1802,} 
when Lord North, in 1786, impofed a 
duty on beer, and an additional duty of 
2d. per barrel on ftrong beer, fubject this 
year.to a drawback of 6s. So that on the 
whole, the duty per barrel on beer this 
year is 5s. 5d. and hereafter 5s. 11d.— 
This tax he eftimated at two millions. 
2. An addition to the affefled taxes. He 
would propofe that the exifting affeffed 
taxes fhould be repealed, and that they 
fhould be modified and increafed fo as to 
produce an augmentation of nearly one 
third. There were three clafles, however, 
to which he would propofe to make no 
additios.—Thefe were  itage-coaches, 
taxed-carts, and horfes ufed in hufbandry, 
where the farmer does not keep more than 
two. He propofed, likewife, that a tax 
fhould be impofed on clerks or fhopmen, 
in certain cafes. It is known that fre- 
quently perfons of this defcription perform. 
the bufinefs of fervants, thus enabling 
thofe with whom they live to evade the 
duty on fervants. He fhould move then, 
that the mafter fhall be taxed ros. each 
for every one of them. This, together 
with the other additions to the affeffed 
taxes, he fated at 1,000,000]. The third 
and laft article was a tex on imports and 
exports, being a modification of the con- 
voy-tax. Initead of the prefent mode of 
sluty ad valorem, he propofed that a {che- 
dule of s00 articles fhould be drawn up, 
with a ftatement of the duty to which each 
article fhould be fubjeét. From this he 
expected to draw a tax of 1,000,000. 
_ making in the whole 4,000,000l. of new 
taxes. The Chancellor of the Exchequer 
alfo ftated, that it was his intention fhortly 
to lay before the Houfe calculations as to the 
Sinking Fund, and a plan by which, in 
forty-five years, the National Debt might 
be completely paid off. At prefent there 
was every profpeéct of a long and lafting 
peace, which would enable the country to 
make fuitable exertions. 
On the 12th of April, in the Houfe of 
Commons, came on the Impeachment of 
the late Minifters. Sir Francis Burdett 
Jones faid, the time was now arrived when 
the Houfe was fully competent to form a 
jot eftimate of the conduct of Minilters 
during the war, and when there no longer 
exifted thofe objections which had here- 
tofore been always made, of premature 
interference with the Executive Govern- 
ment. Now was the time for thefe men 
to account for the oceans of blood they 
had fhed, and the millions of treafure 
they had fguandered in-a bloody and 
fruitlefs conteft. Their conduét in p'ung- 
ing the country into. an unjuft and un- 
neceflary war, was beft feen in the relult 
State of Public Affairs in April, 1802; 
5387 
of that war; in which, notwithftanding 
all the boafted triumphs, Minitters had at- 
tained no one purpofe-for which they 
fought. But if they. were unfuccefsful 
againt foreign enemies, they had tri- 
umphed over the laws and conttitution of 
the country. Year after year they had 
wantonly fufpended the Habeas Corpus 
A&, and thus armed, iflued general war- 
rants, arrefted indifcriminately, and {uch 
perfons as they could not, by threats and 
promifes, induce to become their tools, 
they immured in the prifon of Coldbath- 
fields.—[We lament that we are wot able 
to make room for ihe whole of this match~ 
lefs Speech, but as it has been printed fe- 
parately, andvalfo in the’ Parliamentary 
Regijiers, pofterity will be at no lofs to con- 
fult it.) —Mr. Sturt feconded theMotion— | 
Earl Temple oppofed it.—Lord Belgrave, 
after a fpeech of fome length againft the 
Motion; moved the Thanks of the Houfe 
to the late Minifters for their great fervices 
during the war, But upon the recommen- 
dation of the Speaker he withdrew his 
Motion. - The Houfe then divided—for 
the original Motion 39, againft it 240. 
The Secretary at War, on the 14th of 
April, brought forward his plan with re- 
{pect to the Militia. The objects of it 
are the confolidation of the exilting laws, 
the augmentation of the prefent number 
of militia, and the amendment of ex- 
ifting regulations. The confolidation of 
all the aéts that have been paffed with re- 
f{peét to the militia is a meafure of which 
every one will approve. With refpeét to 
the augmentation of the militia, it is pro- 
pofed that the whole militia force fhall be 
increafed to 70,000 men—6o0,000 to be 
furnifhed by Engiand, and 10 or 12,000 by 
Scotland. But the Secretary’s plan is, 
that inftead of 60,000, only 49,000 fhould, 
in the firft inftance, be raifed, and thar 
his Majefty fhould have the power, by’ 
proclamation, of calling for the fervices 
of the remaining 20,000, when the fitua- 
tion of the country fhould appear to render 
their fervices /neceffary. In Scotland, 
9000 might in the firft inflance’ be raifed, 
leaving from 3000 to 4000 to be raifed on 
any emergency which might occur. In 
the training and exercifes it is propofed, 
that iuftead of two thirds being exércifed 
for 28 days, the whole 40,000 fhall be 
exercifed 21 days. The amendments in 
the regulations refer to the qualifications 
of the officers, to the quota to be fur- 
nifhed by the counties, to the mode of 
exercife and training, to the inrolment, 
to their organization, to the forming of 
the regimeotal ftaff, and to the embody- 
ing of the forces when raifed. : 
-Te 
