GREAT BRITAIN.

Continuation of the Proceedings and Debates of the last Seffion of Parliament.

N the 6th of March, the Lords having, according to Order, resolv'd themselves into a Committee of the whole House, upon the Bill for punishing Mutiny and Desertion, took into Confideration the

Number of Forces held up in the Kingdom; Debates ran higher than have been known in that House on the like Occafion, and a great Variety of Political Learning display'd in several Speeches on the important Subject: But fince the Question has been already discuss'd in ample Manner, by the honourable House of Commons, we shall confine ourselves to a bare Recital of Proceedings..

The Motion for a Reduction of the Number of reguJar Forces to 12000 Men, including Invalides, &c. was made by the Earl of O-d, who was seconded by the Earl of W fea; both handsomely expatiated on the dangerous Confequences of keeping up so great a Number of Forces in Time of Peace.

The principal Speakers were :

For a Reduction.

Against a Reduction.

Earl of Cd,

Marquess of Tle,

Duke of Nle,

Earl of Sd,

Duke of Ale,

Lord Bst,

Earl of I-a,

Lord C-t,

I

My Lords,

Earl of B-1.

Have often heard the present Argument debated in Parliament; I was one of those who were the Caufe of the Army's being reduced so low after the Peace of Ryswick, perhaps I repented of what I did at that Time, because of the Turn that the Affairs of Europe took foon after: But I am fully convinced, I never shall have Occafion to repent of being for the Reduction now proposed. For my Part, my Lords, I cannot but say, that the Question now before us, puts me in Mind of what happen'd to a Farm House of mine in the Country: The Wall of the House on one side had failed, and the House had funk a little; yet it might have stood for many Years, without any Neceffity of pulling it quite down in order to be rebuilt; for which Reason, I believe, I should have then contented myself with repairing it a little, and adding some Buttresses to that Wall which had fail'd; but some Workmen perfuaded me, that they could raise it up, and repair the Wall without pulling the House down, and I being prevail'd on, to work they went; but in planting Posts and other Engines to raise up that Side which had funk, I do not know how, whether by Design, or by the Unskilfulness of the Workmen, they raised the House so high on that Side, that they tumbled it quite over.

At last, the Question was put upon the Earl of O--d's Motion for the Instruction to the Committee, which upon a Division was carry'd in the Negative. And on the Thursday next, the Bill was paffed, whereupon the following Protest was enter'd, viz.

Die Jovis, 8vo Martii, 1732.

Hodie tertia vice lecta est Billa. Entitled, An Act for punishing Mutiny and Desertion, and for the better Payment of the Army and their Quar

ters.

After Debate,

The Question was put, Whether the Bill shall pass ?
It was refolved in the Affirmative.

Dissentient'

For the Reafons enter'd on the Journal last Seffion, against the Number of Men, then and now to be esta

blished,

!

blished, which Reasons we refer to, and think the Cir. cumftances of Time now, do by no means leffen the Force of them.

On the 8th of March, a Bill was brought in pursuant to the Resolutions of the House of Commons, taken in July laft, in Relation to the Affair of the Sugar Colony. Upon which, Sir John Barnard opened to the House a Petition of Richard Partridge, Agent for the Colony of Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations in America, against the faid Bill, and moved for Leave to bring it up, in which he was seconded by Mr. Alderman Perry, whereupon a Debate ensu'd, and after several Speeches made on both Sides, the Committee resolved that it was their Opinion, That the Act passed in the second Year of his present Majesty (entitled, An Act for laying a Duty npon Compound Waters or Spirits, and for licensing the Retailers thereof) had been a Difcouragement to the diftilling of Spirits from Corn in Great Britain, and therefore ought to be repealed that for the Encouragement of the Exportation of Spirits drawn from Corn in Great Britain, a Drawback or Allowance of 61. 8 s. per Ton, ought to be paid and allow'd on the Exportation thereof; and that the Duties payable upon Brandy and Spirits imported, except from his Majesty's Plantations in America, fhould from and after the 24th of June then next, cease and determine, and that in Lieu thereof there should be granted to his Majesty a Duty of five Shillings per Gallon, on all Brandy and Spirits imported from Foreign Ports, except such as shall be of the Growth and Manufacture of his Majesty's Plantations in America: Which Resolutions were on the 12th Day of March agreed to by the House, and a Bill order'd to be brought in, pursuant to them.

Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer having on Wednef day the 7th Day of March, mov'd, That the House might upon that Day Sev'n-night refolve itself into a Committee of the whole House, to confider of the most proper Methods for the better Security and Improvement of the Duties and Revenues already charged upon Kk 2 and and payable from Tobacco and Wines ; and the fame having been order'd accordingly, the House did upon Wed. nesday the 14th of March refolve itself into the faid Committee, according to the said Order, the many Accounts, Returns, and other Papers which the House had before call'd for, being first referred to the said Committee, and the Commissioners of the Customs and of the Excife being attending pursuant to an Order of the preceding Day.

The Debate was open'd by Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, with the Speech following.

SIR,

A

S I had the Honour to move for the House's refolving itself into this Committee, I think it incumbent upon me to open to you what was then intended to be proposed as the Subject of your Confideration. We are now in a Committee for confidering of the most proper Methods for the better Security and Improvement of the Duties and Revenues already charged upon, and payable from Tobacco and Wines: This can be done in no Way so proper or effectual, as that of preventing for the future those Frauds by which the publick Revenues have been so much injur'd in Times past. I know, that whoever attempts to remedy Frauds, attempts a Thing that must be very difagreeable to all those who have been guilty of them, or who expect a Benefit by fuch in Time to come. This, Sir, I am fully fenfible of, and from this have sprung all those Clamours which have been raised without Doors against what I am now to propose to you. The Smugglers, the fraudulent Dealers, and those who have for many Years been enriching themselves by cheating their Country, foresaw, that if the Scheme I am now to propose took Effect, their profitable Trade would be at an End; this gave them the Alarm, and from them I am perfuaded it is, that all those Clamours have originally proceeded.

In this 'tis certain, they have been most strenuously aflifted and supported by another Set of People, who, from Motives much worse, and of much more dangerous Consequence to their Country, are fond of improving every Opportunity that offers for stirring up the People of Great Britain to Mutiny and Sedition. But, Sir, notwithstanding all the Clamours that fuch wicked and deceitful Men have been able to raise, as the Scheme

:

I have to propose will be a great Improvement to the publick Revenue, an Improvement of 2 or 300,0001. per Ann. and perhaps more, and as it will likewise be of great Advantage to the fair Trader, I thought it my Duty, not only as being in the Station I am in, but alfo as being a Member of this House, to lay it before you; for no fuch Clamours shall ever deter me from doing what I think is my Duty, or from propofing any Thing that I am convinced will be of fuch signal Benefit to the Revenue, and to the Trade of my Country.

It has been most industriously spread abroad, that the Scheme I am now to propose, was a Scheme for a general Excise; but I do aver that no fuch Scheme ever enter'd into my Head, nor, for what I know, into the Head of any Man I am acquainted with: My Thoughts were always confined solely to those two Branches of the Revenue arising from the Duties on Wine and Tobacco, and it was the frequent and repeated Advices I had of the notorious Frauds committed in these two Branches of the Revenue, and the Clamours even of some of the Merchants themselves, that made meturn my Thoughts particularly towards confidering those two Branches, in order to find out, if possible, some Remedy for the growing Evil; what I am now going to propose will, I believe, if agreed to, be an effectual Remedy; but if I now fail in what I am to propose, it will be the last Attempt of this Kind that I shall ever make, I believe it will be the last that will ever be made, either by me, or by any that shall succeed me in the Station I am now in.

At present, I shall lay before you only the Cafe as it now stands with Respect to the Tobacco Trade, and the Revenue arifing therefrom; and here it will be necessary first to confider the Condition of our Planters of Tobacco in America; if we can believe them, if we can give any Credit to what they themselves say, we must conclude that they are reduced almost to the last Extremity, they are reduced even almost to a State of Despair, by the many Frauds that have been committed in that Trade, by the heavy Duties which the Importers of Tobacco are obliged to pay upon Importation, and by the ill Ufage they have met with from their Fators and Correspondents here in England, who from being their Servants, are now become their Lords and Masters. These poor People have sent home many Representations of the bad State of their Affairs, and have lately