EXCHEQUER. 



estimates submitted to parliament, parti- 

 cular sums are voted for the several 

 branches of the expenditure, and where 

 the ways and means of raising- the whole 

 sum wanted have been determined, an 

 act is passed, appropriating- the specific 

 sums to the various articles forming- the 

 supplies which have been granted. In 

 order to provide against any unforeseen 

 expences, it is usual to grant also a cer- 

 tain sum, unappropriated to any particular 

 purpose, to be applied to any branch of 

 the expenditure in which there may be 

 occasion for it ; this is called a vote of 

 credit, and has increased in amount with 

 the progress of the supplies ; in the 

 American war it was 1,000,0007. per an- 

 num, of late it lias generally been 

 2,500,000/. Soon after the commence- 

 ment of each session, an account is laid 

 before the House of Commons, shewing 

 how the money given for the service of 

 the preceding year has been disposed of, 

 and what part thereof remains unpaid. 

 If the ways and means have fallen short 

 of the sum they were expected to pro- 

 duce, the deficiency is made good as an 

 article among the next year's supplies. 



EXCHEQUER bills, bills or tickets issued 

 by the Exchequer, payable out of the 

 produce of a particular tax, or g-enerally 

 out of the supplies granted for the year, 

 and receivable in all payments to the ex- 

 chequer. The first bills of this kind 

 were issued in 1697, as a more conveni- 

 ent kind of security than the tallies and 

 orders for repayment then in use, and 

 were partly intended to supply the want 

 of money during the recoinage then un- 

 dertaken. With this view, many of them 

 were made out of small sums, as low as 101. 

 and 51. each ; and though they bore no in- 

 terest when first issued, upon being re-is- 

 sued, after having been paid into the Ex- 

 chequer upon any of the taxes, they car- 

 ried interest at 5d. a day percent, equal to 

 71. 12s. \d. percent, per annum. These 

 bills being regularly discharged, other 

 sums soon raised on similar securities, 

 and their credit becomiug established, 

 they have ever since been used for antici- 

 pating the produce of particular taxes, and 

 have almost constantly formed the prin- 

 cipal article of that part of the public 

 debt called the unfunded debt. Of late 

 years, the total amount of outstanding 

 Exchequer bills (exclusive of those 

 charged on specific branches of the re- 

 venue) has usually been about twelve 

 millions. The interest payable on them 

 has been at various rates, according to 

 the current rate of interest at the time 



they were issued ; those at present 

 (1808) in circulation bear interest at the 

 rate of 3^cl. a day per cent. They arc 

 frequently made out for 1001. each, but 

 those issued of late years have been 

 chiefly for 1000Z. each, and they have 

 sometimes been made for much larger 

 sums ; they are numbered arithmetically, 

 and registered accordingly, for the pur- 

 pose of payingthem offin regular course, 

 the time of which is notified by public 

 advertisement. 



The daily transactions between the 

 Bank and the Exchequer are chiefly car- 

 ried on by these bills, which are deposit- 

 ed by the Bank in the Exchequer, to the 

 amount of the sums received by them 

 on account of g-overnment ; the bank 

 notes and cash thus received by the. 

 Bank being retained by them, as the de- 

 tail part of the money concerns of go- 

 vernment is all transacted at the Bank. 

 The instalments on loans are paid into 

 the receipt of the Exchequer in Ex- 

 chequer bills, which are received again 

 by the Bank as cash, either for the 

 amount of dividends due, or in repay- 

 ment of advances. 



When these bills sell at a considerable 

 discount, or any other circumstance in- 

 dicates that the quantity of them in cir- 

 culation is too great, the usual expedient 

 is to fund a part of them ; that is, to con- 

 vert them into a permanent debt, by of- 

 fering the holders of them stock in lieu 

 of their bills; this was done in October 

 1796, in November 1801, and again in 

 March 1808. The total amount of Ex- 

 chequer bills outstanding on the 5th of 

 January 1807, including 3,000,000/. held 

 by the Bank, pursuant to an agreement 

 for the renewal of their charter, was 

 27,207, 100/. 



EXCHEQUER, black book of the, a book 

 containing a description of the court of 

 England in 1175, and its officers, witk 

 their ranks, wages, privileges, perqui- 

 sites, 8cc. also the revenues of the crown, 

 both in money and cattle. 



EXCISE duties, inland taxes on com- 

 modities of general consumption. This 

 mode of taxation, having been alvravs 

 found very productive, has been adopted 

 by all the European governments, and 

 by some of them has been extended 

 even to the necessaries of life ; but, in 

 general, the articles subjected to it have 

 been such as are not absolutely essential 

 to subsistence. Salt appears to have 

 been the object of an excise duty at a 

 very early peri.'d; in later times, oil, 

 wine, tobacco, and various other con- 



