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ferve as officers in the fupplementary militia, but was thrown out by the house of lords upon the fecond reading, on the 11th of July.

On that day lord Kenyon rofe and wished their lordships not to pafs a bill which tended in a great measure to alter the common laws of the land, and trench upon the teft at he moved, that the bill fhould be read that day three months.

The bishop of Rochefter contended for the motion, and expreffed his furprize that a bill should be introduced during the dog-days which affected the bulwarks of the conftitution, and which the experience of above one hundred years

had proved to be ferviceable to guard against the defigns of the various fectaries and diffenters from the established church of England,

The duke of Norfolk fpoke in favour of the bill; but, upon a divifion of the houfe, it was rejected by 23 against 6.

On the 2d of June a bill was introduced into the house of commons by Mr. fecretary Dundas, for raifing and embodying a militia in Scotland, which was foon afterwards paffed into a law; a law which was found afterwards by the magiftrates to be exceedingly obnoxious to the people of Scotland, and which they were compelled to enforce by the musket and bayonet.

CHAP. II.

The Financial Proceedings of the Seffion. Army and Navy Eftimates. Debates upon thefe Subjects. Sums voted. Extraordinaries of the Army. The first Budget. Supplies, and Ways and Means. LOYALTY LOAN. The Sums for which Interest was to be provided. New Taxes. Money fent to the Emperor. Debates upon that Subject. Declared to be unconftiThe Members for tutional when fent without the Confent of Parliament. the City of London inftructed by their Conflituents to oppose the Minifter upon this Subject. A Vote of Cenjure propofed and negatived. Account of the fecond Budget. Supplies, and Ways and Means, according to the twa Budgets, for the Year 1797. Terms of the fecond Loan of Eighteen Millions. Summary of the New Taxes. Debates upon the fecond Budget. Subftitutes for fome propofed Taxes. Sums propofed to be fent to Ireland and to the Emperor. Debates upon that Subject. The Houfe informed that no further Sums were to be fent to the Emperor on account of the Preliminaries of Peace, &c. Loan Bill read a fecond Time in the House of Lords. Portion given with the Princess Royal. Relief propofed to the Subfcribers, to the LOYALTY LOAN. Navy and Exchequer Bills. India Budget.

A

FTER providing for the defence of the nation, the fubject which of neceffity next occupied the attention of minifters was the raifing of the fupplies.

On the 21st of October, 1796, the army eftimates were, upon the

motion of the fecretary at war, referred to the house of commons in a committee of fupply. The honourable fecretary obferved, that the papers on the table contained all that was neceffary to enable the committee to judge of the army

expences

expences for this year. He obferved, that as it would be recol. lected that a diminution in the number of troops on the efiablishments, a houfe of commons ought ment had taken place laft year, from which a faving of 800,oool. arofe, it would not be expected that any confiderable diminution would take place in the amount of the prefent estimates.

ftated for thefe troops at 5 millions. and upwards. Confidering the dif proportion between thefe state

The whole force of this country, confifting of the common diftribution of guards and garrifons,, and colonies and plantations, amounted to 195,674 men, the expence of which would amount to 5,190,000l. fo that it would appear that the expence of this year would not exced that of the laft, but, on the contrary, would fall fhort of it by the fum of 168,4261. The home army, and the army abroad, were to be understood by the general divifion of guards and garrifons, -colonies and plantations. The army at home amounted to 60,765 men, from which arofe an excefs, above laft year, of 11,546 men. The army abroad, excepting thofe in the Eaft Indies, which came under a feparate defcription, amounted to 64,276 men; of course there was a diminution of about 13,641 men on this head fince last year, which upon the whole force was but a trifling diminution. There was a fmall augmentation of the invalids, from the circumftance of calling upon, and drafting the out-penfioners who were capable of ferving. He then proceeded to move his firft refolution "That there be employed for the land fervice of this year the number of 195,000 men.

General Tarleton faid, he had expected that the honourable fecretary at war would have gone more into detail. Laft year the troops in pay amounted to 119,000. The expences of the prefent year were

to be watchful over the acts of minifters, but efpecially a new parliament. He fhould add the result of the articles omitted, amounting to 580,000l. to the fum of the estimates of this year, arifing from the articles on the table. He was happy to find, that, at a period when fears of an invafion were entertained, we had fuch a force as 60,000 men at home, and that the army in the colonies amounted to fo large a body. He thought the article of 360,000l. ftated as the charge for the recruiting fervice, was fuperfluous, when minifters, upon the alarm of invafion which they held out, were to abandon the old mode of raising men by beat of drum, and to have recourfe to the mode of requifition for the troops which were to be raif.d. He spoke of the militia with the highest respect, but thought that the cuftom which had been adopted by the officers of each corps employing a man as their fervant, and engaging of batmen in menial capacities, were obstructions to his majefty's fervice, and ought to be abolished. He contended, that if the extraordinaries, fach as barracks, &c. were added, the whole expence of the army this year would not fall fhort of that of last year, which amounted to as much as the whole revenue of this country-did in the year previous to the war. This was a fact which ought to be attended to, efpecially by a new parliament. If the army coft so much, how were the other expences to be paid. With these facts before them, furely the reprefentatives of the people ought to abandon the idea of raising such an additional force as 103,000 men, with

out

out the existence of any danger being even remotely proved. General Tarleton then made fome obfervations relative to the achievements, mentioned in his majesty's fpeech, by our troops in different parts of the world. Confidering the expence with which the armament for the Weft Indies had been attended, and alfo the prefent ftate of our islands there, he faw no great cause for exultation; we had rather borrowed from our allies than conquered from the enemy.

Mr. Fox having made fome remarks relative to the treaty with the Maroons, Mr. Bryan Edwards rofe, and gave to the houfe an hiftorical account of the late war between thofe people and the inhabitants of Jamaica. The Maroon negroes, he faid, were defcendants of the Spanish negroes, who, when the ifland

furrendered to the English in 1655, took to the woods. In the account which general Venables tranfmitted to government of thefe people, they were reprefented as wild and lawless favages, who had no moral fenfe; on whom neither perfuafions nor gentleness could make any impreffion, and with whom it was impoffible to come to any treaty. They were therefore left in poffeffion of the interior country, and continued mafters of it for near a century, murdering, without mercy, all fuch white perfons as attempted to make any fettlements near them.

He then entered into a history of the late war with thefe people, nearly as it was ftated in our preceding volume.

After this digreffion, the house voted the following fums:

For the charge of 60,765 effective men for guards? and garrrifons

For forces in the plantations, &c.

For difference between British and Irish pay of

forces for fervice abroad

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For charge of embodied militia and fencible infantry 950,441

For clothing for ditto

94,195

14

3

210,000

112,811

397,734 95,000

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The house being refumed, the report was ordered to be received on the Monday following. On that day the report was brought up accordingly, and agreed to.

On the 20 of December the house refolved itself into a committee of fupply, when the fecretary at war obferved, that the estimates upon the table were fo much matter of courfe, and fo little different from

thofe of last year, that he did not conceive it was neceffary for him to fay more than to move the different refolutions meant to be founded upon them. The firft of which was, that the sum of 70,000l. be granted for horses' furniture, &c. for the year 1797.

General Tarleton faid, that, when the army eftimates were first brought forward, he had remarked that the

articles

articles which had been omitted would amount to 580,000l. but, in juftice to his own moderation in that ftatement, he was bound now

to obferve, that they amounted to 707,000l.

The whole fums granted this day were as follows:

£. s. d.

For horfes' furniture and clothing for the augmentation 70,000

For allowance to reduced American officers

Upon account of ditto

For Scotch roads -

For allowance to reduced horfe-guards

For reduced officers of land forces and marines

For increased rates of fubfiftence for quartering foldiers
For full pay to fupernumerary officers

For officers late in the fervice of the States-General

7,500 52,500

4500

125 3

118,874 16 180,000 136,675

1000

For allowance to paymaster-general, fecretary at 136,779 17

war, &c.

For ordinary of the navy

For building and re-building fhips of war

For ordnance land fervice not provided for in 1795
For ordnance fea fervice not provided in 1795

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768,100 O

114,553 19 9 74,830 0 3 425,366 10

For ordnance land fervice not provided for in 1796
For the civil establishment of the province of Upper
Canada

10

6

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7000

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For the civil establishment of the island of St. John in America

1,900

For the civil eftablishment of Cape Breton

For ditto of the Bahama islands

0 0

For ditto of Newfoundland

For ditto of New South Wales

For the falary of the chief justice of Bermudas
For ditto of Dominica

In order to give our readers the whole of this fubject at one view, we shall trefpafs a little on the chronological order, and mention the whole of the extraordinaries of the army previous to the account of the budget.

The fecretary at war, on the 5th of April, 1797, moved a refolution "That a fum, not exceeding 3,280,5131. 138. 2d. be granted for the purpose of defraying the extraordinaries of the army, from the 6th of December, 1795, to the 6th of December, 1796, voted, and not provided for by parliament."

1,840

4,100

1,232 10 10

59523 580 600

General Tarleton faid, that he was under a neceflity of noticing two particular objects of expence; the advances to the emperor, and the campaign in the Weft Indies. He blamed the conduct of adminiftration in both thefe points, and infifted, that the emperor had continually loft ground, and that the war in the Weft Indies, particularly in St. Domingo, was to be confidered as the bane and deftruction of the British military, who perifed ignobly, and who were fent to a grave in that charnel-house, as it had proved to them; and though

the

the i^ar ! had cost so much money and the lives of 14,000 gallant men, to this country, there was not a fingle post in our poffeffion that could not be taken by three hundred frefn troops: on thefe grounds he oppofed the motion. The refolution, however, was agreed to by the house.

The chancellor of the exchequer, on the 7th of December, introduced into the house of commons his first budget for the year 1797 (we fay

firft, for in the June following he brought up a fecond). He proceeded to state the resources upon which the people might confidently rely to defray the expences which they had to incur. He premised that, great as the demand was, the nation was fully equal to the emergency, and prepared to meet it.

The amount of the supply which had been then voted, and which it might be neceffary to vote during the feffion, was as follows:

SUPPLIES FOR THE YEAR 1797.
NAVY.

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For the ordinary of the navy for 120,000 feamen and marines 6,240,000 Extraordinaries for the fame

To which might be added for this favourite fervice the further fum of

Total for the fervice of the navy

1,420,000

2,500,000

£. 10,160,coo

ARMY.

The amount of the fums which had been then voted for the army was

The account of the extraordinaries was not then complete, but Mr. Pitt eftimated them at

Total for the army

Sum for the diminution of the national debt
The amount of the ordnance

6,613,000

-4,300,000

£. 10,913,000

200,000 1,623,000

Mifcellaneous fervices, including the relief to emigrant 378,000

priefts, &c.

Deficiency of land and malt

350,000

The deficiency of taxes, after deducting the furplus of grants 1,023,000 for 1796, which amounted to 420,000l. was

Total of the fupply

- £. 27,647,000

Mr. Pitt, in his ftatement, omitted fractions, and computed the navy expences at the round fum of 10,160,000l. whereas the real fum was 10,161,000l. for the navy.

For

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