affect the 

 comforts of tlie poor ; he hoped, 

 however, the burden would be as 

 small as could be expected from 

 a tax producing a considerable in- 

 crease of revenue. The article to 

 which he alluded was that of 

 tanned hides and skins. That it 

 would, in some degree, fall on the 

 poor, by affecting the necessary 

 article of their shoes he had alrea- 

 dy admitted, but in other respects 

 it appeared to him a very fit 

 object of taxation. In the long 

 list of our taxes it was almost the 

 only one on which no additional 

 duty had been laid for a great 

 number of years. The present 

 duties had been imposed so long 

 ago as the years 1709, and 1711, 

 and when he now proposed, after 

 the lapse of a whole century, to 

 double them, he could not consider 

 himself as laying upon the people 

 of this country a heavier burden 

 than their ancestors had borne 

 with reference to the general en- 

 hancement of prices, and the 

 proportions they bore to the earn- 

 ings and incomes of individuals. 

 Another recommendation of this 



tax on leather, on the present 

 occasion, was the iheap and plen- 

 tiful supply of the raw material 

 which held, of late years; been 

 introduced from South America. 

 This supply had been estimated as 

 equal to one-third of the whole ^ 

 manufacture, and had occasioned a 

 very considerable increase of it, 

 both for home consumption and 

 for exportation. Calculating upon 

 an average oF the produce of the 

 present duty for the last three 

 years, the additional duty may be 

 expected to produce 325,000/. a 

 year. 



The next article which he should 

 propose was also an excise duty, 

 t was that of glass. This duty 

 had been considerably increased in 

 the year 1805, but after an ex- 

 tensive inquiry among the manu- 

 facturers, Mr. Perceval had been 

 convinced that an additional tax 

 equal to the present, would not be 

 injurious to the trade. It was not 

 indeed probable that the consump- 

 tion of this country would be 

 lessened by the increase of price 

 which this duty would occasion, 

 as glass was an article very little in 

 use among the lower classes of 

 society ; and this was, so far as he 

 could understand, the opmion of 

 the manufacturers themselves, pro- 

 vided they were protected against 

 foreign competition, by sufficient 

 duties on importation, and by pro- 

 per drawbacks on exportation. 

 The produce of this tax, calcu- 

 lating, as before on the average 

 of the last three years, would be 

 328,000/. 



The next proposition which he 

 wished to make to the committee 

 was, to add a duty, equivalent to 

 ten per cent on those now exist- 

 ing, on tobacco, an article of 



extensive 





