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without being at the trouble to attend for having his bonds cancelled, or for taking out debentures for the drawbacks; all which, I conceive, must be a great ease to the fair trader; and to every fuch trader the preventing of frauds must be a great advantage; because it will put all the tobacco traders in Britain upon the fame footing: which is but juft and equal, and what ought certainly to be accomplished, if it be poffible.

Now, in order to make this eafe effectual to the fair trader, and to contribute to his advantage, by preventing as much as poffible any frauds in time to come, I propofe, as I have said, to join the Laws of Excife to thofe of the Cuftoms, and to leave the one penny, or rather three farthings per pound, called the farther fubfidy, to be ftill charged at the Custom-house, upon the importation of any tobacco; which three farthings shall be payable to his Majefty's Civil Lift as heretofore: and I propofe, that all tobacco for the future, after being weighed at the Custom-house, and charged with the faid three farthings per pound, fhall be lodged in a warehoufe or warehouses, to be appointed by the Commiffioners of Excife for that purpose; of which warehouse the Merchant importer fhall have one lock and key, and the warehouse-keeper to be appointed by the faid Commiffioners fhall have another; in order that the tobacco may lie fafe in that warehoufe, till the Merchant finds a market for it, either for exportation or for home-confumption: thus, if his market be for exportation, he may apply to his warehoufe-keeper, and take out as much for that purpose as he has occafion for; which, when weighed at the Custom-house, shall be discharged of three farthings per pound, with which it was charged upon importation; so that the Merchant may then export it without any further trouble: but if his market be for home-confumption, that he fhall then pay the three farthings charged upon it at the Cuftom-houfe upon importation; and that then, upon calling his warehouse-keeper, he may deliver it to the buyer, on paying an inland-duty of 4d. per pound weight, to the proper officer appointed to receive the fame.

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And whereas all the penalties and forfeitures to become due, by the laws now in being, for regulating the collecting of the duties on tobacco, or at least all that part of them which is not given to the informers, now belonging to the Crown; I propose that all fuch penalties and forfeitures, so far as they formerly belonged to the Crown, fhall for the future belong to the public, and be applicable to the fame uses to which the faid duties fhall be made applicable by Parliament: and for that purpose, I have his Majefty's commands to acquaint this House, that he, out of his great regard for the public good, with pleafure consents that they fhall be fo applied: which is a condefcenfion in his Majefty, that I hope every Gentleman in this Houfe is fully fenfible of, and will fully acknowledge.

I know there has been an objection made; I expect to hear it again made in this House, against what I now propose. The objection is this; that a great many of his Majesty's subjects will be liable to be tried in a multitude of cafes, by the Commiffioners of Excife, from whom there is no appeal, but to Commiffioners of Appeal, or to Juftices of the Peace in the country, all named by the King, and removeable at pleasure ; from whom the appellants cannot expect to meet with justice or redrefs. I am far from thinking there is any ground for this complaint; I am far from thinking that any man ever had juft reafon to fay that he was wronged, or unjustly dealt with, either by the Commiffioners of Appeal, or by the Justices of Peace at their quarter-feffions: but, in order to obviate any objection of this nature, I propose that all appeals in this case, as well as in all other cafes relating to the Excife, fhall for the future be heard and determined by two or three of the Judges, to be named by his Majefty, out of the twelve Judges belonging to Westminster-hall; and that in the country, all appeals, from the first fentence of his Majefty's Juftices of Peace, shall be to the Judge of Affize upon the next circuit which shall come into that county; who fhall in all cafes proceed to hear and determine fuch appeals in the most summary way, without

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formality of proceedings in courts of law or equity. From fuch Judges, and from such a manner of proceeding, every man muft expect to meet with the utmost dispatch, and with the most impartial juftice: and therefore I must think, that what I now propofe can be no inconvenience to thofe,' who may thereby be fubjected to the Laws of Excife; but that if there was formerly any ground of complaint, it may be a great relief to those who are already fubjected to fuch laws.

This is the scheme which has been reprefented in fuch a dreadful and terrible light: this is the monfter, that manyheaded monfter, which was to devour the people, and to commit fuch ravages over the whole nation: how justly it has been represented in such a light, I shall leave to this Committee, and to the whole world without doors to judge; I have said, I will fay it again, that whatever apprehenfions and terrors people may have been brought under, from falfe and malicious representations of what they neither did nor could poffibly know or understand, I am firmly perfuaded, when they do come to know and fully to understand the scheme which I have now had the honour to open to you, they will view it in another light; and that if it has the good fortune to be approved of by Parliament, and comes to take effect, the people will foon feel the happy confequences thereof; and when they feel those good effects, they will no longer think those people their friends who have fo grofly imposed on their understanding.

I look upon it as a moft innocent scheme; I am convinced it can be hurtful to none but fmugglers and unfair traders; I am certain it will be of great benefit and advantage to the public revenue; and if I had thought otherwise of it, I never would have ventured to have proposed it in this place: therefore I fhall now beg leave to move that it may be refolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that the fubfidy and additional duty upon tobacco, of the British Plantations, granted by an Act of the 12th of King Charles IId, and the impoft thereon, granted by an Act of the first of King James IId,

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and alfo the one-third fubfidy thereon, granted by an Act of the fecond of Queen Anne, amounting in the whole to 5 d. per pound, for feveral terms of years in the faid respective Acts mentioned, and which have fince been continued and made perpetual, fubject to redemption by Parliament, fhall from and after the 24th day of June, 1733, ceafe and determine.

Sir Robert Walpole, March 14, 1733.

WHEN I first heard of this fcheme I was in the country, and there I must fay, that it had been reprefented in such a light, as created a general diflike to it, and raised great apprehenfions in the minds of moft people. It was represented as a scheme for introducing a general Excife; such a scheme I own I would not allow myfelf to think was contrived or approved of by any Gentleman in Administration. I did imagine that all thofe in the Administration were very well convinced, that a general Excife was what the People of England would never quietly fubmit to; and therefore did not believe, that any of them ever would countenance a scheme which had the least tendency that way. But now after having heard it opened, and fully explained by the Honourable Gentleman (Sir Robert Walpole) on the floor, I cannot but think that it is a wide ftep towards eftablishing a general Excife, and therefore I must be excufed affenting to it.

How far it relates to trade, with which it certainly has a very clofe connection, I fhall leave to be explained by others more converfant in thofe affairs; nor will I take upon me to fay how far it may be a remedy for the frauds mentioned hy the Honourable Gentleman; but there is another concern which I always all, while I have the honour to fit in this House, have a particular eye to, and that is, the Liberty of my Country. The danger with which this fcheme feems to threaten many of my fellow-fubjects, is alone of fufficient force to make me give my negative to the Queftion. Let Gentlemen but reflect, let them but caft their eyes back on the feveral laws that have been made fince

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fince the Revolution, they will there find, that there has been already more power vefted in the Crown, than may be thought altogether confiftent with the Conftitution of a free Country; and therefore I hope this Houfe will never think of adding to that power, which there may be fome ground to fufpect is already too far extended.

The Laws of Excife have always been looked upon as moft grievous to the fubject. All those already subjected to fuch Laws, are, in my opinion, fo far deprived of their Liberty; and fince by this fcheme, a great many more of his Majesty's faithful fubjects are to be subjected to those arbitrary Laws, let the advantages accruing to the public be ever fo great or many, they will be purchased at too dear a rate, if they are purchased at the expence of the Liberty of the meaneft of his Majefty's fubjects; for even the meanest man in the nation, has as natural and good a right to his Liberty, as the greatest man in this, or any other kingdom.

Let us but take a view of the neighbouring nations in Europe; they were all once free; the people of every one of them had once as many Liberties and Privileges to boaft of as we have now; but at prefent they are most of them reduced to a ftate of Slavery; they have no Liberty, no Property, no Law, nor any thing they can depend on. Let us examine their histories, let us enquire into the methods by which they are deprived of their Liberties, and we fhall find a very near refemblance to the fchemes now propofed to us. Almoft in every country in the world, the Liberties of the People have been destroyed, under pretence of preferving or refcuing the People from fome great evil, to which it was pretended they were expofed. This is the very cafe now before us; in order to enable the Crown to prevent fome little frauds, pretended to have been committed in the ancient method of collecting the public revenue, it is propofed to us to put fuch a power in the hands of the Crown, as may enable fome future Prince to enflave the whole nation. This is really the light in which this VOL. I.

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