TAXATION. When queen Anne came to the throne in 1701, the yearly amount of taxes was When George II. came to the throne, 1727 ary France," 1801 For the year 1809 1810 (nett revenue) FUNDED DEBT. 74,212,353 6,762,643 6,522,540 8,744,682 13,300,921 36,720,071 70,240,229 70,235,792 The total amount of the capital of the funded debt of the Unit ted Kingdom, on the 1st of January, 1812, was The unfunded debt of Great Britain, on the 5th of January, That of Ireland was, Exchequer Bills 1,840,7877. 178. Loan Debentures 2,2251. making 1,843,0127. 10s. The total for the United Kingdom was 52,297,1791. 58. 8d. The total amount of money raised in the year ending January 5, 1812, was, permanent taxes, 35,458,2691. 4s. 91d. Interest on account of Ireland and Portugal; surplus exchequer fees, imprest monies, and tontine money, 3,003,4767. 19s. 5d. Duties to discharge three millions of exchequer bills, 2,827,7857. 18s. lid. War taxes, 22,303,0537. 183. 5d. Money paid on account of loans, 19,638,3791. 3s. 9d.; and on account of lotteries, 922,136/. 8s. The total, 81,241,6977. 78. 74d. The amount of exchequer bills outstanding on the 5th of April, 1812, was 43,406,8007. of which those issued since the 1st of February, 1812, amount to 9,378,5007. The amount of the land-tax assessed in respect of land, in the year ending March 25, 1811, in the counties in England and Wales, was 1,226,3217. 58. 24d. The amount then redeemed was 634,3651. 88. 14d. In Middlesex, which pays more than double any other county, the amount assessed was 171,6657. Is. Ožd. and the amount redeemed, 61,914l. 58. 9d. The stamped dollars issued by the bank of England from the 19th of February, 1811, to the 13th of April, 1812, inclusive, at five shillings each, amounted to 424,584; and at five shillings and six pence each, to 21,340; the number of silver tokens for the same period, at three shillings each, to 722,446; and at eighteenpence each, to 3,361,171 the whole making a value of 1,447,4697. 48. 6d. The number of re-issuable promissory notes, stamped in England during the year ending the 10th of October, 1811, was 3,563,788. Of these 2,702,563 did not exceed a guinea in value, and 1632 were from 507. to 1007. in value. This account does not include stamps consigned to distributors. The number of stamps for promissory notes re-issuable from February 16, 1811, to the 5th of April, 1812, amounted to 3,323,180. Of those exceeding in value 507. and not exceeding 1007. the number was 1396. The total number was 4,455,556. The number of licences renewed to existing bankers in the year ending October 10, 1811, for the issue of promissory notes, payable on demand, was 696, and to new banks, 83. From the 11th of October, 1811, to the 20th of April, 1812, the number of renewed was 735; and from October 11, 1812, granted to new banks, 52. In Scotland, during that period, the whole number was 50. The total was 824 for the year 1811, and 838 for the year 1812, which last is the number of private bankers in Great Britain for that year (1812). The following is an account of the total amount of money raised for the public service, in each of the years from 1791 to 1810 inclusive. Raised in each Year. During the war in which Great Britain has been engaged with the French republic and the French empire, the then existing, and certain other new taxes, were considered by Mr. Pitt as need ful to be permanently continued on the people, to answer the public necessities; but certain other taxes which the supposed temporary exigencies of the war called for, were laid, on the expectation that when the war ceased, these taxes would cease also: the first class of taxes, were formed into one fund called the consolidated fund; and consisted of the customs, the excise, the assessed taxes, the land tax, &c. which forming one class of income, is oxclusively appropriated to certain payments, of which the dividends, or interest of the national debt is the chief and heaviest charge: If this fund yields more than sufficient to satisfy the demands charged upon it, the excess is brought forward in the budget of the next year, under the head of "surplus of the consolidated fund" as part of the ways and means of raising the supplies wanted for the year. If not, then the deficiency takes its place, not among the Ways and Means, but among the Supplies. The consolidated fund for 1810 produced 42,286,152/ 18s 11d. and charges were, 35,296,3137 10s 9d. leaving a surplus of 6,979,7391 88 2d. The same fund up to 5 January, 1812, produced but 40,917,1357 18s 4d. The charges were 36,801,993 188 9d. leaving a surplus of 4,115,841 19s 6d. The decrease was in the customs. The other taxes which were laid on for the support of the war, under a promise of being temporary, and to be taken off when the war is ended (that is ad græcas calendas) are called the war taxes. These consist of additional customs, excise, property tak, &c. In 1811 they produced 22,393,063/ 13s 5d. THE SINKING FUND. In 1716 Sir Robert Walpole at the suggestion of Earl Stanhope, proposed that the surplus of the aggregate, the south sea, and the general funds, should go to another fund called the sinking fund, and be applied to the repurchase and redemption of the national debt. Sir Robert Walpole however in 1733 wanting half a million Sterling, proposed to take it from the sinking fund, under two pretences, 1st, that the country would not support an additional land tax, and 2dly, that the purchasing up so much stock and taking it out of market, was a greater defalcation from the circulation of the kingdom than the monied interest could well bear. He prevailed; and depredations were committed on this fund by him and subsequent ministers, till it was rendered nearly inefficient. Soon after the close of the American war, Dr. Price proposed to Mr. Pitt, the establishment of a sinking fund, which under the controul of commissioners operating perpetually on the national debt, might produce an interest approximating to compound interest, while the nation paid its creditors at the rate of simple interest only. To aid this, he proposed that when loans were required, the debt should be created by paying large interest on small sums, rather than by borrowing at a low interest, increase the amount of the capital borrowed. Unfortunately, Mr. Pitt through timidity as a financier, rejected the last proposal: but in 1786 he established the modern sinking fund, 1st, by appropriating a capital of a million a year, and then by adding to it divers surpluses of taxes. Lord Lauderdale has objected to the principle of the sinking fund, as taking out of the productive capital of the nation,.so much as it redeems of the debt, but I do not see the force of his reasoning. In my mind, this fund faithfully applied during a long continuance of peace, would go far to annihilate the debt of England, enormous as it is: but unfortunately, the national burthens increase in far greater proportion, than this fund can diminish them. At the close of the year 1812, it had redeemed of the national debt about 222 millions; and the fund to be appropriated to the same purpose, for the next year, would be upwards of thirteen millions and a half. The great use however of the sinking fund to the minister, is as an engine of Stock-jobbing, to keep up the price of funds, which rational disasters tend to reduce. THE BUDGET. So called from the Minister's Bag of papers, necessary to elucidate his calculations on the annual statement (Expose as the French call it) of the national finance. The Budget consists of two parts, viz. THE SUPPLIES; or sums wanted for the year; and THE WAYS AND MEANS, or the sources from whence those sums are to be procured. The supplies consist of the sums wanted for the navy, the army, the ordnance, the payment of dividends or interest on the national debt, the expences of the Civil list, (which include the expences of the Royal family, Judicature, Ambassadors, and Royal pensions) and miscellaneous services. The ways and means are, the consolidated fund, the war taxes, and loans, when necessary. To meet the interest of the new loans, the Budget contains also the new taxes proposed for the purpose, with remarks on the principle of the tax, and calculations on its probable amount from known data. To illustrate this I will give the Budget for 1811, which contains much important fact, and a summary of the Budget of 1812. IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF COMMONS, MAY 17, 1811. THE BUDGET. The House having resolved itself into a committee of ways and means. The Chancellor of the Exchequer rose to open the Budget for the present year. He began by observing, that having that morning concluded a contract, subject to the approbation of parliament, for the loan for the service of the present year, on terms which he trusted, under all the circumstances of the case, the committee would consider to be highly advantageous to the public, he should proceed to submit to them the details of that contract. But before he did this he conceived that it would be necessary for him to state, with as much clearness as he possibly could, the various sums which the house had already voted for the supply of the present year, and the ways and means to which in his judgment they ought to resort for the purpose of meeting those sums. plies which had been voted were as follow:- The sup |