Page images
PDF
EPUB

:

which he estimated the surplus of the consolidated fund, at that amount and they would view with pleasure the increased resources of the country. It might also be proper that he should show the grounds on which he intended to propose on a future day a grant of 22,000,000l. out of the growing produce of the war taxes. He should not call upon them to come to this vote that night, as it was more consistent with the forms of Parliament, that some portion of the ways and means of the year should be reserved for a time to meet any future grants which might yet be made in the course of the session.He, however, considered himself justified in taking the war taxes at 22,000,000l.; the lottery he took at 250,000l.; old naval stores at 508,000l.; the vote of credit he had stated at 6,000,000l.; the exchequer bills funded, and the loan in the five per cents. would give 18,185,000l. The second loan 27,000,000l. These were the ways and means by which he proposed to meet the charge of the year, immense as it was. The total amount of them was 79,893,500l. This sum fell a little short of the supplies; but upon the whole he expected the ways and means which he had enumerated would prove sufficient. It was his peculiar duty this day to state the terms on which the loan had been contracted for the service of the public. It had been the object of the treasury to diffuse the loans called for, over different species of stock, in order to divide the burthen, to remove all inconveniencies to the public creditor, and to provide for the exi

gency on the easiest terms. This would be seen by adverting to their former proceedings in the course of the session. It had been proposed to fund 18,000,000l. of exchequer-bills. This, in the first instance, they had not been able to effect; but subsequently on a loan in the 5 per cents, subscribers had gone beyond the 18,000,000l. by a sum of 135,000l. The sum, therefore, of 18,135,000l. was thus placed in the ways and means. The committee were aware, that by the loan that day, no less a sum than 27,000,000l. for England was to be raised; and as the 5 per cents. were sufficiently burthened, it became necessary that this should principally fall on the 3 and the 4 per cent. stocks. was originally proposed that a larger sum should be taken in the 4 per cents.; but on the subscribers objecting to this, 10l. per cent. only had been given out of that stock; 130l. had been taken from the 3 per cent, reduced, and the remaining part of the 100l. was to be by a bidding in the 3 per cent. consols.It had happened singularly enough,

It

as it had once on a former occasion, about 18 months ago, "that the sum offered by the subscribers, was exactly the minimum of what the treasury had resolved to accept." This was a circumstance so far satisfactory, as it went to show that both parties met on fair and honourable terms, and arrived at the same point from reasoning in different ways. What further proved the correctness of the view which had been taken of the case was, that four different calculations had been made by four different persons, and all had con

eurred

curred in naming 441. in the 3 per cent. consols, as that which ought to be the bidding. The bonus which the subscribers had was to be estimated in this manner :

The 1301. given in the

3 per cent. reduced,

at 54}, were worth £71 0 3 The 10%. in the 4 per

cent. at 69

The 441. in the 3 per

6 19 9

instalments were so considerable, there was less probability of payments in advance than when a smaller loan was called for. On this account he thought that not more than half the discount, at the utmost, could be estimated as a bonus to the contractors, which would reduce their advantage to no more than 31. 2s per cent.The bargain therefore was not unreasonably favourable to them,

cent. consols, at 54 23 152 and there was reason to rejoice

Total - - £101 15 2

The consols being shut, there was no money price to them, and the times price was something more than the money price of that stock. The times price was 554; but from this one and a half per cent. was to be deducted, on account of the dividend to arise from the half year which was about to expire; as no dividend would be paid to the subscribers to the loan on that stock till January next. This, therefore, reduced the value of the 3 per cent. consols, to 54l. which made the total sum given to the subscribers what he had before stated-1017. 15s. 24d.; to which, adding the sum which would be allowed them in case of prompt payment, made an addition of 21. 13s. 72d. and the total 1041. 8s. 10 d., including the whole of the discount allowed to any who might pay the entire amount of their subscriptions at once. But it was obvious, the loan being on so large a scale, it would not be fair to expect that so many could do this as had so come forward on former occasions, and that when the monthly

that such a loan could be obtained at a period like the present on such terms. He would now proceed to explain the grounds on which he took the surplus of the consolidated fund at three milli

ons.

The actual surplus of that fund in the year ending 5th of April 1915, after deducting all charges, had been 3,647,000l., and would therefore have justified an estimate to the same extent for the current year, supposing the revenue to remain equally productive, and the additional charges to be covered by the provision made by parliament for meeting them. As however there remained the sum of 284,000l. granted for the service of the former year still due on the 5th of April, the sum which would remain for the service of the current year would be no more than 3,363,000l. In another mode of estimate, the result would be still more favourable. The amount of taxes applicable to the consoldated fund of Great Britain in the year ending 5th of April, 1815, was 38,702,000l.

Adding the War Taxes

appropriated to the
Consolidated Fund

2,706,000 There

[blocks in formation]

284,000

ing the permanent charges of Great Britain existing on 5th of April 1815, amounting to - - 37,589,000 There would remain 3,820,000 From which again deducting the sumdue on the former grant of . There would remain applicable to the service of the year 3,536,000 He should therefore have thought himself justified in proposing a grant on account of this surplus to the extent of 3,500,000l. But as no inconvenience would arise from its being estimated too low, and some had been experienced from an error of an opposite nature, he thought the safer course was to take it at 3,000,000l.With respect to the war-taxes, he should at a future day propose a vote highly satisfactory, from the view which it gave of the increasing means of the country. The amount of the war-taxes, taking them at what they were last year, and adding the arrears of the property tax remaining to be collected, would furnish 32,925,4541. From this deducting

the sum remaining
to complete the
grant of war-taxes

for 1814 - - £8,005,887 And the war taxes pledged for interest of debt

There would remain

2,706,000

£10,711,887

to be granted for

the service of the

year £22,213,567 On the credit of this he should consider himself fully justified in moving on a future day a grant of 22,000,000l. It was worth while to look back to the increase which had taken place in the produce of of the permanent war taxes since the last considerable addition was made to them. The committee were aware that no new taxes had been proposed since the year 1813. In the year ending April 5, 1813, their total produce was somewhat less than 60,000,000l. In the year ending April 5, 1815, they amounted to 65,804,000l. thus giving an increase of five millions and a half. Undoubtedly it must be admitted, that the year ending April 5, 1813, had been less productive than some which had preceded it; but making every reasonable allowance for this circumstance, the increase had been great beyond all former example. now came to state the amount of the charge on the country, by the loans for the present year, and the way in which it was proposed to meet them. The total amount of the capital created by the exchequer bills funded, and the loan in the five per eents, amounted to 21,208,000l, 5 per cent. stock; the interest of this to 1,060,0001. the sinking fund to 331,0002., with the usual charge for management. The loan obtained that day created a capital of 49,680,0001. the interest of which would be 1,517,000l.; the sinking fund would amount to 758,700l. to which would be added the charge for management. The total amount

He

of

of the capital created in the present year by funding, was 70,888,000l. The interest on this was2,577,000l. the sinking fund 1,090,000l.; the total annual charge to the country 3,689,000l. The rate per cent. at which the whole of the sum raised in the present year had been obtained was, to the subscribers (including the sinking fund), 57. 14s. 2d. The total charge to the country was, every thing included, 81. 3s. 54d. He wished to show what had been the impression made on the stocks by the financial operations of the present year, and to compare them with that which had formerly been produced by those measures rendered necessary to prosecute the late war. In 1795, a loan was obtained at 47. 14s. per cent. In that and the following year 137 millions were added to the national debt, and the effect of this on the stocks was such, that for a loan borrowed at the beginning of 1797, the public were compelled to pay 61. 78. per cent. being an increase of interest, and consequently a depression of public credit of 33s. per cent. on the amount of the loan, and of 35 per cent. on the interest paid in the former year. Now, since the year 1813 the public debt had been increased one hundred and eighty-seven millions, and the effect was this: -in that year we paid 5l. 8s. to the subscribers: we this year paid 51.148. 2d. on the whole amount borrowed. So that with this immense addition to our debt, no greater depression on public credit was observable than 6s. 2d. per cent. on the loan, and about 5 per cent. on the former interest. This might be considered to

result from an astonishing increase of public credit since the period to which he had referred, or to the improved situation of the country. And which ever way it was viewed, the effect was equally gratifying. To provide for the annual charge of 3,689,000l., the House had already supplied by taxes of customs and excise on tobacco, and on excise licences, about 600,000l., and there were now under the consideration of the House additions to the stamps and postage to the amount of about 1,200,000l. more, making in the whole a provision by new taxes of about 1,800,000l. Thus it would be seen about half the necessary supplies were provided by taxes now agreed to, or in progress through the House. For the remainder, he proposed to take a sum of from 1,800,000l. to 1,900,000l. out of the sums in the hands of the commissioners for liquidating the national debt, as he was authorized to do by the Act of 1813. The sum in their hands was at present about 70,000,000l., and he proposed to cancel so much of that as would suffice to meet the remainder of the charge created by the loan.He wished it to be borne in mind, as a consideration of no small importance, that a large proportion of the immense sum called for must have been supported by the country as arrears of the late war, had not the recent events again placed us in a state of hostility to France. On the most moderate calculation, no less than twentyone millions would have been sufficient. Of this 12,000,000l. were for the arrears of the army extraordinaries: for the payment

of the naval debt, 2,000,000l. then been 51.7s. the ounce, had more; for bills of credit and ar- been reduced to 5l. 5s. and the rears of subsidies, 3,000,000l.; price of dollars had sunk within for the commissariat department in the same period to 6s. 3d. per Portugal, not less than 2,500,000l. ounce. He stated this to show -These sums together made that we had been enabled, not 195,100,000l. The 2,000,000l. only to meet, but in part to surfor the army extraordinaries, mount the difficulties of our siwhich he had mentioned, were tuation. Returning from this for the former year, though in- digression, he observed, that he cluded in the grant for the pre- had brought up his statement of sent. The payment of the sum the charges which the country which continued due on account must have borne, if a new of the commissariat in Portugal war had not broken out, to beyond what had been already 19,500,000. One million more discharged, had been suspended was to be added as the balance due during the war. The parties in- to the achievements of our brave terested had acquiesced cheerfully army, for the capture of stores.— in the arrangement made, and Five hundred thousand pounds of consented to receive the interest, the sum called for in the present without complaining that the prin- session would also have been cipal would not be paid. This necessary in aid of the civil was satisfactory, as it showed that list. Thus this made up the the monied men of the country 21,000,000l. he had mentioned, (for the greater number of the which were to be provided for in the ereditors were British merchants) present year, which did not arise had the interest of the nation more from the renewal of war, and at heart than their own private must have been borne had no profit. They had made a consi- such event taken place. He was derable sacrifice, as the state of aware it would be asked, if the the exchange would have given war should continue, how would them a great advantage, which such expenses be met in a future must be wholly lost to them by year? He would not say that this arrangement; which how there would be no difficulties to ever would prove beneficial to the contend with, but it was not propublic service, and from its effect bable that those difficulties would upon the exchange greatly pro- be of equal magnitude with those mote economy in those depart- surmounted in the present year. ments in which our service had. He could hardly think it possible hitherto been conducted abroad at an immense expense; and thus our operations would be carried on with new vigour. The committee must see with pleasure, that even under the pressure of present envmstances, the previous metals had been reduced in price since last April. Gold, which had

that this country would be engaged in an extensive naval war, while making such exertions as she was now displaying on the Continent. Either the attention of France would be so much directed to the confederated armies, that she would not be able to make any great effort with

her

« PreviousContinue »