101 
E X C 
charges oflevying, collecting, and managing, the excife 
duties, being confiderably lets in proportion than in other 
brandies of the revenue. It alfo renders the Commodity 
cheaper to the confumer than charging it with cuftoms 
to the fame amount would do. But at the fame time the 
rigour and arbitrary proceedings. of excife laws, feem 
hardly compatible with the temper of a free nation. For 
the frauds that might be committed in this branch of the 
revenue, unlefs a ftridl watch is kept, make it necelfary 
wherever it is eltablifhed, to give the officers a, power of 
entering and fearching the houfes of fuch as deal in ex- 
cifeable commodities, at any hour of the day ; and in 
many cafes, of the night likewife. And for the fame 
reafons, the proceedings in cafe of tranfgreffions are fum- 
mary and fudden, to the exclufion of the trial by jury. 
Its original eftabliffiment was in 1643, when it was intro¬ 
duced by the parliament then in rebellion againft Charles I. 
Its progrefs was gradual, being at fir ft laid upon thole 
perfons and commodities where it was fuppofed the hard- 
lhip would be leuft perceivable, viz. the makers and ven¬ 
ders of beer, ale, cider, and perry ; and was afterwards 
impofed on fuch a multitude of commodities that it might 
fairly be denominated general. Upon the reftoration of 
Charles II. it having then been long eftablifhed, and its 
produce well known, fonte part of it was given to the 
crown by way of purchufe for the feodal tenures and 
other oppreffive parts of the hereditary revenue. And 
notwithftanding the objections eternally railed,againft it, 
by the interested or the patriotic, it has from time to 
time been impofed on a vaft variety of articles. 
Brandies and other fpirits are now excifed at the diftil- 
lery : printed filks and linens at the printer’s ; ftarch and 
hair powder at the maker's; gold and filver wire at the 
wire-drawer’s ; plate in the hands of the vender, who 
pays yearly for a licence to fell it; lands and goods luld 
by auftion, for which a pound rate is payable by the 
auctioneer, who is alfo charged with an annual duty for 
his licence ; coaches and other wheel carriages, for 
which the occupier is excifed ; though not with the fame 
circumftances of arbitrary (triCtnefs, as in molt other in- 
ftances. To thefe we may add coffee and tea, chocolate 
and cocoa pafte, for which the duty is paid by the re¬ 
tailer ; all artificial (home-made) wines, commonly cal¬ 
led fweets ; paper and pafteboard, firft when made, and 
again if ftained or printed; malt; vinegars; and the 
manufacture of glafs, for all which the duty is paid by 
the manufacturer ; hops, for which the perfon that ga¬ 
thers them is anfwerabie ; candles and fuap, which are 
paid for at the maker’s ; malt liquors brewed for idle, 
which are excifed at the brewery ; cider and perry at the 
vender’s; and leather and fkins at the tanner’s; foreign 
wines, in the hands of the importer, merchant, or ccn- 
fignee ; coaches, on being built, at the coach-maker’s, 
who mult alfo have a licence ; tobacco and fnuff at the 
manufacturer’s ; and bricks and tiles at the kiln. 
It has been very judicioully obferved, that the grie¬ 
vances of the excife exift more, perhaps, in appreheniion 
than in reality. ACtions and proiecutions'againfl: officers, 
commiffioners, and jtiftices, for mifcondnCt in excife cafes, 
are very rarely heard of in courts of law. It is certainly 
an evil, that a fair dealer cannot have the benefit of any 
fecret improvement in the management of his trade or ma¬ 
nufactory ; yet it feems more than equivalent to the 
public at large, that by the furvey of the excife, the 
commodityis preferved from manyffiameful adulterations; 
as experience has fully proved lir.ee wine was made lubjeCt 
to the excife laws. The excife, like the cuftoms, is ne- 
ceflarily regulated by a multiplicity of ftatutes ; the 
abridgment of which would form no final 1 volume. 
One principal head office of excife is to be kept in 
London, or within ten miles thereof, to which all other 
offices in the kingdom ffiall be fubordinate and accounta¬ 
ble ; which faid office (hall be managed by fuch comvnif- 
lioners as the king ffiall appoint. And all the places 
within the bills of mortality ffiall be under the immediate 
Vol, VII. No. 411. 
I S E. 
care and management of the faid head-office; and fuch 
and fo many fubordinate commiffioners and fnb-commil- 
fioners, and other officers, ffiall be appointed by the king 
in other places, as he ffiall think fit. The excile-office 
in all places where it (hall be appointed, ffiall be kept 
open from eight in the morning, till two in the afternoon. 
23 Geo. II. c. 26. 
The commiffioners or fub-commilfioners fliall appoint 
under their hands and feals, fuch perfons as they (hall 
think needful in each market town, to be there upon every 
market day, in fome known and public place; for receiv¬ 
ing entries and duties, and performing all other things 
touching the revenue of excife : and if fuch office be not 
fo kept in each market town, the commiffioners or others 
neglefting or refufing, ffiall for every market day forfeit 
iol. And fuch perfon as (hall come to fuch market town 
to make his entry or payment, and tender the fame accord¬ 
ingly, and be able to prove fuch tender by oath of one 
witnefs, fliall not be liable to any penalty for fuch weekly 
or monthly entries or payments, as ftiould have been made 
or paid on fuch market day. 15 Car. II. c. 11. 
The kingdom of England and Wales (exclufive of the 
bills of mortality) is divided into about fifty colLeftions ; 
fome called by names of particular counties ; others by 
the names of great towns ; where one county is divided 
into feveral collections, or where a collection compre¬ 
hends the contiguous parts of feveral counties, every col¬ 
lection is fubdivided into feveral diftriCts, within which 
there is a fupervifor ; and each diftriCt is parcelled into 
out-rides and foot-walks, within each of which there is a 
gauger or furveying officer. The commiffioners or fub- 
commiflioners, in their refpeCtive circuits and divifions, 
fliall conliitute under their hands and feals, fuch and fo 
many gaugersas they ffiall find needful. 12 Car. II. c. 24. 
In order to which, he who would be made a gauger, mult 
procure a certificate, that he is above twenty-one, and 
under thirty years of age ; that lie underftands the four 
fiift rules of arithmetic ; that he is of the communion of 
the church of England ; how lie has been employed, or 
what bufinefs he hath followed; that he is not incum¬ 
bered with debts ; whether Angle or married ; and if 
married, how many children he has, for if he has above 
two, be cannot (by the rules of the office) be admitted. 
No perfon fliall be capable of intermeddling with any 
office relating to the excife, until he fliall, before two 
juftices in the county where his employment fliall be, or 
before a baron of the exchequer, take the oaths of alle¬ 
giance and fnpremacy, together with an oath of.office 
which is to be certified to and recorded by the next quar- 
ter-feffions. 12 Car. II. c. 24. 
The bufinefs of the fupervifor is to be continually fur¬ 
veying the houfes and places of the perfons within his 
diftriCl liable to duties; and to obferve and fee whether 
the officers duly make their furveys, and make due en¬ 
tries thereof in their hooks and in their fpecimen-papers ; 
and every fupervifor is in his own book to enter what he 
himfelf does each day and part thereof ; and alfo fet down 
the behaviour, good and bad, the diligence or negligence, 
of the feveral officers of his diftriCt : and at the end of 
every fix weeks to draw out a diary of every day’s bufi¬ 
nefs, and of the remarks made each day of the feveral 
officers in his diftriCt, and to tranfmit fuch diary at the 
end of every fix weeks to the chief office. Each commif- 
fioner takes and perufes a proportion of thefe diaries ; 
and when he meets with any remarkable conhplaint againft 
any officer, he communicates it to the reft, who there¬ 
upon come to an agreement, either to admonifli, repri¬ 
mand, reduce, or difeharge. For fmal! faults, officers 
are admoniftied ; for great ones, reprimanded ; for greater, 
reduced ; but for the greateft difeharged. Thefe diaries, 
after having been thus written upon, are delivered to the 
clerk of the diaries, who in a book, called the reprimand 
book, places the admonitions, reprimands, and the like, 
to each officer’s account, and writes eveiy offender word, 
thereof. Which reprimand book is reforted to upon dif, 
D cl covering 
