Englishmen's eyes open'd, or, All made to see, who are not resolv'd to be blind: being the excise controversy set in a new light, completely discuss'd upon the just principles of reasoning, and brought to a fair and demonstrative conclusion: between a landholder and a merchant.

*-x-

CLASS _i^l '"> i ' ^

BOOK

17 33

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I

EngliflimenV Eyes opened;

o R,

All made to SEE, who are not re-
folv'd to be BLIND.

{Price One Shilling

Englifllmen^f Eyes open'd;

O R,

All made to SEE, who are not re-
folv'd to be BLIND:

BEING THE

Excife Controverfy

Set in a new Light ; completely dif-
cufs'd upon the juft Principles of
REASONING, and brought toafair
and demonftrative Conclufion:

BETWEEN A

Landholder ? and a Merchant.

May TRADE and L IB E RTT flourijh in
Great Britain, and their true Advo-
cates be held in Efieem by the People !

The SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:

Printed for J. WILFORD behind the Chapter-
Houfe in St- Paul's Church-Tard. 1734.

EnglifhmenV Eyes opened:

o R,

All made to fee, who are not refolv'd
to be blind.

Mer chant. 'WT^^ RAY Sir John, how do the
■ /M Country Gentlemen in your
Neighbourhood relifh the
M Excife-Sche?ne? It has bit-

terly enrag'd all Ranks and
Degrees of Traders at London, and left fuch
a Sting at the Tail of it, as I conceive will
not eafily be pluck' d out.

Landholder. Truly Sir, that Project takes a
quite different Turn with us Country Gentlemen.
Indeed when the Scheme was firft reprefented
to us, and delineated in all the horrid Colours
that a frighted Imagination could fugged, and
London vomited out her Squibs of Terror among
us, we began to ftand aghaft, and in fome Degree
fell in with the common Cry. We have fince
recover'd ourfelves ; we difclaim our Conduct ;
we think ourfelves impos'd upon, find we have
difcarded the proper Means of our own Relief,
and have been acting fubfervient to the Interefts
of fome few Men, no Well-wilhers to us, nor
the common Intereft of the Nation in general.
Mer. How ! Can you, Sir John, entertain
a favourable Opinion of fo execrable a Scheme?

A Calcu-

( q

calculated to enflave the Trading Part of the
Nation, and deftructive ot the Liberties of the
whole Kingdom? Landed Men mould always
have the Intereft of Trade at Heart ; becaufe
as Trade flourifhes their Eltates advance, The
srreat Hardships and Inconveniencies of Excifes
to the Trading Part of the Nation are fo glaring
and unqueftionable, that I am not a little fur-
priz'd to hear a Gentleman of your diftinguifhM
Abilities, Impartiality, and difinterefted Views
utter a ftngle Sentence in Vindication of fuch
a Project.

Landb. That there is a mutual Dependence
and Conne&ion of Interefts betwixt trade and
Land mud be allow'd, and that the one cannot
advance or decline, but the other mud be pro-
fortionably affected. However, the Confequence
that has been drawn from thence, is partial,
unfair, and ungenerous. Muft Landed Men be
confider'd only confequentially and fubordinately
to the Traders ? Muft there be no publick Ait
which primarily and originally regards the Eafe
of the Freeholders ? If our great Fund is Land,
as Mr. Lock infinuates, muft it have no Weight
and Influence in the Determinations of a Senate?
Sure our Conduct does not merit fuch Beha-
viour and Treatment. sTis true our Interefts
cannot be diametrically oppofite to thofe of the
mercantile World in general, but yet they are
diitinct and feparate. Nay, the Seeds of our
Deftruclion have been imported by many Tra-
ders, out of their great Affection for us I fup-
pofe. Merchants, fays Mr. Lock, may grow rich
by a Trade that makes the Kingdom poor.
[ am apt to think, Sir, few of them extend
their Views of Profit and Lofs beyond their

own

( 3 )

own Connting-Houfes. Muft Chance then
and Accident determine our Fate, while whole
Species of Merchants, falfly fo calPd (for thai
Appellation is due only to the honeft ufeful
Importers and Exporters) are licentioufly revel-
ling in unlawful Gains ? With what Contempt
and Indignation have I feen fome fmugling In-
fects fvvell upon this Occafion into Creatures
of Importance, and publickly "Vaunt themlelves
the Fountains of Riches, and Barriers of Liberty,
while they have been making life of all the
little tricking Arts in their Power to dry up
the one, and pull down the other?

I have been fhock'd, Sir, to hear the well-
meaning Freeholder told, with an infblent Air,
in a publick Coffee-Houfe, that he did not un -
derftand his own Interefl, when he has dcclar'd
that he has feverely felt the Effects of a four,
milling Land-Tax, and mould heartily rejoice
to fee the whole remov'd.

The bed Conviction that Traders can give us
that they have any Regard for our Intereft i?,
by chearfully fubmitting to fome little Incon-
veniencies to unfaddle us ; which, by that very
Scheme you are pleas'd to decry, was purpos'd
to be done by diverting clandestine and difho-
nourable Gains into more proper Channels.
Inconveniencies, Sir, attend all Methods of col-
lecting Taxes ; at leaft thofe who would pay
nothing to the general Support of the State,
will ever urge thofe fpecious Pretences. The
grand Queftion with me is, whether, in Regard
to the Benefit of the whole Community, thefe
Inconveniencies, tho" they have been fo highly
magnified and exaggerated, ought in right Rea-
son and good Policy to have any Weight in
A 2 Conv

(4)

Companion with the national Advantages that
would arife from earing the Landholders, who
have fo long bore the heavy Burthen, and paid
upwards of threefcore Millions for the Prefer-
vation of the general Liberties. I confefs in-
genuoufly to you, Sir, I am convinced by Rea-
fon and Demonftration, that there never was a
Scheme offer'd to a Britijh Senate, that had
more apparent and inconteftable Advantages
attending it, and fewer Inconveniencies when
put in Competition therewith.

Mer. For fuch an Afiertion to come from you,
Sir John, who have been fo many Years en-
gag'd in Trade yourfelf, is fomething extraor-
dinary. I doubt not but you found your Judg-
ment upon a rational and fevere Examination.
To go thro' with a Subject of fo extenfive a
Nature at prefent may be difagreeable to us
both. To Morrow in the Evening, if you are
difengag'd, it will be a peculiar Pleafure to me
to reafon the Point with you ; for I begin to
be diffident of my own Opinion, when a Gen-
tleman of your cool Way of Thinking, exempt
from every Tincture of Prejudice or Partiality,
differs from me.

Landh. The Defign having occafion'd much
Scribbling and Clamor, I was excited, from
meer Curiofity, to examine into the Merits of
it. As I have no Turn to ferve by it, I am
not tenacious of adhering to' the Refult of my
own Enquiry : I am ever fufceptible of Con-
viction, Sir, always leaving my Underftanding
free, open, and unbiafs'd for the Reception of
all Species of Truths. I fhall be glad to fee
you to Morrow, and then we will deliberately
and with good Humour diffect this Excife~
Monjier. The

(5)

The Subje& being reium'd at the appointed
Time, Sir John thus opened.

Landb. The Platform and Groundwork of
the Excife -Scheme was laid upon thefe two Prin-
ciples •, the Eafe of the Landed- Inter eft at home,
and the diftrefs'd Britijh Planters abroad : Both
which were fchem'd to be effectuated without
the laying of any new Tax, by the Converfion
only of the two fimple Duties upon Wine and
Tobacco? from a Cuftomhoufe to an Excife-fVay
of Collection.

You'll pleafe to remark, Sir, that no new
Duty was ever intended ; the Commodities were
only to have the fame Duty continued upon
them. So that the Money to eafe the Land
and the Planters was to be wifely and juftly
drawn out of the Coffers of fuch Traders, who
do not act upon a Level with the reft of their
Brethren, but, by impioufly evading the Pay-
ment cf Cuftomhoufe Duties? are enabled to ruin
their fellow Traders in the fame Branches of
Commerce, opprefs the aggrieved Planters? and
rivet the Tax for ever upon the Landholders.

In Difputes of this Kind, Sir, if we would
judge honeftly, the Eafe and Intereft of any
particular Set of Men, is not to be confulted
meerly and fimply without Regard to the whole
Mafs of the People. The general Good of the
Community is the only true Touchftone where-
by we can make a juft Judgment of the Project.
The more national Emoluments accompany any
Defign of this Sort, the more deep Wifdom and
Policy, as well as Honour and Honefty do the
Schemifts difplay. Tho' one or two particular
Points may be the Bafis of the Scheme, yet if
yarious -other definable Ends are the infeparable

Con-

( 6 )

Concomitants thereof, with Reafon may they
be urg'd in Support of it.

Nor mould we too precipitately, as many
are wont, conclude we fee fome lurking Mif-
chief a hatching under every new and fpecious
Project, merely from the Confideration of fome
vifible Advantage to the Propofed, exdufive of
any to the Propofers. Not t!iat I will be fo
fanguine as to fay the latter had no Intereft
in the Succefs of it, fince I have great Reafon
to think, it would have fix'd them fo firm
in the Hearts and Affections' of the former, and
fo ftrongly attach'd them to their Caufe, as
would have quite blafted the bloffoming Hopes
of fome fnarling Anti-Projectors •, and put the
finifhing Stroke to all their chimerical Caftle-
Building ; and thus the Life of one Scheme
would have been the Death of another.

It is in the political, as it is in the natural
Body. The Court, which may be properly e-
fleem'd the Stomach of the Nation, employs
itfelf differently, according to the different Cir-
cumflances and Temperament of the Body. It
is not aiways well-digefted, concocted Food will
preferve the Mafs of Blood pure and untainted.
Recourfe muft be had fometimes to ftrong con-
vulfive Purges to revive and exhilarate its dying
Flame. It would ill perform its Miniftration,
mould it always confult its own prefent Eafe
and Benefit, and refufe to fubmit to fome few
Gripings and UneafinefTes, which will at length
terminate in its own private Good, as well as the
Happinefs of the whole Body in general. The
Miniftry, it may be prefum'd, faw the Cloud
of Oppofition gathering •, but it was never ima-
gin'd it would have dirrus'd itfelf fo extenfively,

an d

( 7 )

and envelop'd the Senfes of any but the incon-
fiderate Mob.

By earing the Land, the Price of all the com-
mon Neceffaries and Conveniencies of Life be-
come cheaper •, Beef, Mutton, Bread, Butter,
Flax, and Wool, &c. would all in Time feel
the good Effects of it. While a Land-Tax is
continued, the Rents of the Tenants will be kept
up ; when taken Oa, Landlords may afford to
eafe their Tenants, and they of courfe will eafe
the Poor in the Price of the Production of their
Lands. The Poor, when they can live cheaper,
will work cheaper ; and our Manufactures will
confequently be exported cheaper. sTis a ge-
neral Complaint among all the Exporters of our
Woolen Manufacture, that we are underfold at
moft of the foreign Markets of Europe in this
Staple Commodity of our own Country,

It has been in a great Meafure owing to the
Dearnefs of our Woolen Manufacture, that both
Holland and France have thought it worth their
Care to fet up Looms of their own, to our great,
if not irreparable Detriment ; and France has
fo far fucceeded, that fhe feems to have no
farther Occafion for our Cloths at all.

And Holland has found out this Secret of

Trade, to buy up our raw Cloths, and dye and

nap them fo much cheaper than we, that they

are able to underfel us in Goods of our own

- Produce.

Nor is it impoflible that Spain herfelf may,

tin fome Time, fet up a Woolen Manufacture

oi her own ; fo that if we are cut out of this

Trade from Holland, France and Spain, in all

probability, they, inftead of England', may , in

:me, fuppiy Denmark, Norway, Sweden*

RuJJia*

( 8 )

Rujfia, and Germany , &c. with what they want.
It therefore highly behoves a wile Government
to think of Ways and Means to fink the do-
meftick Expence of our home-bred Commodities.
There is no other Way of effecting this but by
eafing the Land, the Source of our native Pro-
ductions ; for fince that Tax has been laid, all
the common NecefTaries of Life, and the Ingre-
dients which go to the Compofition of our Ma-
nufactures, have been rais'd almoft one Fifth in
their Value, and the Price of Labour has en-
creas'd in Proportion. Our Manufactures there-
fore muft inevitably be almoft one Fifth dearer
than before we had any- fuch Tax.

That a little Trouble to Traders in the Vend-
ing of foreign Commodities, by fubmitting to
a more fevere Infpedtion of Officers, to compel
all to pay their juft Duty, is deftructive of
Trade, I apprehend to be a mere Farce. The
true Caufe of the Decay of Trade, is the Clogs
upon its firft Springs : Let us work up our
Manufactures cheaper, by the firft Hands, than
other Countries, and we mall never want Mer-
chants and other intermediate Traders to export
them, who will never have Occafion to repine
at the Minutenefs of their Profit. Let us cleanfe
the Fountain-Head, and the whole Current will
foon purify itfelf -, but 'till that be done, we
may in vain complain of Diforders in the ex-
panded Channels. There is no Way, Sir, to
eafe our own Manufactures, but by eafing the
Land, the original Spring of them. Thus do
Traders, while they are for perpetuating the
Land-Tax, unavoidably injure their own Trade,
and the beft Part of it too, and then cry out
that thofe who would eafe the Land have a Defign
to prejudice Trade, Who

(9)

Whoever knows any thing of 'Trade cannot
be ignorant how highly beneficial our Plantation-
Trade is to this I/land. Their Produce procures
us the Balance with thofe Countries, which
otherwife would receive the Balance of us ; con-
fequently if our Plantations Decay, the general
Balance of Trade would annually go againft
us •, and thus would the Nation be daily drain'd
inftead of being enrich'd, as it is at pre-
fent. The Planters have complain'd to Parlia-
ment for Redrefs ; they think themfelves ag-
griev'd ; their mortgag'd Eftates is an indis-
putable Conviction that their Complaints are not
groundlefs. Should we be deaf to their Plaints,
we know not what Temptations they may have
to forfake our Br itijh Plantations, and to take up
their Refidence in the French \ and then we rifque
out Tobacco-Trade as we have already done our
Sugar. We can't have too vigilant an Eye on
France, who' has made fuch great Encroachments
fince our firft Settlements there, and watches
an Opportunity to diveft us of our Properties
in that Part of the World. The Excife- Scheme
in its Confequences therefore was moll wifely and
politically contriv'd for the general Benefit of
our Trade. 'Tis true, it was not calculated for
the particular Intereft of the Tobacco- Faclors or
Wine -Coopers, but, as all Parliamentary Schemes
fhould be, for the publick Good.

Mer. Were thefe the real Motives to this
Scheme, your Arguments might be plaufible
enough, though not of Weight lufficient to efta-
blifh the Defign, as I mall mew hereafter, if
there be Occafion for it ; but it is to be fear'-J
that this Project was fet on Foot to augment the
Pow#r of the Crown, by multiplying Excife-
B ' Officers,

( io)

Officers, who fiave an unbounded Liberty to
harafs and annoy Traders, and by that Means
in Time to enflave the whole Nation. For it
is in the 'Power of thefe Men to tamper with Vo-
ters, fo as to obftruct the Freedom of Elections,
and thereby to deftroy that Authority and law-
ful Refpedt for Parliaments, indifpenfably ne-
cefTary to be preferv'd for the Safeguard of our
Liberties. The Benefit of Trade, like the Be-
nefit of the Land, is a delicious Bait to allure us
to Slavery, and therefore we mould always dif-
truft the Views of Minijlers of State. One Ex-
clfe is introductory to another ; and if once a
general Excife prevails, farewell Liberty, and
every Incentive to TrafRck.

Landh. 'Tis true, Sir, the Benefit of Trade
may fometimes be made a Min\{\cna.l Decoy -Duck
to delude Traders into their Schemes ; and fo
may groundlefs Clamours of the Ruin of Trade
be a more ufeful Piece of factious and antimini-
flerial Quackery to irritate the Multitude againft.
the nobleft Defigns. What Reafon there can be to
doubt whether the general Advantage of Trade
was not an eflential, -though not the only Motive
to this Scheme, is what I cannot conceive.
Though Trade, Sir, was only fecondarily, inci-
dentally, and collaterally confidered, and the
grand Defign was the Eafe of the landed Inter eft ^
I hope it would be no Objection. In Times of
War, the Land muft bear the expenfive Burthen
in Protection of Trade : The lealt therefore that
can be done, in Times of Peace, is to difbur-
then it. A wife and judicious Miniftry will
labour to fhift the Taxes, fo as equitably to pro-
portion 'em amongu: all Gaffes of the Commu-
nity, that each might, at feafonable Conjunc-
tures,

( « )

tures, when the beft able, give reciprocal Eafe
to the other. To the everlafting Honour of the
prdent Administration, the Land-Tax has been
reduced lower than ever fince firft impos'd •, and
we ilill hope that the fame Minijlry, who have
done fuch great Things for us, will, in time, ab-
folutely eafe us, though the Popularity of the
Defign will adminifcer perpetual Fuel to male-
content Fire.

I think I may with equal Reafon itifift, that
your Argument about the Augmentation of
Power to the Crown, from an Encreafe of Of-
ficers, is a meer Pretence. For what Power to
the Crown can about two or three Excifemen
in a County add, which is the Extent of the
Encreafe propos'd ? To anfwer this great En-
creafe, there would have been a counterpart Di-
minution -, at leaft equal, if not fuperior to the
pretended Augmentation. Had the Scheme fuc-
ceeded, fome of the Cujjtom-Houfe Officers would
of courfe have been difcharged, or metamor-
phoffd into Excife-ones ; and the Crown been
ilrip'd of all the Receivers of the Land-Tax
over the Kingdom : Men of Fortune, Repute,
and great Influence in their refpective Counties
and Boroughs ; which united Powers would have
considerably turn'd the Scale in Prejudice to the
Crown.

And to fuppofe Men of their Rank and Cha-
racter mould receive Inftructions to be particu-
larly troublefome to fuch Traders, who may not
fee Wifdom in the Conduct: of a Court, fmells
two much of Romance to be credited. F'or
how can a Man, without being ripe to fwallow
any idle AiTertion, imagine Men, who are not
peculiarly exempt from fuch Vices as tend to the
B 2 Difcovery

( «*■}

Difcovery of Secrets, fhould be entrufted with
any fuch Inftructions ? As they are daily turn'd
out of their Offices for the leaft Trifle, and there-
by become enraged with the Government ;
ihould we not have heard of fome Stories of
this Sort ? Throughout this warm Difpute, the
active and ingenious Malecontents have not been
able to produce one fingle Inftance of this Na-
ture. With the utmoft Confidence therefore, may
any one affirm that there is not the lead Pro-
bability, that any Excifeman ever received In-
ductions, directly or indirectly, from the Commif-
fioners to tamper with any voting Trader what-
foever. No Man, I think, but an Enthufiaft can
imagine that Officers out of meer Wantonnefs,
Spleen, and Ill-nature fhould be more trouble-
ibme, 6r open to themfdves more Scenes of Tur-
moil and Fatigue, than what the Nature of their
Office makes abfolutely and legally neceffary.
Much Art and Declamation indeed have been
exercifed, to infufe a molt horrid and frightful
Idea of harmlefs Excifemen, into the Minds of
the Scum and Dregs of the People ; nor is it to
be doubted but fuch florid Rhodomontades have
had their defired Effect upon narrow and jejune
Minds. This Fate indeed they mare, in common
with the Clergy and others, upon certain Occafions :
But give me leave to lay, Sir, this Way of
Talking only ferves to .give Men of Senfe an ill
Opinion ,of the Carafe. To convince them, you
fhould mew fomething in Nature, that prompts
thefe Men to be lefs human than others *, or the
Prefumption will be they are not fo. They are
all equally reproached in their Duty, though for-
tuitoufly derived from the general Body of the
People, and become deftin'd to their different

Pro-

( 13 )

Profefiions by the fame Providence that thofe
Men are, who thus exclaim againft them. How
it mould fall out that they at all times are more
degenerate than the reft of Mankind, will be ad-
mitted by none but fuch who are credulous enough
to believe, that Man is form'd from fenfelefs A-
toms, by the continued Operations of blind
Chance and Fortune.

By the great Degree of Power, faid to arife to
the Crown from a few Excife?nen being fcatter'd
over the Nation, and the Havock they have been
pompoufly defcrib'd to make, fome giddy-head-
ed and fuperficial Creatures imagine that the
Dealers in Tobacco and Wine are a very confider-
able Body of the Kingdom ; when, if a Calcu-
lation was made, it is very much to be question-
ed whether they are above one five thoufandth
Part thereof: And it is equally to be doubted
whether one Third of that Number have Votes ;
or if they have, whether one half of them are
not vifited by Officers already. To fuppofe,
therefore, that the intended Augmentation
could affect the Liberties of the whole Na-
tion, when fo [mall a Part only could poffibly
have been concerned, is what can never enter in^
to the Thoughts of a clear-headed Man ; efpe-
cially when the Crown, in confequence, thereof,
would have been oblig'd to have given up a
greater Power for a lefs, as was before remark'd.

However, left Etiglijhmen fhould be jealous of
their Liberties upon this Account, or that fome
imperious and arrogant Fellows among them (as
is not impofiiblej mould prefume to have the
leaft Degree of Power or Influence over Traders
in the Choice of their Reprefentatives, the Laws
of the Land have made full Provifion for pre-
venting

( H)

venting any fuch Attempts. For- in the Act
Anno 5 (^ 6 G»/*V/. &* Maria ^ it is laid, "That
" if any Excifcmau fhall by Word, Melfage,
cc or Writing,, or any other IVfanncr whatfo-
" ever, endeavour to perfuade any Elector to
" give, or diftuade any Elector from giving his
« Vote for the Choice of any Perfon to be a
" Representative in Parliament, fhall forfeit the
" Sum of one hundred Pounds, one Moiety to
" the Poor of the Parifh where fuch Offences
" mall be committed, to be recovered by any
" Perfon that fhall fue for the fame in the
" Courts of Common Law. And every Of-
" ficer, convict on any fuch Suit of. the faid
tc Offerice, mall thereby become diiabled and
" incapable of ever bearing or executing any
" Office or Place of Truft whatfoever under
*' their Majefties, their Heirs or SucceJJbrs."

Befides, Sjr; has not this very Parliament at
prefent exifting, that has been fo licentioufiy
charg'd with Corruption, made the ftrongeft Act
that ever was made to prevent Corruption at
Elections from. all Quarters, as well againft the
Crown as for it ? Ah Act that has met with the
higheft Encomium from tjiofe very Gentlemen,
Wi;o have treated the Parliament that mace it
with urfparaHe'JM Scurrility ! A certain Writer,
I remember, jays, " T.o the immortal Honour
" of a Britijh Parliament, an Act is now palled,
" whicn, it is to be hoped, will prove fully ef-
c; ficaciOus to this great End [the Prevention of
"' Corruption at Elections.] The Penalties, at
'- leaff, are lo fevere, and the Provilion fo wifely
<k made, as well as clearly exprefs'd, that I
lil think it ifhpoffibTe for ail the Inventions of
<" thhf arid lll-deflgningMeni totally, to elude
"• tnem. " Can

( *5 )

Can any Man then, with the leaft Glimmering
of Reafon, furmife that Excife-Ojjicers can have
any Influence at Elections, when nothing is more
vifible than that they are never of Considera-
tion enough to fway any one ? But if they were,
and fhould attempt to influence any Vtter, it is
in the Power of any Man to profecute and ruin
them; the Offence being to be try'd before a.
Jury, who are very far from being prejudic'd.
in Favour of a poor Excifcman.

Mer. Sir, you have made no Manner of Re-
ply to what I urg'd, of one Excife tending to
a general Excife, and the Swarms of Officers
that: would over-run the Nation, was that to
take Place. If the People do not make Head
againft fuch Attempts at their firft Breaking
out, 'twill be impoffible to flop their Career
when they have got too great Footing.

Landh. You'll pleafe to remember, Sir, that
we are always to keep Sight of the grand and
fundamental Motive to this Attempt ; the
Eafe of the Land. From what I before ob-
ferv'd it appears that a Land-Tax, which af-
feds all the common NecefTaries of Life of
our own Production, is an actual general Ex*
cife, in the ftrict Senfe of the Words. What
is meant by a general Excife is a new Tax
upon all fuch common Conveniences of Life,
as the Poor and laborious Part of the Nation
cannot fubfift without. A particular Excife
upon foreign Superfluities and Luxuries, without
the lead Addition of any new Tax, with a View
to take off a general Excife from the common
Necejfaries, is fo far from having a Tendency
to what the Judicious underftand by a general
Excife, that, on the contrary, no Step could

poffi-

( 16 )

pofllbly be taken more effectually to free us
From a general Excife : Nor is it in the Power
of any Miniirry to indicate their Deteftation
and Abhorrence of any fuch Project more than
by bravely and refolutely encountering fuch an
headftrong Oppofuion, that a Tax upon Land
might not be eterniz'd.

It may be urg'd with much more Reafon,
that the laying of one Shilling in the Pound
upon Land has a Tendency to the laying on
of twenty. Nay, Sir, as you are a Dijfcnter,
I may as well fay that granting you any fmall
Privilege to deviatefrom the Church of England,
and to worfhip in your own Way, has a Ten-
dency to the total DeftrucTion of the Eftablifli'd
Religion of the State •■> than which Nothing is
more ridiculous. In fhort, Sir, I might with
equal Reafon infift that a Man mull neither eat
or drink, becaufe it has a Tendency to Glut-
tony or Drunkennefs ; or that a Man mud not
be fo prudent as yearly to lay by a fingle Penny,
becaufe it has a Tendency to Avarice. In a
Nation like ours, where the Crown has no Farms
or Freeholds to fupply the publick Exigencies
of the State, fome Sort of Taxes are as ef-
fentially necefiary to the Prefervation of the
Body politick, as Eating and Drinking to the
Support of the natural Body : And fuch a
Converfion only of the Duties paid already, to,
be collected under the Mode of an Excife, in
fuch a Manner that the Smuggler can't efcape
Paving, and thereby raifing a Sum fufficient to
difburthen the Land, and to redrefs the Grievan-
ces our Plantations labour under, is the only
Excife we contend for ; and nothing further
was propos'd by the Scheme.

The

( i7 )

i

The infallible Way, Sir, for England to en-
creafe in Riches and Power, is ro embrace
every Opportunity to render our native Ma-
nufactures cheaper both abroad and at home,
and foreign Superfluities dearer to the Con-
fumer •, that the Price, as well as Quality,
of our Commodities may tempt other Nations
to confume 'em. Was not this ' Maxim mod
fteddily adher'd to, our own Inhabitants would be
confuming the Produce of other Nations, whilfl
we were unable to export our own. Thus
would every one, who confum'd any Thing of
foreign Production, give away fo much of the
Riches of the Nation. To prevent this, no-
thing can be more conducive than an Excife
upon all foreign Superfluities ; becaufe it muft
either eafe our own native Produce from the
Burthen of the publick Revenue, or in will pre-
vent the Confumption of foreign Commodities,
and the Produce of our own Country would
be confum'd in their ftead. Every Thing of
foreign Growth confum'd here, without paying
the Duty, is an Advantage to the Proprietors of
the Lands of thofe Countries, and a Detriment
to our own Land-Owners, when a Tax upon them
is purpos'd to be taken off, only by a juft Col-
lection of the Duty upon foreign, Commodities.
Who then, that is a true Friend to his Country,
can oppofe fuch a brave Defign ? A Defigrn
for which future Ages will have its Oppofers
in Derifion, and its Advocates in the higheft
Admiration !

Foreign Nations are fo very active and vigilant,
that nothing of our Production fhall efcape pay-
ing the Duty they impofe thereupon, 'that, were
we not to be fteer'd by the fame political Rud-

C der„

\

( 18 )

der, our Englijh Merchants would acquire more
by importing of foreign Commodities, which
would be cheaper, into our Country, than they
would by exporting our own Commodities into
other Countries, where the higher Duties would
render the Confumption fmall, and the Mer-
chant's Profit lefs. Thus would Traders, inftead
of being an Advantage to the Nation, drain all
the Wealth out of it, difcourage our People
from Working, by leaving their Manufactures
on their Hands, and render them idle,*1 poor,
and effeminate by an Inundation of foreign Su-
perfluities. This, Sir, I only remark, en paffant,
to Ihew that an Excife upon all foreign Luxuries
mu'ft be of manifeft and undoubted Advantage
to the Nation ; not that I would inflnuate any
fuch Thing was ever intended by the Miniftry
to be put in Execution ; but this is to remove
your Prejudice againft Excifes upon Superfluities
of foreign Growth and Manufacture.

Mer. The great Inconveniencies of Excife-
Officers, by ranlacking Traders Shops and Ware-
houfes, at all Times, and at all Hours in the
Night ; the extraordinary Trouble of fending
for Permits ; the expofing a Man's Stock to
thofe Inquifitors when they pleafe, are very great
Hardfhips upon Traders, and what they cannot
bear the Thoughts of fubmitting to. A Trader,
under thefe Reftraints, cannot be faid to enjoy
that Liberty every Englifhman by his Birth is
entitled to.

Landh. In the Senfe that the Word Liberty
in this Controverfy has been ufed, every Law
whatfoever againft Felons or Houfe- breakers is
a Reifcraint upon Liberty. The late Scheme,
Sir? was defign'd, 'tis true, as a lawful Reftraint

upon

( 19 )

upon Smugglings Cheating and Perjury -, not upon
Honefty and upright Trading. By the Scbeme^Ex-
cifemen would have had the Power of entring Shops,
JVareboufes, and Cellars no otherwife than as the
Cuftomers and Servants of thefe Traders hourly
have. They would have had no Power to
enter them but in the Day-Time, when they
are open to every Body ; not to enter any pri-
vate Room, or Houfe, or other Place, not en-
ter'd as a publick Shop or fVarehoufe of Dealers
in thofe Commodities, not even a private Room
in the fame Houfe wherein a publick Shop is
kept, unlefs they obtain'd a fpecial Warrant
for that Purpofe from fome Juftice or Juftices
of- the Peace, and then, if by Night, but in the
Prefence of a Conftable.

In this Cafe, the Juftices of the Peace have a
difcretionary Power of judging what Circum-
ftances are a fufficient Ground for Sufpicion,
that any of their Neighbours have conceal'd
Contraband Goods, or ufed any Arts to defraud
the Publick. They have likewife the Power
of disbelieving what an Excifeman fhall fwear
in order to obtain fuch Warrant, and may re-
fute fuch Warrant in any Cafe whatfoever at
their own Pleafure. So that thefe Men could
give no more Uneafinefs to Traders, upon
any private Pique, or perfonal Refentment,
than any other Man may do to his Neigh-
bour by a Warrant to fearch for flolen
Goods. The ftrong and clear Teftimony that
Officers mult give of the Truth of their Sug-
gestions, to obtain fuch Warrants, would always
deter 'em from applying for them, but when
Goods really were conceal'd, which had not paid
the lawful Duty : And in fuch a Cafe, no Man,

C 2 I

( 20 )

I prefume, will fay, Houfes ought not to be
enter'd.

Hence it appears that Officers, as fuch, would
have had no Power whatfoever to enter any pri-
vate Hov.fe, Rcvm, or any other Place befides com-
mon Steps, &c. previously regifter'd as fuch, and
thefe in the Day-Time only. The Power of en-
tering private Houfes is veiled in thzjujlicesof the
Peace, who always have exercis'd the fame
Power of granting Warrants to fearch Houfes,
on innumerable other Accounts, before this Bill
was propos'd. This Clamour therefore of entring
Houfes in the Night is meer Bugbear or Spright,
wherewith to terrify the weak and credulous.

What additional Trouble Merchants would
receive is a M.yftery to me; for they would
land their Goods as, they now do, at- the Cuftom-
houfe ; and, as they vend by the Grofs only,
the Trouble of procuring Permits would be
very inednfiderab'le : They coft nothing ; Offices
for that Purpofe would be near their Ware-
houfes.

As to the intermediate Dealers, I am at an
equal Lofs to conceive their Grievances in this
Refpecr. There is no more Trouble and Em-
baraffiTient in an Officer's vi filing the Shops of
Retailers falmoft all of whom fdl various other
Commodities already excifed) than there is
in having two or three more Cultomers extra-
ordinary : And I never heard Traders complain
of any Fatigue in that, or being cblig'd to
keep more Servants upon that Account. As
Profit attends Cuftomers, fo it does the In-
flection of Officers. Fair Dealers would be
made an ample Recompense for their Incon-
veniences, because, as it keeps others upon an

. Equali-

( 21 )

Equality with them, they muft inevitably en-
creafe their Trade. A Defign to prevent Smug-
glers, Hawkers i and Robbers of the national
Revenue, when I was in Trade, was accounted
laudable, and would have met with univerfal
Approbation from the Body of Traders \ but
at this Time of Day, I know not what to think
of the Trading World.

Mer. That an Excife would help the fair
Trader, is fo ftale an Argument at London that
no Body regards it. 'Tis a meer Jeft, a Court
Pretence only •, and if you confider that all
Merchants and Traders in Tobacco and Wine
unanimoufly oppos'd the Scheme, you will not
think your Argument of any Weight, or that
Men would be fo weak as to oppofe their own
Intereft.

Landh. Truly, Sir, this is an Argument that
moil of all furprifes me. There is nothing
more undeniable in Nature than this ; that if
the Smuggler pays no Duty, he will underfel
the fair Dealer who does ; and fo much the
more where the Duties are high, as on Wine
and Tobacco. How much foever the Smuggler
ft lis, by having it cheaper, fo much the fair
Trader lofes the Vending of. This is fo obvious
and felf-evident,that the late univerfal Oppofition,
you mention, in no ways deftroys the Conclu-
fivenefs of my Argument; but the natural and
juft Inference is, That all are Smugglers, and
there are no fair Traders, or, That fair Traders
are all bewitch'd and infatuated. To illuftrate
this, let us imagine, inftead of converting thefe
Duties to an Excife- Way of Collection, it had
been proposed to double the Cuftomhoufe Du-
ties; no fair Trader in his Senfes could have

pre-

( 2 2

prefer' d the latter, becaufe the Profit or Smug-
j g would then have been fo extraordinary,
would have enabled the Smuggler fo greatly
to underfel the fair Trader, that it would be
i npoffibde for him to fubfift. So that you your-
f( if, by urging this popular Oppofition, prove
no more by it than a univerfal Depravity and
Corruption among the whole Body of Mer-
chants and Traders, and, in efi eel, that they are
better than a Band ot Smugglers or
•ten.

Mer. Pardon me, Sir, The Merchants are a
Body of Men worthy the higheft Regard of
the Government, the Fountains of all the Wealth
m the Natron, and are, for the Generality, Men
of the gfeateft Honour and Reputation. I re-
member the Time, Sir John, when you would
nor have beftow'd fueh Epithets on Merchants,
as Smugglers and publick Robbers. Your old
Friend ] ifon treated fehem in a different

Manner, beftow'd great Eulogiums upon them,
as well in private Converfation as in his pub-
lick Cooipofitions.

Landh. Yosir Warmth, Sir, li3S betray'd you
into feme iVl'ftake -, you mifunderftand me. I
did not call the Merchants and Traders, Smug-
r. There are undoubtedly (and indeed I
have heard many worthy Gentlemen among
iorne clandestine and dif-
honourabie Dealers, who inciter themfelves un-
der that worthy Denomination ; and I very
carefully diftinguifh'd between them and ho-
r\ow;-\Az fair Traders -, and fhew'd the apparent
Advantages that mull neceflariiy accrue to the
latter, had the Scheme fucceeded. But you, to
obviate my Concl.ufion, confound my Diflincfion,

and

■V*3)

and make all Traders alike. If then it be
certain that there are clandeftfrre Traders
amongft the Body of Merchants and Traders,
and all are alike without Diftin&ion, all moft
of Confequence be clarideftihe Dealers. This
is a juft Inference from your Logick, not
mine. Thus you urge Arguments tnat tend
to prove all Merchants and Trader;, Smugglers,
and then complain that 1 cail them fo. This
Strain runs thro* fome common News-Papers,
and Pamphlets that don't enter into the Me-
rits of the Difpute ■, but I could not have
imagin'd they were fo contagious, as to taint a
Gentleman of your Underftanding. Tho' the Ex-
cife has been drefs'd out as a very hideous Mon-
fter, yet, like a good and righteous Magiftrate,
it is only a Terror to Evil-Doers.

The violent Oppofition of fome Merchants,
and warm-headed difarrected Senators, is not an
infallible Chara&eriftick that the Scheme was
bad. The fhort Queftioh, Sir, is, whether fo-
reign Commodities ought to be tax'd, or not ;
if they ought, then the Tax fhould be collected
in fuch a Manner as that all fhould pay, and
none efcape. We already pay a Duty on Wine
and Tobacco ; and if, on a Companion between
the Quantity paying, and the Quantity confum'd,
it appears, that not above one Half pays, no
one will fay the other Half ought not to pay.
What Method then can be taken to oblige
them? If thefe Oppofers would be fo juft as to
offer to the World a Scheme more effectually
calculated to anfwer that End, and eafe the
Land, with lefs Inconveniency to the Subject,
and lefs liable to Objection, why do they not
propofe it to the Publick ? if they are able and

noc

'( 24 )

not willing, they difplay their Patriotifm ; if
they cannot propofe a better .in its (lead, to
anfwer fuch a Concatenation of wife Purpofes,
we may conclude it is becaufe they are not able.

Mer. It muft be confefs'd, Sir, that the fe-
veral Ends you mention are very defireable,
and what every good Man muft rejoice to fee
brought about. But that Excifes are the beft
Mediums to thefe Ends, is what I cannot yet
bring my Understanding to bend to. The Laws
of Excife are very arbitrary and tyrannical ;
the Deprivation of Tryals by Juries, contrary to
Magna Cbarta, and the Conflitution, and the known
Rights of Englijhmen, is what in Time might
be attended with very fatal Confequences. The
Commijjioners are Profecutors, Evidence, Judges
and Executioners ; have an unlimited Power of
determining the Property of the Subject accord-
ing to their own Will ; which is giving up too
much Power to the Crown, and may in Time
deftroy our Liberties.

Landh. This, Sir, has been fet forth as a very
formidable Objection, and therefore I don't mar-
vel that it mould be infilled upon with fo much
Warmth and Acrimony. Magna Cbarta and
Excife, the Antiquity of the former and Etymo-
logy of the latter, are brought as Proofs that
the one mould not be admitted, nor the other
in one Tittle deviated from. This Way of
Talking is admirably well fuited to work upon
a Mob, but can never be relifh'd by fuch who
feparate and diftinguifh what others afficluoufly
labour to perplex and confound.

Magna Cbarta is but an Act of Parliament,
and indeed a very valuable one, but is no more
the Conllitution than any other Act. The pre-

fent

(.25 )

fent Conftitution is framed and erected upon all
thcfe Acts which have parTed fince Magna Chart a,
as well as upon fome Part of that. Was it a
furRcient Reafon for the Excife- Bill's not palling,
if it was in fome Degree contrary to MagnU
Charta, it would alio follow, that the whole
Conltitution, as at prefent eftabli'Vd, muft be
unhing'd, becaufe many of thofe Acts of Par-
liament, whereon it is now founded, are in Op-
pofition to Magna Charta: But to come clofer
to your Objection.

AH Schemes for railing the publick Revenue
may juftly be denominated better or worfe, as
they are more or lets practicable in collecting
the Money propofed by Parliament- If a Scheme
be propos'd, where the Community is liable to
fuch Expences in recovering their Rights from
Individual.", that the one Part is expended to col-
lect and obtain the other, fuch a Scheme is ra-
ther a Burthen and Vexation to the Subject, in
their individual as well as collective Capacity,
and no Benefit whatfoever.

Juries muft be allow'd an ineftimable Bleffing,
when confider'd (as fignified and intended by
Magna Charta) a Security againft any Encroach-
ments of the Crown -, yet they are liable to
many juft Objections and great Inconveniencies,
if there mould be no other Way to determine
Difputes m the Collection ■ of the publick Re-
venue. Where the Claim is made by Virtue of
any Prerogative inherent in the Crown, Juries
could not be difpens'd with, without endanger-
ing our Liberties. For when the Conteft is be-
tween the King and Subject, and the Extent of
his Prerogative is in IfTue, it equally affects
every Subject ; and therefore Tryals by Juries

D in

(26)

in fuch a Cafe conftitute the People Judges of
their own Caufe •, which is a moff invaluable
Barrier to our Liberties, and upon no Account
whatfoever fhould be fufFered to be broke in
upon.

When a Controverfy lies between Subject and
Subject either, Juries then muft be judg'd impar-
tial ; and as they are fuppos'd to live in
'viceneto, they are prefum'd to be acquainted
with the Characters of the contending Parties,
their Witnefies and Circumftances, and thereby
the better capacitated to determine where Cre-
dit ought to be given, when any Contrail arifes
in their Evidence.

But it will be difficult for Gentlemen to fhew
that the fame Advantages are to be expected
from a Jury ex vieeneto, when the Conteft is not
between the Prince and the People, or Subjecl:
and Subjecl:, but between the Subjecl: and the
whole Republick. When the Conteft lies be-
tween a Subject and the whole Community,
Juries cannot be fuppos'd to have any Know-
ledge but of one Party ; viz. the individual
Subject under Profecution : And knowing him
only, will naturally be under a ftrong Bias to
favour their Acquaintance. A fmall Experience
in human Nature will thoroughly convince us,
that no Men are equally anxious for the Pub-
lick in general, as they are for their Friends,
and thole they have fome perfonal Knowledge
of : Juries therefore cannot be fuppos'd fo im-
partial and unprejudiced, in judging between their
Friends or Acquaintance, and the Publick, as
between one Friend or Acquaintance, and ano-
ther. In ronfirmation of this, it is obfervable
that in all thofe particular Places of the King

dom,

( 27 )

dom, where the Practice of {defrauding the Pub-
lick prevails, and is become cuftomary and fafhi-
onable, the whole Neighbourhood in general
is prejudic'd in Favour of thofe Practices, and
judge 'em inoffenfive without the leaft Re-
morfe •, and therefore Juries being viceneto,
renders them more liable to Sufpicion of Pre-
judice and Partiality. Where Deer-ftealing and
Running of Brandy are daily practis'd, the whole
Neighbourhood look on them as harmlefs and
molten five as Vapfts do pious Frauds ; and the
Laws to reftrain and obftruct them, as fo many
ievere Encroachments on their Liberties.

Had the Excife-Bill pafs'd, the Subject could
not poflibly have received any Injury from the
Crown, though they had been depriv'd of Try-
als by Juries •, becaufe every Motive to Injury
and Oppreffion was abfolutely taken away.
For that Part of the Duty upon Wine and To-
bacco, which is appropriated to his Majeftfs
Civil Lift -Revenue, for the Support of his Royal
Houfhold, was, by the Scheme, to have been
collected at the Cuftomhoufe, under thofe Laws
as it always has been. So that the Whole,
fchem'd to have been raifed by this Mutation,
would have went into the publick Treafure of
the Nation, and not one fingle Penny into the
' private Coffers of his Majefty, as has been dif-
honourably and invidioufly infmuated.

All Contefts therefore arifing from the Ex-
cife, and friable by their Laws, would not have
been between the Crown and Subjefl, bin; be-
tween the Publick and every Delinquent. What
Interelt then, Sir, can it be to the Crown, whe-
ther any Conteft between Subject and Subject,
^or between one Subject and the whole Body, be
D 2 decided

( 28 )

decided by a Jury or not ? Let the Event turn
out as it will, the Crown cannot pofiibly be
any ways intereftcd in it.

To furmife that iheCommiJ[ioqers, when it is
abfokitely out of their Power to recommend
themfe'ves to a Prince or a prime Minijler^
fhould, meeriy from a Spirit of publick Op-
prefficn, tyrannize over the fair Trader, is fuch
a wild and romantick Suggeihon, that cannot
enter the Heart of any Man, but fuch who
take all Men's Souls to be as corrupt, bafe,
and vitiated as their own.

But further; a Jury can only determine Facts.
Now all exciieable Commodities are legally feiz-
able, when they are catch'd without the proper
Certificate, a Permit. The Negative therefore
in this IiTue is felf-evident and incontestable \
for a Jury cannot find that a Trader has a
Permit, when the fame cannot be produced •, or
that he had regiiter'd' his Houfe as a Trader,
when the Registry -Books manifeft the Reverfe.
Was every Con reft of this Sort arifmg in the
Excife to be deter min'd by Juries and Forms
of Law, there muft be all the neceiTary and ex-
penfive Pleadings previous to fuch Tryal •, and
as the Decision would chiefly hinge upon fome
finglq Fact in Queition, which in its Nature is
apparent a Jury cannot find a Verdict of the
'i ruth of a Fact upon their Oaths, contrary to
common Senfe, and the Evidence before them.
Tn:y cai t find a Man has a Permit when
. he n a Jury hns found fuch

a Fact, by •' . the Judge muft

gjve Judgmer,:, according to the Letter of the
Law, for all Forfeitures and Penalties ineurr'd
fuch cittermin'd Fact, without any Power

of

( 29 )

.of Mitigation whatfoever : So that every Mif-
take or Inadvertency might prove as fatal to
an innocent and honourable 'Trader in Weftminfter-
Hall, as a corrupt defigning Fraud in a Smuggler.
In fhort, Sir, they who infift upon the great Ne-
ceffity of a Jury to try Fads fo , felf-evidenr,
or are weak, or wicked enough to lay this De-
privation of Tryals by Juries is contrary to
Magna Cbarta, may with equal Reafon affirm
that Euclid's Elements are contrary to Magna
Cbarta, becaufe they are arbitrarily determined
by Demonfi ration only, and not by a Jury :
Nor, according to thefe Men, can any Law
whatfoever be enacted without, in fome Mea-
fure, infringing upon Magna Cbarta.

The Comjnijp. oners of Excife, Sir, confider'd
in their juft Pofition and Attitude, between the
Publick and every private Offender againft the
Publick, will rather appear as Mitigators and
Mediators of the Law, than as Judges or Pro-
fecutors, as has been infamoully aifei ted by Men
who will dare to fay any Thing. For, by the
Letter of the Law, there are few Things chal-
leng'd before them, but what are feizable : But
when any Circumitances arife upon Evidence,
in the leaft Appearance fubftantial ; as that the
Goods have become feizable by Accident, Over-
fight, or Inadvertency, they are redeliver'd to the
Proprietor, and all Fines, Forfeitures and Pe-
nalties remitted : Which is fuch an Eafe to the
Trader, that Courts of Law, where Juries are
a'low'd, cannot give.

This, Sir, is the well known Conduct of thofe
Gentlemen, whofe Characters have, notwithstand-
ing, been fo infamoufly tradue'd : Nay, fuch
favourable Conceffions have they been known

to

( 3° )

to make to the Trader, that when Goods have
been regularly feiz'd and lawfully condemn'd ;
yet if afterwards there was room to fufpect any
Partiality in the Evidence, the Commijjioners
have upon all fuch Occafions advis'd the Trader
to petition ; thereupon granted a Re-hearing,
and revers'd their former Judgment.

Nor can we have any reafonable Apprehen-
flons of their ever Acting otherwife ; fince the
■ Crown would have been totally difinterefted in
committing any Opprefiion or Hardfhip upon
the Trading Subject. The Crown would have
been meerly mimfierial in the Collection of this
Part of the Revenue, and acted by Virtue of its
executive Power only. Whether there be more
or Ids arifing from the Excife, it cannot affect
the Prerogative \ fo that all this Clamor and
iham Zeal for Liberty, is palpably defign'd to
mifguide and difaffect the People. Throughout
this Controverfy, Ge?itlemen purpofely con-
found and unite Ideas, that Reafon points out
to be clearly feparated and diftinguifh'd. Thus
have they renrefented Magna Charta and the
vjhele Cor.ftiiution, as one and the fame Thing ;
the Prerogative, or Power inherent in the Perfon
of the King independent of the Legijlature, and
the executive Power, or that Power entrufted
in the King by the Legijlature, as fynonymous •,
the publick Revenue of the Kingdom, as the
private Income and Riches of the King himfelf ;
than all which nothing can be more wicked,
thus to imDofe upon the weak Underftandings
of the Commonalty, who, they know, cannot
eafily make thefe proper Diftinctions.

What I am not a little furpriz'd at, is, that
Traders,, of a fudden, mould grow fo fond of

Wefi-

( 3* )

Wejlminfter-llall Procefies. In the CourCe of
my Experience, Sir, I never heard of a Trader,
unlefs a very litigious one indeed, that p refer' d
their Determinations to thofe of the CommiJJio-
ners of Excife ; and therefore we may fufpedt
thefe Gentlemen are either not in earned, or
don't underftand what they talk about. A Sum-
mary Way will moft expedite Trade, and is
confonant with their own fpontaneous Practices
of having Recourfe to Arbitration rather than
Law ; and as every Motive to Partiality was
taken away from the CommiJJioners, they may
be juftly confider'd in that Light.

Had this Deprivation of Juries beenjudg'd
areal Hardfhip to Traders, when cooly and
difpaffionately difcufs'd by Parliament, and not
made a* warm Party- Affair of, it is not to be
doubted but Juries would have been granted.
Hut, if Traders had their Option, we mould
foon fee whether they would not rather vifit
the CommiJJioners than Weft minjier -Hail ; rather
have the Privilege of pleading their own Caufe,
and giving a Narrative of their own Evidence,
in a concife and unexpenfive Manner, than to
be oblig'd to tedious Attendancies, and feeing
Council, Attorney and Solicitor.

If the CommiJJioners of the Excife are fuch
Oppreffors as we have been told they are, I
think thofe Traders, who at prefent are under
the Excife-Laws, have no (mall Reafon to be
angry with the Oppofers of this Scheme ; be-
caufe it propos'd the Juftices of the Courts of
Kings- Bench, and Common-Pleas, and Barons of
the Coif of the Court of Exchequer as Checks
upon them : All Appeals being Jrom the Com-
miffioncrs to the Judges ; and to be carried on

in

( 32)

in the Tame plain, eafy and unexpenfive Way
as'is daily done before the Commiffioners. Does
fuch a Propofition as this look like a Defign
upon our Liberties? What can be more con-
defcending to the Humour of Traders ? What
indicate more Tendernefs and Regard to the
Eafe of the Subject, than to change the Laws,
that have been fo many Years eftablifh'd, and
never 'till now judg'd oppreffive, in Compliance
to a Spirit that has been rais'd meerly by Art
and Mif-reprefentation ?

This propofed Alteration, indeed, has been fet
forth in a very low Light, and as no extra-
ordinary Grant ; but, I cannot but think dif-
ferently of it •, and fo mull all Traders too, un-
lefs the fcurrilous Invectives that have been call
upon the Commiffioners are groundlefs.

Judges of the Common-Law, who are plac'd
in the mod confpicuous Point of Light, and
whofe Determinations are facredly recorded a-
midfl the pureft Syftem of Reafoning and Juftice,
that human Nature is capable of, can hardly
be fuppos'd to forfeit their Honour and Repu-
tation upon account of a paultry Seizure; which,
as I have before fhewn, is a Conteft between
the Pubiick and Individuals, and therefore can
admit of no Incitement to Injultice.

'Tis true they are put in by the Crown, but
it is for Life ; and can it be fuggefted, that,
three of thofe Sages mould be Confederates in
Opprefiion ; Men diftinguifh'd in all Ages for
their great Wifdom and Integrity, and among
whom there is generally an Emulation to excel
in Wifdom and Uprightnefs ?

Mer. You pafs by, Sir, unanfwer'd the grand
Objection, viz. that Officers who have a Share

of

f 33 )

of the Forfeiture are allow'd to be Evidence
again ft the Subject, and are therefore under a
very ftrong Temptation to be partial in their
Evidence in Prejudice to the Trader : Which is
vifibly repugnant to the Conftitution, and all
known Rules of Law and Equity.

Lanclh. You do well, Sir, to remind me-,
that Particular had flip'd my Notice. Thefe
Objectors make no Difference between Offences
committed by one Individual againft another,
and Oifences committed by Individuals agiinft
die whole Community ; whereas nothing is more
diftinct, nor requires more different Methods
in their Dccifion.

It is true, in determining Contefts between
Individuals, no Perfon is allow'd to be a Wit-
nefs who has an Intereft in the Event; but
why ? Becaufe perfonal Intereft is judg'd an
Excitement fufRcient to profecute Offences com-
mitted againft themfelves. Difinterefted Perfons
upon fuch Occafions are always ready to give
their Teftimony •, but Offences of a publick Na-
ture are attended with a Lukewarmnefs and In-
differency. Experience puts it beyond difpute
that Men never have it fo much at Heart to de-
tect, profecute,or bear witnefs againft publick Of-
fenders, as againft the perfonal Injurers of them-
felves, Friends, Relations or Neighbours. Now,
as it is of the higheft Moment and Concern to So-
ciety, that Offences of a publick Nature fhould
becxemplarily punifh'd, there muft of Neceflity
be fome political Means ufed to encourage Men
to publick Profecutions. Upon this Confidera-
tion it is that the Legislature, and the greateft
Sages in the Laws, have alway wifely admitted
Men to be good Witneffes, who had an Ad-
E vantage

( 34 )

vantage in convicting the Offender ; even in
Cafes where the Offence is capital. Not only
the Laws of Great Britain admit of this, but
thofe of all civiliz'd and well-policy'd States
abound with Inftances of this Sort.

This Privilege however is not only allow'd
to Excife-Officers ; but every common Subject,
who has no Place under the Government, has
equal Right to give Information •, and upon
Conviction of the Offender is entitl'd by Law
to the Reward. If your Objection, Sir, be an
Argument againft paffing the late Excife-Bill,
then, by Parity of Reafon, all Laws for de-
tecting Highway-Men and Robbers ought to be
repeal'd, and none fhould be puniih'd for Of-
fences committed againft the Publick, 'till we
can find fuch God-mortals among us, as to put
them fe Ives to the Expence and Trouble of pro-
fecuting publick Offenders, meerly and only
from a pure Spirit of Patriotifm and publick
Good. The Reluctancy in Men to bring pub-
lick Offenders to Juftice, appears in jnothing
more confpicuous and unqueftionable, than by
the Law that is made to prevent the Compound-
ing of Felony. The admitting Evidence, there-
fore, who have an Intereft in the Event, is an
Exigency of all States, and Exeifemen are as
much Neceflitudvies Reipublic<z, as any other
Friends to Society.

Mer. You feem to have thought clofely about
the Subject, Sir John, indeed ; but there are
divers other Objections, which with me are of
no inconfiderable Weight ; and may put you
pretty much upon the Stretch to get over. Trade,
Sir, you are fenfible, cannot be fupported but
by a mutual Confidence among the Trading

World.

( 35 )

World, his in the Power of Excifemen often-
times to deftroy a Man's Credit, by reprefent-
ing of his Circumftances, by prying into the Se-
crets of Trades, fetting them up without hav-
ing duly been brought up to 'em, and by giv-
ing Information of the State and Currency of
a Man's Bufinefs : So that Traders may be in-
fenfibly ruin'd, and remain totally ignorant of
the Caufes of their Misfortune.

Landh. This Objection has been warmly band-
ed about, as well by the antiminifierial Mer-
cenaries, as by fome prating Demagogues ; but,
with all the Reafon I am Matter of, I could never
difcern that Strength in it, that fome have pre-
tended to difcover.

From the Reafons I urg'd before, why Officers
cannot be worfe than other Men, may be in-
ferr'd they are no better. But the great Impro-
bability, or rather Impofllbility, of their ever
doing Injury to Traders by any fuch Meafures,
will render this Objection very frivolous. For
Officers have no Power to learn the Myftcries
pf their Trades •, the Time they have to dif-
patch their Bufinefs, will nor allow 'em to make
Enquiry or Obfervation fufhcient for any fuch
Purpofe. The utmoft they can pofTibly learn
is, whether a Trader be a confiderable, a fmall,
or a trifling Dealer; and this is no more than
what any one may know, if they have Curi-
ofity to be inquifitive into others Affairs. The
Trader is only to enter what he fells for pub-
lick Infpection, not what Credit he gives or
takes, or the honed Secrets and Myfteries in
manufacturing his Commodities.

Let it be admitted, as I imagine it will fcarce

be controverted, that in all the Shops furvey'd

E 2 by

( 36 )

by a fingle Excifeman, there are an hundred Ser-
vants, either with Clerks and Book-Keepers, or
f Xenial, alway refident in their Mailer's Bufinefs,
and more privy to their Secrets than it ispoffible
ior, Excifemen to be by tranfient Surveys: Thefe
Servants alfo are generally pretty converfant with*
one another, change their Places, compare Notes,
and communicate their Knowlege of their Maf-
ter's Secrets thro* an hundred of them. Now,
if we admit a Common Officer to collect as much
Knowledge of the Privacies of the feveral Trad-
ers they furvey, as the whole hundred Sevants,
("which, by the way, is not very poffible), of
what Detriment to Traders can the additional
Knowledge of a poor Officer be, "when their
Myfteries are knowable by fo many be fides?
What may be known to fo many can never be
a Secret long ; and therefore this Rumour of
the Difcovery of Traders Secrets is meer Gri-
mace, and only to be laugh'd at by Men of
Senfe, who fee thro' fuch Cobv/eb Traih.

Should it be faid, that there is not fo much
Danger of a Servant's betraying his M after, as
there is of an Excifcman, becaufe the Servant is
liable to an immediate Difcharge, upon the fir ft
Detection of his Infidelity, I anfwer •, that every
M after has the fame Power of difchargirg an
Of.cer as well as a common Servant, provided
he can prove that he has prejudic'cl him m his
Trade-, and that before the Cofnmtfji oners, by
reprefenting the Cafe with fuch Circumftances
or Truth, as may give full Conviction or the
Charge againit him. And I may deiy the Pub-
lick to produce even one Iriftance where any
Complaint of that Sort was ever made, with
/ leaft Colour of Truth to fupport it, and

that

( 37 ) •

that the Officer was not immediately dif-
charg'd.

The next Part of your Argument, Sir, I think
very trivial indeed ; but as many have not been
afham'd to' urge it, I fee no Reafon why I mould
fcruple to aniwer it. It is this •, That Officers
have fometimes prefum'd to fet up a Bufmefs
they furvey, without being regularly bred to it.
It is not impoffible but, at fome Time or other,
fome of thefe poor Slaves may have had the
Ambition to fet up a Publick Houfe, or a
Chandler's Shop, as thoufands of Footmen have
done ; but I never heard that their deep Know-
ledge by Inflection, ever made them fo wife
as to venture upon a Tallow-Chandler, Brewer,
or Diftiller, &c. A thouland Objeciions of this
Sort will fcarce weigh clown, in the Scale of
juit Argument, a thoufandth Part of one of the
publick Advantages that would accompany the
pefign, was it put in Execution. Sometimes
thefe poor Fellows are painted in the black' ft
Colours \ as ignorant, indolent and imperious
Creatures, unfit for any Thing but Excijemrp :
At other Times they are the moil penetrating,
fagacious, diligent and well-behav'd Enquirers
into the great Myiteries of Mankind!

For an Exciseman to know the Circumfcances.
of a Merchant, any otherwife than the Publick
does by his Exports and Imports, is very im-
probable -, nor can it enter into my Head liow Re-
tailers can furfer in this Refpect. Country Shop-
Keepers deal in thirty or forty different Commo-
dities, and perhaps half-a-dozen of 'em only ex-
cited ones ; how a Knowledge of one fifth or
fixth Part of their Bufmefs fhould enable an Officer
to fpread the Whole of a Trader's Circumflances,

or

( 3« )

or make any Report thereof that would be cre-
dited, is to me an inexplicable Paradox.

However, Sir, fuppofing all the Secrets, and
all the Circumftances of Traders in general
were laid fairly and nakedly open to the World,
it might prove a national Biefiing, for ought
I know. This, I prefume to affirm, would be
one happy Confequence •, that Bankrupts, and
Cheats would not be fo numerous : Traders
would be more upon their Guard, live fui table
to their Fortune and Condition, and drive to
fupport their Credit by Honour and Honefty,
not by Craft and Knavery.

But,, Sir, if you will permit me to appeal to that
infallible Touchltone, Experience, the Objection
will appear to be of no Weight at all. For fo
far have Excifes prov'd from being any real Pre-
judice to Traders, that as many confiderable
Eftates have been acquir'd by the Sale of ex~
cifed Commodities, as by any that are not .fo.
To fupport me in this Affertion, I need only
mention the reputable Names of Braver, Dif-
tiller, Leather 'feller, Soap-boiler, Druggiji, &c.
which are univerfally efteem'd fome of the mod
profitable Trades in the Nation ; and therefore
the Excife is very far from making Beggars of
thofe who are under its Laws.

Mer. The Objections I have hitherto made,
Sir, are of little Weight in comparifon with
what I have to offer. There is a Pamphlet lately
publihYd, Sir, entitled, a Letter from a Member
of Parliament, giving Reafons for his oppofing the
Excife- Scheme, Jhewing that had the late Attempt
fucceeded, it had been deflrnclive of Parliaments,
and fatal to the Conjlitntion. As but a few Days
are pafs'd fince I read it, the Subftance is freih

in

( 39 )

in my Memory. The grand Argument by
which he has prov'd his AiTertion, feems to me
the moil cogent that has ever yet been urg'd
againft the Bill : It runs thus, viz. cw That
'* this Scheme would have fettled all the Re-
il venue arifing from it in Perpetuity upon the
" Crown, which would deftroy that mutual
" Dependency between Princes and Parlia-
" ments." For thus the Author argues ; " His
" Majefty is necefiary to us for the End of
" Government, Protection. We are necefiary
"to him for the Means, Money. Now,
" whatever tends to weaken or deftroy this
<c mutual Neceffity, muft of Courfe deftroy
" that Harmony, by taking away the funda-
" mental Caufe of it. That this would have
<c been the Cafe, had the late Attempt fuc-
" ceeded, will be evident, if you confkier that
*\ thofe Duties were to have been given in Per-
" fetuity inftead of a Land-Tax granted an-
" nuatty, and appropriated to the current Ser-
*' vice of the Year as the Wifdom of Parlia-
" ment judg'd neceifary."

Landb. The Pamphlet you mention, Sir, was
fent me down laft Week : Which I muft allow
to be drawn up in a very artful and elaborate
Manner. The Argument you have pitch'd upon,
indeed, is the chief in the Performance •, and
becaufe its Authors are very fond of it, have
retail'd in again in the Craft fman. But if this,
Sir, be all they have left to fay for themfelves,
I hope foon to undeceive you.

As the Law ftands at prefent, all Wine and
Tobacco ought to pay fully flich certain Duties,
as by Ad of Parliament are legally impos'd
upon them. The whole Sum which mould arife as

( 4° )

a Duty upon every Pound of Tobacco, and every
Pint of Wine imported into, and confumed in
this Kingdom, is already charged, granted, ap-
propriated and limited in as full a Manner
as by the intended Bill was propofed : By
which there was to have been no new Charge
laid, or any Thing granted, appropriated or
perpetuated, but what was actually fo before ;
and has been for many Years. Your Author's
Insinuation therefore of the intended Excife be-
ing a perpetual Fund, in Oppofition to the
Cujloms not being fo, is an Inftance of the
greateif. Difingenuity ■, and (hews to what con-
temptible Shifts thefe Gentlemen are reduc'd, to
keep up the Spirit they are fo indefatigable to
encourage.

If it be faid, they oppofe the Perpetuity of the
Cufloms to the annual Duration of the Land- Tax
to be taken off, yet the Confequence they draw
of the Danger to Parliaments is remote from
the Point ; becaufd whether the Land-Tax be
continued or difcontinued, thofe Duties wi'l ne-
verthelefs remain an appropriated Fund for the
Support of the State. For our Anceftors have
very wifely judg'd not to make the Land-Tax
a perpetual Fund, as thefe Gentlemen contend
for, but only have appropriated Taxes upon
foreign Luxuries and Superfluities.

Thefe Gentlemen therefore, Sir, are now re-
duced to this plain Qjeftion •, whether the Pre-
vention of Frauds in the Collection cf thefe
Duties, in order to eafe the Land, can have
any fuch Effect as to defcroy that mutual De-
pendency necefiary to be preferv'd between
Princes and Parliaments, and thereby to render
their Meetings lefs frequent ? If they fay it can -,

then

(;M )

then it will follow, from their own Way of
Reafoning, that the more Frauds that are com-
mitted in the Collection of any Branch of the
Revenue, the greater Prefervation will it be to
the Conftitution % becaufe it is certain that it
will be neceffary for the Parliament to meet
the oftner to raife Money to fupply thefe frau-
dulent Deficiencies* Nay, fo far may this ad-
mirable Argument of theirs be carried, that
thole who were guilty of Burglary, and actually
robbed the Exchequer, or ihall ever hereafter
rob it, are the moil eminent Patriots, and con-
tribute by fuch Robberies to the Prefervation of
the Conftitution: For thereby it is certain that lefs
will come into the Exchequer, Princes will have
lefs to mifapply, and there will be more frequent
Occafions for the calling of Parliaments, to lay
new Taxes to makeup for thefe Loffes occafion'd
by Smuggling and Robbery. Thus, Sir, have thefe
penetrating Politicians made a moft notable Dif-
covery; which they may regifler in their politi-
cal Canon ; viz. That Robbers of the publick
Revenue, and Plunderers of the Exchequer are
fome of the great efl Benefactors to the State.

From that Author's Way cf Arguing, one
would be apt to imagine the Sum, purpos'd to
be rais'd by the Excife-Scheme, was immenfly
great, that, as he fays, it would put a Stop
to the Affembling of Parliaments to raife more.
The utmoft that the Surplus has ever been
fuppos'd to arife to, is but 500,000 /. a Year,
juit a Sufficiency to eafe the Land ; which is
not above one eleventh Part of the whole na-
tional Revenue •, and yet, according to their
new Way of Reafoning, the Meeting of Par-
liaments would not have been neceffary to raife

F the

' ( 42 )

the other Part. Tho' fome Part of the other
ten Elevenths may be afcertain'd to the Publick,
yet if the Parliament always takes Care- of a
confiderable annual Referve in their own Breaft,
there can be no Danger of the Deftruction of
that mutual Neceffity and Harmony between
Princes and Parliaments, becaufe the fundamen-
tal Cauie thereof will ftill fubfift.

When thefe Gentlemen think to fhew, that
the Scheme might have prejudic'd the Confti-
tution, they magnify the Sum it would have
rais'd to an enormous Size •, even to fo great a
Degree, that it would have render'd Parliaments
unneceflary, and been deftrucYrve of their very
Being : But when they are in a Strain for ex-
ploding the Scheme, and (hewing its Ineffici-
ency to anfwer the End propos'd ; (viz. the
Eaie of the Land), then they fink the Sum to
a very diminutive Degree : So that thefe two con-
tradictory Arguments deftroy the Force of each
other. By the firft they tacitly acknowledge
the Extenfivenefs of the Frauds at the Cufio?ns,
becaufe the Prevention of 'em would have pro-
duc'd fo confiderable a Surplus ; by the latter
they reprefent the Surplus to be fo minute and
inconfiderable, that it is impoffible it mould
have any fuch Effect upon Parliaments : By
their pretended anticonftitution Argument, they
confers the Necefiity of a Scheme to prevent
the Frauds ; by the other, the Impoffibility of
fuch a Scheme being of any Prejudice to the
Conftitution. How natural you fee, Sir, is it
for Truth to break out, tho' ever fo much dif*
guis'd and invelop'd with Error !

But I have not, yet, done with this Ar-
gument of theirs ; for it may very dextroufly

be

(43 )

be applied, by thefe firft-rate Politicians, a*
well againft the Encreafe of our Trade, as a-
gainft the Excife-BilL For if his Majejly, by
any wife Scheme, Treaty, or Negotiation mould
augment our Commerce in general, and thereby
our Exports and Imports to double what they
are at prefent, it is certain, in Confequence
thereof, the Cuftojns would be double what they
are at prefent: But was there any Truth in
what your favorite Writer urges, (from the
Danger of encreafing the Duties,) fuch wife
Conduct in his Majeity, would be equally dan-
gerous to our Liberties, with the Excife-Bill ;
becaufe, it is certain, the more Money was rais'd
from thofe Fountains of the publick Revenue,
the lefs would be necefTary to be rais'd from
the Land, Soap and Candles, &c. But your
Author, Sir, cannot relifh taking off Taxes
upon the common Nece Maries of Life, if the
fame Sums are to be rais'd uponforeign Super-
fluities ; no : That is a Doctrine that favours
too much of arbitrary Power, and the Deftrutlion
of Parliaments. But who will believe him ? He
had better fpeak what he thinks, viz. That
fuch a Scheme would only draw the Affections
of the People too much to its Propofers ; and
therefore it is, fuch Gentlemen fo violently op-
pofe it. Whoever Reads the Bill will find, that
Part of the Cuftoms intended to have been con-
verted into an In- land Duty, was to have been
granted to the Crown, only during the Life of his
Majefty and appropriated to the Ufes of the Pub-
lick, as by other Acts, and that Bill, were duly
appropriated. And therefore all that Author's
Reflections on what future wicked Princes pofii -
bly may do, are very low, and for wan: of
F 2 fomething

('44 )

fomcthinp; better to fay •, fince the Parliament
on the Dcmile of every Prince have it in their
Power to grant thefe Taxes annually, if the
Qualifications of tiie SuccciTor do not recom-
mend him to the Confidence of Parliament for
fo great a 'Fruit.

If then thefc Duties are not perpetuated to his
Ma jelly's Succefibr,' but to his Majejly only for
Life i how the Danger of Mifapplication of
publick Money by wicked Princes, fee forth
by that Wr.:ter in fiich hideous Colours, is re-
concilable with the Encomiums beilow'd on
his Majefty in other Parts of his Book, I am
at a Lojs to comprehend. In fhort, Sir, the
natural Confequence of that Writer's Suggeftion,
is limply this ; that thofe large Sums of Money,
which at prefent run into the Hands of national
Robbers and Smugglers, are more likely to be
applied to the Good of the Publick, than if
the fame Sums had been legally depofited into
the Exchequer, and under his Majeiiy's Royal
Care, 5till the fame had been duly appropriated
by Parliament; to the Eafe of the Landed
Jnterejl, as intended, An admirable C pli-
ment on his Majefty, truly ! Bleftow'd on him
without doubt to encreafe tl £iions of his

People tpWaxds him. Thefq <SV;- .. n have
hitherto chofe to v racier of his

efty thro' tl ' his j\itntftfy\ but

; 'V of the Mail:.

jVur. That has another Argu-

: is new 'too ; it is, that tho*
the . // his been reprefented as laying

no new. D ::y, yet it is as great a Fallacy as
ever 'd to a Houfe of Commons. " For

«* «o tiQw i Lands, fays he, it charges

'* t:\c.y

( 45 )

cc every Hogfhead of Wine with fuch a Cuftom
" upon Importation -, which once paid, I may
*c mix, adulterate and compound my Wines as
" I pleafe, without defrauding the Revenue •,
" fince having paid all the Law requires, the
" Revenue has no farther Demand upon me ;
" it is to all Intents my own, and the Puhlick
** has no more to do with it, tho' I make*
" ufe of it as an Ingredient in twenty Hogf-
" heads of Liquor, which I felf by the Name
'.' of Wine. It is true, I defraud the Publick,
" that is my Cuftomer, if I fell ihern for PVine,
" what is not both as pleaiaqt and wholfome
" as Wine \ and io does a Cyder- Mercba;;;, who
" mixes Turnip- Juice with his Cyder ; fo does
" a Goldjmiih, who mixes his Gold, or Silver
" with too much Alloy, &V. This, he fays too,
. " gives a Sanction to fuch Mixtures, by taxing
" them towards the Revenue •, which befides
." the Immorality oi" ir, would be as certainly
" anew Tax, as taxing a whole Manufacture,
tc inftead of one Material ufed in compounding
" it; which Wine only is fuppos'd to be."

Landh. It is obfcrvable, Sir, as I have made
appear in divers Inftances, thefe Objectors con-
found the jufteft Diftin&ions, on purpofe to mif-
lead and perplex their Readers ; and now they
play the common fophiifical Cheat upou us, by
making abfurd Diftin£tions without a Difference.
If, fay they, iC a Vintner pays all the Law
" requires, he does not rob the Publick :" But
theft? Men will not confider that tho* the Vintner
has paid fuch a Duty as the Law requires, yc r.
if he does not fell Wine, but 'any Quantity of
Mixture amongft it (we will fuppole one Half)
he Itill defrauds the Publick ; lince it will not

be

(46 )

be deny'd, that every Man who drinks a Pint
of Wine, and a Pint of poifonous Liquors with
it, thinking them a Bottle of Wine, would drink
no lefs if his Bottle had been all Wine : From
whence it follows, that the Vintner mud buy
double the Quantity of real Wine, and the
Merchant import proportionably. •, and confe-
quenrly double the Profit would come to the
general Revenue, to the Eafe of other Taxes :
But by felling one Half for Wine, which is not
fo, the Vintner deprives the Publick of one Half
of the Revenue, the Cuflomer of one Half of
vih.it he buys, and the Merchant of one Half of
his Importation ; which is fufficient to fhew, that
the Wine-Scheme would have been an Advan-
tage to all, and a Fountain of Eafe to other
Taxes ; and therefore what may be fuppos'd to
be loft in the general Balance, by encreafing our
Importation from Portugal, would be amply
made up to us, could we Once lower the do-
meftick Expence of our Woolen Goods, fo as
to iiriderfel thofe Nations, which are fo much
ftrivlng to rival us in that invaluable Branch of
our Britifh Commerce.

This Argument, indeed, is founded upon the
Suppofi tibia', that as great a Quantity of real
Wine would be confum'd, as there is now of
their poifonous Compounds. But thefe Gentlemen,
I imagine, will deny this, and fay, that the Vintner
will raife his Price, he not being able to get fo
much by the Sale of neat, as adulterated Wines ;
and' therefore the Confumption would be di-
ininifn'd. Let this for Argument fake be grant-
ed ; and let us fuppofe with them, that they
will raife their Wine Six-Pence, nay, one Shil-
ling in the Bottle j yet it mud be obferv'd,

that

( 47 )

that the Encreafe or Decreafe of the Price of
what is confum'd, would only affect the Con-
fumption in the Proportion „as the Rife or Fall
of the Price happens to be ; fo that if we fup-
pofe it raifed in Price one Shilling per Bottle,
one Third lefs only would be confum'd, and
the confumed two Thirds, being all Wine, would
be one fixth Part more than the whole Quantity
now confum'd, one Half whereof only being
fuppos'd Wine. If the Price was rais'd only Six-
Pence in the Bottle, as would be more proba-
ble, then one Fifth lefs only would be confum'd,
and the confum'd four Fifths, being all Wine*
would be three Tenths more than the whole
Quantity at pfefent confum'd. This Reafoning,
which is mathematically true, will hold good,
let the Quantity adulterated be more or lefs.
But how would obliging the Vintner to pay Duty
for every Bottle he fells as a Bottle of Wine>
give any Sanction to his Adulteration, as that
Author afferts ? Does it take away the Power
of any Law in Force againft him for fuch Practi-
ces ? There is at prefent an In-land Duty on Can-
dles ; and if a fallow -Chandler ufes falfe Weights,
and fells three Quarters of a Pound for a Pound,
would it be any Exemption from Punimment,
or could he elude the Laws againft fuch Trick-
flers, by pleading he had paid Duty for a Pound,
when he had actually defrauded the Buyer of a
Quarter-Part of what he contracted for ?

The pitiful Sophiftry of thofe Writers, Sir,
is ftill farther remarkable in that PafTage you
allude to. « The Term Pttblick, fay they
" (fpeaking of Robbing thePublickJ in one Senfe
" fignifies the Revenue ; in another Place the
" Cuftomers of the Vintner only ; and a High-

" way man

( 48 )

" way man or Pickpocket may as well be faid
" to rob the Revenue as a Vintner, who fells
" compound Liquors." Behold thefe Advocates
for Sophiftication ! By the Revenue, Sir, is al-.
ways underftood, by Men who have no Intent
to deceive, the whole publick- Treafure, levy'd
for the Support of the State ; and by the Term
Publick is plainly meant the whole Community,
or collective Body of the People •, but if the
Publick be confin'd, as that Author would have
it, only to fignify the Cuftomers of the Vintner,
then indeed every Vintner has a Republick to
himfelf, and by cheating them, he only cheats
his own Republick, and not the general Com-
munity. Wonderful Reafoning truly ! A High-
wayman, a Pickpocket, or Trickfter by falfe
Weights, may as well be faid not to rob the
Publick, but only thofe Perfons who fall in their
Way, as a Vintner may, who only defrauds
his Cuftomers. From this impofitious Diftin6tion
of your admir'd Writer, it will appear, that, ex-
clufive of the Revenue, no Man can do an Act
agalnft the Publick, but where all the Indivi-
duals are immediately injur'd. If fuch Reafon-
ing holds g;ood, then all our Laws and Profe-
cutions againft Highwaymen, which have been
founded on a Suppofition, that he who robs one
Man, robs and injures the whole Community,
are fallacious in the very firft Principles ; all the
celebrated Lawgivers of Greece and Rome are,
by thefe Gentlemen, Blockheads ; and all fuf-
fering Highwaymen have been put to Death un-
juttly. In fhort, Sir, this Argument of theirs,
if it proves any Thing, proves, that no Man
merits the Gallows, but fuch Authors who in-
jure the Bulk of the Nation, by wantonly fport-
ing with their Weaknefa and Credulity. Mer.

f 49 )

Mer. As to the Point of Brewing and 'Adul-
teration of Wines, I confefs I am not fharp-fighted
enough to fee how the Scheme would have put
a Stop to thefe Practices, For if Malt-Spirits,
Cyder, Perry, &c. are the Particulars where-
with this Sophiftication is carried on, the Wine-
Coopers and Vintners, whilft the Duty upon
Wines continues fo much higher than upon thofe
adulterating Ingredients, will dill have ftrong
Motives, notwithftanding all the Rigour and
Severity of an Excife-Infpeffion, to Brewing,
and Adulteration, &c. becaufe thofe Mixtures,
when they are made to pay the Duty of Wine,
miy certainly be afforded cheaper than neat
Wines can be imported.

Landb. The Ingredients, Sir, wherewith you
fuppoie this Adulteration carried on, are already
taxed \ fo that the Tax would be double to
fuch Cheats who mifapplied them, but Jingle to
Traders who apply'd them honeftly. Buc what
you contend for is to invert the Cafe -, that ho-
neft Men may pay a double Tax, and Rogues
a fingle one -, which Policy, I think, none can
approve, but they who live by Trick and Cheat,
Pillage, and Plunder. Suppofing an Excife did
not abfolutely (tho' it would in a great Mea-
fure) put a Stop to thofe pernicious Practices,
yet no Man lure can hefitate a Moment in de-
termining which is moft for the publick Good ;
a Tax upon Roguery, or a Tax upon the common
Neceflaries of Life, and the Staple Commodities
of our Country. To make fuch Objections as
thefe, Sir, is only hanging upon the Skirts of
the Controverfy •, nibbling at a few Inconve-
niencies to Traders ; and to fuch only, who deferve
no favourable Treatment from the Community.
G 'Tis

( 5° )

'Tis of little Significancy to difpute about the
Scheme propos'd, 'till this fundamental Point be
fettled j which is the moft eligible ; the Con-
Uerfion of a Duty upon two foreign Superfluities
from Cuftoms to Excifis, or the perpetuating
the Land-Tax ? Had this Proportion been with
Temper difcufs'd by a Parliamentary Inquifiti-
on, I have Reafon to believe, that a Land-Tax
would have appear' d rather prejudicial to Trade,
and the other a general Benefit to it : Nay, had
the Surpluses not been propofed to have been
appropriated to the Eafe of the Landed- Intereji,
but to the taking off any other Tax •, as
that upon Soap and Candles, or the like ; the
Defign would have merited the higheft Ap-
plaufe. For the Eafe of the Planters, and keep-
ing all Traders upon a Level, were of them-
felves fufficient to recommend it. But inftead
of entring into the Bottom of the grand and
eflential Point, Menaces of an Infurre&ion were
fulminated againft the Senate; intimidating
Mobs, Infults, and Cavalcades were rais'd ; and
every kind of Spright that tended to pervert
and mifguide Men's Judgments.

If Senates are to be thus treated, and the
Freedom of Debate obftru&ed, the Throw of a
Die may as well determine what is for the
publick Good, and what not ; and fo, meer
Chance and Accident, inftead of Senatorial Wif-
dom, and Sterling Policy, are to give Laws to
Old England. Thus, Sir, we find Men who
blufter the moft about Liberty of Debate, and
the Freedom of Parliaments, have done the moft
to deftroy both -, and they who cry out fo loudly
for the Liberty of the Prefs, and the Indepen-
dency of Parliaments, would have none write or

fpeak

(5i )

fpeak but themfelves, and the Parliament de-
pendent on the Humours of the Multitude.

Mer. I mall not take upon me, Sir, to juftify
the Conduct of any Men, but confine myfelf clofe-
]y to the Merits of the Caufe *, and therefore I join
Iffue with you, Sir, and recur to the effential
Point, of Eafing the Land, and its neceflary Ef-
fects, which you have fo much infifted on. At
firft, I waved this, thinking, indeed, I fhouJd
have been able to have filenc'd you, without
entring upon this Branch of the Argument.

Landed- Men are always for fhifting the Taxes
upon Commodities, and they imagine themfelves
very politick in fo doing, becaufe they give
themfelves, feemingly, an immediate Eafe ; but
they are only amus'd and deceiv'd. For tho*
they do not pay the Tax feelingly, when it is
upon Commodities j yet, they will find their
Purfes at the Year's End as much emptied :
Their Money, then indeed, goes from 'em by
Dribblets, and imperceptibly, yet at long Run
they pay the fame.

Sir, Agreeable to this, argues that Great
Man Mr. Lock, whofe Authority you have cited
upon other Occafions, and therefore 'tis not to
be queftion'd but you will pay as high a Re-
gard to his Opinion upon this. u Taxes, fays
" he, however contriv'd, and out of whofe
" Hands foever immediately taken, do in a
" Country where their great Fund is in Land,
** for the moft Part terminate upon Land.
tc Whatfoever the People is chiefly maintained
" by, that the Government fupports itfelf on :"
And in another Place he fays, «« A Tax laid
" upon Land feems hard to the Landholder,
«< becaufe it is fo much Money going vifibly
G 2 " out

' (52)

li out of his Pocket ; and therefore as an Eafe
<c to himfelf, the Landholder is always forward
" to lay it upon Commodities : But if he will
" throughly confider it, and examine the Ef-
" feels, he will find he buys this feeming Eafe
" at a very dear Rate, and tho' he pays not
u this Tax immediately out of his own Purfe,
ec yet there will be more wanting there, at the
«' End of the Year, than that comes to, &c."

Befides, Sir, I can't conceive how a Land-Tax
has that Effect upon Trade, you have taken all
along for granted •, and therefore I can't fee how
Trade would be advantag'd by it, was it taken
quite off. A Land-Tax, fo far from being any De-
triment to Trade, appears to me a great Eafe to
it, by keeping Taxes off from Commodities.

Landb. 'Tis true1, Sir, throughout the whole
Debate I have endeavoured to fhew how detri-
mental a Land-Tax is to Trade ; and therefore
how beneficial Taking it off mud neceffarily be.
And fmce you feem not to be fatisfied with what
I have already communicated to yon upon that
Head, I mail take a different way to iiluftrate
this Point.

To prove that the Taking off a Land-Tax
would have thdfe good Effects upon Trcde I
have infilled on, by lowering the Prices of our
Woden Mamijatlure, it is fufneient to mew that
the laying on a Tax upon Land will raife them.
To which End, let us fu'ppofe that the whole
Revenue of the State was t6 be raifed from the
Lands, (which indeed our modern Malecontents
have frequently contended for,) it would a
mount to about Eleven Shillings in the Pound.
This Step would at ence (trip all the Freeholders
of half their Eftr.tes. Now, if: we take a Sur-
vey

(53')

vey of all the" Freeholders in the Kingdom, we
fhall find at leaft one half of them who can
but barely fubfift upon the annual Rent of their
Lands : So that the firft thing that fuch Land-
holders would be neceffitated to do, would be
immediately to enter upon'their own Eftates, and
by their own Labour and Cultivation add to
the original Rent the Profits that now fall to
their Tenants. Such who would become Occu-
piers of their own Lands we may fuppofe to be
one Fourth Part of the Landholders ; which
would neceffarily turn one Fourth of all the
Tenants in England out of their Farms. And
for the Refidue of the Lands to be Lett, there
would be more Tenants than Farms ; who, be-
ing bred to Husbandry and Agriculture, and in-
capable of providing for their Families any o-
ther Way, would bid one above the other for the
Farms-, and thereby, as Mr. Lock fays, raife the
Rents, as much as the Price of any Commodity is
raifed in a Market where there are more Buyers
than Sellers. This muft inevitably raife the
Prices of all the Commodities produced by the
Lands, to enable the Tenants to pay their extra-
ordinary Rents •, and thofe, who held their own
Lands, would of courfe raife their Produce to the
Market Price. Thus the NecefTaries of Life being
raifed by the great Land-Tax, the Labourers, and
Artificers who fubfift upon thofe NecefTaries
muft raife their Labour in Proportion. Hence,
not only the Price of every Ingredient ufed in
the Staple Commodity, Cloth, muft be enhanced,
but the Labour of the firft Manufacturers, and
every labouring intermediate Carrier and Dealer
muft be likewife encreafed, till it comes to the
Hands of the Merchant. Whether thefe Pro-
portions

(5+)

portions I have pitched upon be juft or not, is
immaterial: It is fufficient to my Purpofe that they
mew what muft be the natural Effects of fuch
a Land-Tax. And whatever Tax be laid upon
Land, the Rents and Produce thereof will be
in a continual Flux of Raifing, till the Landlord
finds his Gains to be as great after the Deduction
of that Tax, as before it was impofed. Expe-
rience confirms the Truth of this Reafoning, and
mews that the Land itfelf, and from thence all
the Neceffaries of Life, as well as our home
made Manufactures, have been raifed in their
Price one Fifth Part fince the Land-Tax has been
impofed.

Mr. Lock indeed has been frequently cited in
this Controverfy,to fhew that he was of Opinion,
that a Land-Tax was preferable Taxes upon Com-
modities ; and from his Authority fome have in-
sinuated the Reafonablenefs of laying all Taxes
upon Land at once j but this, Sir, is {training
and perverting the Senfe of that great Man in
order to epprefs the Landholders. " Taxes, fays
<c he, however contrived, and out of whofe Hands
" foever immediately taken, do, in a Country
ec where the Great Fund is in Land, for the moft
" part terminate upon Land." And I remember
in another Part of that fame Piece of Reafoning,
he fays, in Anfwer to Holland's being brought
as an Inftance of laying the Expence of the
State upon Trade, " Lay the Taxes, fays he,
" where vou will, the Land every where in
«' Proportion bears the greater Share. " Thefe
PafTages, Sir, with many other T could produce,
may fuflice to fhew, that the true Meaning of
Mr. Lock, is, That if the Taxes on Commodi-
ties are more than the Proportion of their Value

bears

( 55 )

bears to the Value of Land, fuch iuper-propor-
tionable Charge will not ultimately reft on thofe
Commodities, but continually fluctuate till it
comes and fettles upon the Land, where there
would be, in fuch a Cafe, the greateft Room
to receive it.

Mr. Lock can never mean that Landed Men,
any more than Merchants, pay Taxes upon
Commodities any otherwife than as Confumers
of thofe Commodities. Whilft there is a Tax
upon Commodities, and none upon Land, the
Landed Man pays no Tax as a Landed Man ;
how then can a Tax upon Commodities afreet
his Land, as fuch, any more than a Land-Tax
can affect the Capital of a Money 'd Man which
he keeps in the Funds ?

But Gentlemen have wrefted the Senfe of this
great Author, and made him fpeak their Sen-
timents, not his own ; they have labour'd to
mew that he was an Oppreffor of the Landed-
Men ; and would have all Taxes laid upon them,
and not upon foreign Commodities ; than
which Policy, nothing can be more fatal. In-
deed was our Ifland fo circumftantiated, as to
be independent of all foreign Trade, and con-
fum'd no foreign Superfluities ; and were we to
fubfift on the natural Produce and Labour of its
Inhabitants only ; then, as the whole Mafs of
Property refted and depended upon the Land, the
Land alone muft fupport the State.

• But when the Circumftances of England are
chang'd •, when our foreign Trade is more ex-
tenfive than ever yet was known in this I/land,
and the whole Nation fo greatly encreas'd in
Riches and People, and confequently the Ex-
pence of the State proportionably augment-
ed :

'( 5H

ed .- If in thefe Circ urn fiances, when England
has fo prodigioufly encreafed in Foreign Trade,
and the Land-owrner is itill to maintain the
whole Expence of the State out of the natural
Produce of his Land, the Land-owner's Inte-
reft will become diametrically oppofite to that
of the Nation ; becaufe as the Nation encreafed
in Riches and Grandeur, the Land-owner mud
be proportionably impoverished. Nor would
the Effects of fuch Conduct terminate only in
the diftrefs'd Landholders, but muft end in the
Total Destruction ^ind Subverfion of fuch a Con-
ftitution. For, if the whole Revenue of the
Kingdom mould be levied upon the Land, in a
State conftituted with fmall Territories, the
State might become fo great by its Trade, that
the whole Rents of all the Lands would be fwal-
lowed up in the pubjick Expence. The Land
would be reduced to the Value of Nothing ; and
the Crown having a Right to feize every Man's
Land for its Debts, would inevitably be-
come the Proprietor of all the Lands in the
Kingdom, and be again reinftated in the Capa-
city of the Conqueror. Who, Sir, in fuch Cir-
cumftancs, could reft his Goods, or Hand fecure
on Englijh Ground, without Permiffion from the
Crown ? Where then would be our Britifb Free-
holders to elect a Parliament, when the Lands
are annexed to the Crown ? No Friend to his
Country can think of fuch a State without Trem-
bling,and yet it is the natural Effects of their Po-
liticks, who are for continuing a Land-Tax, and
perfwading us that laying all Taxes in general
upon the Land is the greateft Advantage to Trade.
Mr. Lock fays, Sir, in the fame Treatife you
have quoted, " That a Tax upon Wheat, or

" any

(57 )

" any native Commodity, would make it cheaper
" to the firft Seller, as the Tax making it
<c dearer to the Confumer, it will be more fpa-
'* ringly confumed." But then it muft be con-
sidered, that if our native Commodities were ex-
cijed, and that Part which is exported to go free
from that Tax, it would be an Encouragement
to Exportation ; for that Tax leftens their Price,
and makes them yield lefs to the firft Seller.
Now, if the Merchant who exports, only pays
to the firft Seller, he will confequently export
the cheaper. On the other hand, if the laying
a Tax on our Native Commodities makes them
cheaper to the firft Seller, the taking that Tax
off, and laying it upon Land muft make the
Wool, Flax, &V. dearer to the firft Seller. So that
this Reafoning of Mr. Lock, though he has been
frequently cited as an Authority for laying the
Burthen of the Revenue upon Land, exactly qua-
drates with the whole Chain of my Argument
in Oppofition to it.

I agree with Mr. Lock, that where the Produce
of the Land is charged, it would affect the Land,
by caufing a leffer Confumption, and rendring
the Price lefs to the Tenant ; and if, by a
Sparingnefs in the Confumption, the Produce
mould be render'd one Fourth cheaper, it would
be equally the fame as if the Landlord pay'd it
out of his Pocket, by a Land-fax- But then I
muft infift that the Lofs, which terminates in the
Landholder, by the Tax upon any Species of
Commodities produc'd from the Land, termi-
nates in that Land only which produc'd thofe
Commodities ; and confequently the Lofs by a
Duty on Portugal Wines , French Wines or
Brandy, or any Foreign Production, muft ter-

H minate

(58)

ruinate in the Proprietors in Foreign Lands, not
in the Briti/h Landholder, as Mr. Lock has been
unjuftly made to fay.

To render this Argument indifputable, I will
purfue it a Step farther *, and in the very fame
Path of Reafoning that Mr. Lock himfelf has
ftruck out. Let us fuppofe a great Tract of
Land, capable of bearing nothing but Wheat,
and all the Wheat in England ; and a Tax was
laid upon Wheat only, and all other Commodi-
ties were free from a Tax : Was this the Cafe,
according to Mr. Lock, every one would be-
come fparing in the Ufe of Wheat ; there would
be fewer Buyers, and yet the fame Number of
Sellers, and the fame Quantity of Wheat to fell.
The Price therefore to the Tenant muft be lefs,
and thereupon he will pay his Landlord lefs
Rent. Now, will not this fame way of Reafon-
ing hold equally good, when apply'd to Foreign
Commodities, and Foreign Land ? If it will,
then let us fuppofe a certain Tract of Ground
in France, produc'd all the Wine we confum'd
in England, when that Commodity was import-
ed Duty free -, and afterwards we impos'd a high
Duty thereupon ; would not this leiTen its Con-
fumption here ? For there would, agreeable to
Mr. Lock, be fewer Buyers, and therefore the Te-
nants of the Vineyard muft fell at fuch Prices
as they are able. And as their Prices muft fall
to a low Ebb with the firft Seller, fo confequent-
ly muft the Rents of their Lands. From whence
it moft plainly and evidently follows, that in
any Tax upon Foreign Commodities, that Part
which terminates upon Land, muft terminate upon
the Land of Foreign Countries, and their Occupi-
ers only ; and confenuently the Money railed

by

(59 )

by 'Taxes upon Foreign Commodities is raifed out
of other Countries, to fupply the publick Exi-
gencies of our own.

Should it be objected that our own Subjects
will confume the lame Quantity of Foreign Su-
perfluities when dear, as cheap, thro' their Va-
nity or Luxurioufnefs ; I anfwer abfolutely, they
will not ; and for the Truth of this, I would
only refer to thofe Counties in England, where
French Wine is notorioufly imported without
paying the Duty. I think I may fafely fay,
without any Hyperbole, that there is more French
Wine confum'd in one of thofe Counties, than
there is in any other ten over the Kingdom,
of the fame Number of Inhabitants, where the
Duty is legally and duly paid. But fuppofing
Vanity and Affectation of Grandeur mould
prompt Men to drink French Wine, as plenti-
fully when dear, as cheap, and without a Tax ;
yet thefe muft be money'd Men, and Men of
large Fortunes, who are capable of doing fo ;
and then the publick Expence would be rais'd
from the wealthy Subjects in our own Country ;
and the Land of our own Country, and the Ar-
tificers and Manufacturers necefiarily be eafed ;
and thereby enabled to export our own Manu-
factures the cheaper: And no Man can repine
at the Impofition of any Tax, when it is at his
Option whether he will oblige himfelf to the
Payment of it, or no.

Thus, Sir, I think I have fully and impar-
tially made it appear, that a Tax upon our own
Land is very prejudicial to Trade, and therefote
a Scheme to take it off, and lay it upon foreign
Land, muft be a great Advantage to it. Wh, t
then have Traders been doing of, by their Ru-

H 2 mours

( 6° )

mours and Invectives againfl the Ex cife- Scheme ;
which was mod apparently calculated for their
Benefit in general ; that they might not be
underfold by Foreigners at all the Markets in
Europe, in the prime Commodity of our Na-
tion ? Tho' Wine-Coopers, Vintners, and Tobacco-
Fatlors have decry'd the Defign, fare, the Mer-
chants, Exporters of our Woolen Manufactory
could not do fo : All the Clothiers, their Factors,
all the Tenants, and Freeholders, and every one
any ways concern'd in the Eafement of the Land,
muft applaud it. The Wine Merchants alfo, if
they know their own Intereft, muft commend
the Defign, becauie it would turn the Wine-
Trade into its proper and natural Channel ; their
own Hands : It would wreft it from the Hands
or Wine-Coopers, and Adulterators, who have
engrofs'd that Trade to themfelves, underiel
the honeft Importers, tyrannize over the Ma-
jority 01 Vintners, whom by every Artifice they
make dependent upon 'em, monopolize the whole
Trade into their own Hands, and ferve the
Vintners and the whole Nation with any Sort
of fophifticated Mixtures, that will bring the
mofl exorbitant Gains into their own Coffers.

Mer. Another Point throughout this Con-
troverfy, Sir, that you have all along taken for
granted, is, that the Planters in Maryland and
Virginia would be highly advantag'd by this
Scheme ; that they thinking themfelves grievoufly
oppref-'d by their Factors, voluntarily foliated
the Mini/try to eafe them from their Tyranny.
E'-t I cannot conceive, Sir, of what Beneiir. tins
Scheme could poftibly be to the Planters ; nor
can I think but it was a mimjlerial Artifice to
draw them into -it. Whether the whole Duties

be

( 6i )

be paid immediately, bonded, or paid by Piece-
Meals, as the Goods are difpos'd of, what fig-
nifies it to the Planter? If the Factor can make
any little Advantages by the Allowance at the
Cujtomhoufe for Prompt Payment, how can this
prejudice the Planters ? Their Commiffions, Sir,
are extremely fatigueing to a Fatlor ; they con-
fift of innumerable Particulars, and therefore
require feme Profit extraordinary to execute
them.

Landb. I find, Sir, you fuflfer nothing ma-
terial to efcape your Notice, tho' it renders the
Difpute pretty tedious. But fince you are not
tired with objecting, I muft not be fo with
anfwering. What moft furprizes me, is to hear
an Objection of this Kind, from a Gentleman fo
well vers'd in Trade as yourfelf. I would, to
fet this Point in as clear a Light as I am able,
compare it with your own Trade to Spain and
Portugal in the Woolen Way. For as you ex-
port our Manufactures to be fold in thofe King-
doms by your Fatlor s there, to whom you allow
Commiflion for fo doing ; fo do our Planters in
America fend over to their Factors in England,
Tobacco to be fold here, or exported to other
Parts of Europe. Now, Sir, there is a Duty
in Spain and Portugal upon our Woolen Goods ;
of which, if your Factors clandeftinely avoid the
Payment, would it not be of great Prejudice to
the whole Body of Britijh Exporters ? Would
not the Frequency of fuch Practices fink the
Price of our Woolen Goods, by impowering one
Factor to underfel another ? But the Planters in
America are affected in a much greater Degree ;
becaufe the Circumftances of the Trades differ.
For whilft FacJors, by the Connivance and Cor-
ruption

( 62 )

ruption of Cujlomhoufe-Officers, are capable of
clandestinely evading the Duty of fo confiderable
a Part of the Tobacco that is imported, they not
only prejudice their Brethren the reputable Fatlor s,
but molt grievoufly opprefs the Planter. For
Experience puts it beyond Difpute, that a Fatlor
who has a Quantity of any Commodity, which
by Law ought to pay an high Duty, and yet
pays none, will fell at any Rate, in order to be
preferred to others, who do not take the fame
Meafures ; and by the continued Frequency of
fuch Bargains, every Body is at laft reduc'd to
fuch a Price, as muft difgrace their Manage-
ment with their Correfpondents ; whilft the frau-
dulent Fatlor s can afford to allow thofe that
confign to them fomething out of their Frauds,
fo as to make their Accounts appear much bet-
ter, and thereby raife a great Reputation abroad,
for out-doing their Brethren, which ftill enables
them to do the greater Mifchief.

From the Method of Bonding, Factors are un-
der a great Temptation to fell for Exportation
the Tobaccos entrusted to their Care, without any
Regard to the Price •, and merely to difcharge
their Bonds •, by which means, not only the
Balance of this profitable Branch of Trade is
confiderably leffen'd, by clogging and over-
loading the Markets in Foreign Countries, but
the Commodity is depreciated to a very great
Degree. Thus is it apparent how greatly the
Planter is injur'd in the Sale, and even ibme-
times brought in Debt, while the Fatlor re-
ceives his full Commiiiions, even for the Duty
bonded, and drawn-back by fuch hafty Expor-
tation, which in this Cafe feems to be his prin-
cioal View.

Was

( 63 )

Was the Tobacco excifed, Merchants, having
no Temptation to do otherwife, would keep the
Tobacco here, 'till it was wanted abroad ; the
Buyers there would, in Regard to their own
Intereft, not exceed the prelent Exigencies of
the Market, and yet perhaps there would not
be a Scarcity of Buyers in feveral Parts of Eu-
rope, for the whole Quantity imported, above
what may ferve the Home-Confumption.

I nec?d not mention to you, Sir, who are fo
well acquainted with Affairs of this Kind, how
grievous and injurious to the Sureties bound
with the Merchant to the Crown, this Practice
is ; fince by this means they continue fubjecl:
to the Debt, Jong after the Tobacco for the Du-
ties of which they were bound, has been either .
exported, or fold for Home-Confumption ;
which has been the unfortunate Cafe of almoit
all thofe who were Security for fuch Merchants as"
died, or broke indebted to the Crown, many
of whom have been undone thereby.

The Method of difcharging old Bonds by
new Importations, contrary to Law, and even
contrary to the Oath taken by the Importer, is
attended with other ill Confequences. By this
means the Factor is enabled to get into his
Hands a confiderable Sum of Money, to be
employ 'd/ in Trade, at Intereft, or in any other
Manner that he thinks proper, to the Hazard of
the Revenue. And if he is a bold unfuccefsful
Adventurer, the more Bondfmen are in Danger
of being involved in his Misfortunes: This be-
ing confidered, makes it no Wonder to fee bold
Attempts for Frauds, either Inwards or Out-
wards, to extricate themfelves out of fuch Dif-
ficulties. And whilft thefe Temptations remain,

Frauds

( 64)

Frauds will go on, and the Planters muft
fuffer.

The cuftomary Allowance to the Factor is ge-
nerally three per Cent. Two and a Half for Sale,
and the other Half for infuring Debts ; and who-
ever defires to be infur*d, muft fubmit to pay fo
much upon the whole Duties, not only for the
Tobacco fold for Home-Confumption, where there
is a Hazard, but for that which is exported to
Foreign Markets, where there is no Duty at all ;
which is an intolerable Burthen to the Planters.
But if Factors were difcharged from giving
Bonds, they could have no Pretence to charge
Commiffion upon the no?ninal Duty on exported
Tobacco, which would eafe the Planters of many
Thoufinds a Year, in this {ingle Article only.
Had the Excife taken Place, all thefe Hardfhip.s
would have been effectually prevented ; the Gre-
vances of Planters would have been redrefs'd ;
Bonding would have ceafed, and therefore all its
fatal Confequences to Sureties, Faclors, and
Planters ; Factors would have been upon an E-
quality, and young Gentlemen of fmall Fortunes
and fair Characters might partake of a Share of
the Commiffion Bufinefs from our Plantations ;
who would do it cheaper for the Planters than
what it is at prefent, and acquire handfome For-
tunes by it too. For as this Branch of Trade
then would not require large Sums to be ad-
vanced for Duties, nor require Bondfmen to
the Crown, Which is very difficult to obtain ;
fo nothing would be necefTary in a Faflor, but
a good Underftanding, good Acquaintance, and
Credit.

Commiffion Bufinefs, Sir, you know has been
always efteem'd the bed, becaufe the fecureft

Branch

(65 )

Branch of Bufinefs. There is Money enough to
be got by it, without the exorbitant Gains by
Frauds, and Difcount for Prompt Payment of
the Duties. Factors when they buy large Quan-
tities of our Manufactures together for feveral
Planters, they buy them at cheap Rates, but
they take Care generally to charge the full
Market Price -, which is another Fountain of
Gain ; and may ferve as an Anfwer to the extra-
ordinary Fatigue, you hinted at, they have in buy-
ing fuch Variety of Particulars ; in which mere
is little Trouble, when a Man has his Tradcfmen
ready to furnifh him.

The Article of ten per Cent, allow'd for
Prompt Payment of thefe Duties, was intended
by Parliament as an Advantage to the Planter ;
but this is turn'd into the Fatlor\ Channel of
Gain. Tho' the Fatlors account this the moft
beneficial Perquifit to themfelves, yet it proves
the Reverfe to the Planter, if he can afford to
depofit Money in his Faclor\ Hands for that
Purpofe. For one hundred Hogfheads of To-
bacco he muft lodge eighteen hundred Pounds
in his Factor's Hands , when this is done, ano-
ther hundred Hogmeads is fent the nest Year ;
but the former Confignment is either not fold,
or no' Money received upon it, which makes
it necefifary for the Planter to provide the fame
Sum again : So that in the Courfe of very flow
Payments (which, upon fuch an Oecafjon, is very
much complain'd of by the Fatlor) a Planter muft
keep three thoufand fix hundred Pounds employ-
ed conftantly for the fake of the Difcount upon
one hundred Hogfheads, which red ices then to
a very fmall Intereft ; and that which the Fallor
makes ten per Cent, of, the Planter does not
I make

( 66)

make above three •, and for the fake of this fmall
Intereft, he muft truft without Security, and
has no Objection to make againft the Factor's
charging him with the Lofs of the whole.

This, Sir, I think, muft be allow'd, by every
confcientious Man, to be a very great Hardfhip
upon our Britijh Plantations ; and as the Plant-
ers are fo ready to give up this intended Ad-
vantage, it is an indifputable Proof that they
never received any Benefit by it. The Quefti-
on, Sir, that next naturally arifes, is, Whether
it be more for the Publick Good that the
Faffors mould be allow'd to extract fo many
Thoufands a Year out of the Publick Revenue,
or be oblig'd, inftead thereof, to trade with that
Money, and thereby augment the Riches of the
Nation, and not be fufFer'd to fqueeze their Gains
out of the Vitals of their own Country ? And
fure no Patriot can determine this Queftion in
Favour of the FaStor.

And here, Sir, I cannot but take Occafion to
obferve to you, the Conduct of thofe Gentlemen
who have fo hotly oppofed the Scheme. In the
Courfe of their late Writings, they have frequent-
ly recommended to the Miniftry Frugality of the
publick Money •, and not long before this Con-
troverfy was fet a Foot, I remember, they repre-
iented, in a very pompous Manner, the great Ne-
ceffity of the Government's encouraging our
Colonies and Plantations in America ; and ihew'd
how beneficial thofe Branches of Trade were to
their Mother Country, from the Share they have
in balancing the Trade with Foreign Nations ;
from the great Number of Ships and Seamen which
are employ'd in them, and the Confumption
they occafion of the Manufactures of this Kingdom .

No

( 6? )

No fooner was a Project thought of by the
Miniftry to anfwer both thefe Ends at once ;
'viz. the Saving of the publick Money, from the
Prevention of Frauds, by retracing the ten
per Cent, allow'd at the Cuiloms, and Redreffing
the Grievances our Plantations labour under,
but thefe very Men, who thought to raife their
own Characters by fuch Prefcri prion, think ft ill
to raife them by oppofing, at one Time, what
they have ftrenuouily recommended at another.
In fhort, Sir, the Factors appear to me to have
a Defign upon monopolizing all the Lands in the
Plantations to themielves. One Part is already
mortgag'd •, and as the Faclors, by their unjufti-
fiable Practices, daily bring the Planters indebted
to them, and they make their Lands fubject to
the Payment of their Book-Debts, they muft
inevitably, in Time, get PorTcfJion of all our
Colonies and Plantations ; and then they will
engrofs that whole Trade to themfelves, and the
poor Planters muft become white Engli/h Slaves
to thofe very Men, whofe Eftates are owing
to their Planting Labour, and Induftry. Thus,
Sir, they who are indefatigable to make Slaves
of others, cry out Liberty ! Liberty ! for them-
felves, to cloak their own Defigns ; and they
who are for making Freemen of Slaves, are faid
to be Opprefibrs of People ! The Oppofers of
this Scheme have often exprefs'd themielves
againft Monopolies of all Kinds *, but in the pre-
fent Cafe they are Advocates for them : They
are Advocates for fuch who are for engroffing
one whole Branch of Trade to themfelves ; and
for the Continuance of thofe fraudulent Practi-
ces, which will enable them to exclude all o-
ther Englijb Merchants from Trading to our
I 2 Plan-

(68 )

Plantations. For Confirmation of this Charge
againft them, they begin to talk of a Combina-
tion to raife their Com million upon Khz Planters
from three per Cent, to tour and a half, becaufe
they know it is impofllble to employ any in
the Trade, but thofe who are bred up to it,
and have a well eftabliftVd Credit. Thus do
they defign to tyrannize it, fince they have
carried their Point ! And now, Sir, can any
Gentleman, who will liften to the ftill Voice of
Reafon, believe that the Sufferings of the Plan-
ters are no: of themfelves,full fufficient to prompt
them to fend over a Gentleman to folii.it the
Parliament in their Behalf? Can any one be fo
weak, as to imagine the Planters requir'd m%-
nifierial Spurs and Artifices, to excite them to
what muft fo manifeftly and glaringly tend to
their general Intereft ?

Mer. I confrfs, Sir John, you have hitherto
given me the higheft Ttion in this Difpute,

becaufe you have built all your Reafoning upon
the general Benefit of Trade, and Traders ; a
Fo:: . upon which, I never fufpected the

Scheme was rationally defenfible. However,
Sir, there is ftjli -one grand Objection behind,
which,- if you can fairly and clearly get over,
I muft ihgentioufly acknowledge, in Honour to
that Great Perfon's Char hich a few Hours

ago I v ily prep- againft, that no

MiHtfter of State in the World was ever fj
wickedly ii or any People fo generally

illy impos'd upon as we have
ion, Sir, is this, viz. That if
the Frauds and-Abufes at the Cvfioms, are not
confiderable enough to produce a Surplus fuffi-
cient to eafe the Land; then, ftill all your Ar-

guments

( 69 )

guments drawn from that Suppofition are of no
Weight in this Controverfy. And that they are
not fo, appears to me very plain. For by the
Report of the Committee (which, doubt] efs
contains moft Frauds poflible to come to
the Knowledge of) there are but few de-
tected ; far from being fufficient to eafe the
Land, as propos'd. And many of thofe Frauds,
which have come to Light, are attefted by no
better Witneffes than fuch as have been taken
out of Prifon for that Purpofe, whofe Evi-
dence does not give any great Sanction to the
Report.

Landh. By the Account you are pleas'd to
give of the Report of the Committee, I fuppofe
you form you»* Judgment from the Craft/man's
Reprefentation of it, not from the Report itfelf.
I have read the Report, Sir, and with all poffible
Attention ; and fo far am I from thinking that
the Gentlemen of the Committee have difcover'd
but few Frauds, that I am not a little furpriz'd
thtfy were able to difcover fo many. And if I
may be allow'd to judge of the Quantity con-
ceal'd, by that which has been difcover'd, you
will eafily believe, that the Surplujfes\ upon Winey
and 'Tobacco, would not have difappointed the
Mini/fry, but have actually produc'd a Suffi-
ciency to have eas'd the Land. \

According to the exacted Computation the
Planters themfelves in Maryland and Virginia
have been able to make, there is annually im-
ported into Great Britain, between fixty and
fcventy thoufand Hogfheads of Tobacco : I'll
fuppofe fixty fix thoufand Hogfheads ; two
Thirds of which, according to the nearefl Cal-
culation of the belt Writers upon Trade, are

re-

( 70)

re-exported to France, Germany, Holland, &c.
So there would remain for Home- Confum prion
twenty two thoufand Hogfheads ; the Duties
whereof, reckon'd at fifteen Pound per Hogf-
head (at which in moft Cafes they may be
computed) will amount to 330,000/. Now,
at prefent, there is not much above one Half of
that Sum, which comes annually into the Ex-
chequer ; fo that there is manifeftly loft to
the publick Revenue, about 165,000/. by the
Frauds at Importation, Exportation, and by
Bonding.

This is upon Suppofition no Part of the
44,000 Hogfheads, which are exported, was
run or re-la?ided from Dunkirk, and the Ifles
of Guemfey, Jerfey, and Man, into England,
Scotland, and Ireland, as evidently appears to be
done by the Report. But if to this, we add only
one eighth Part of what is exported to be re-
landed or run (as that, at leaft, from the Face of
the Report may be very well juftifiedj then there
is an additional Lois to the Revenue of 75,000/.
which together make 240,000/. And as we
fhould fave the whole Expence of Collecting the
Land-Tax -, which reckon'd only at Six-Pence
in the Pound, tho' there is Three- Pence more
ailow'd upon extraordinary Occafions, there
would be added 12,500/. more at leaft ; fo that
the Total Encreafe that may be fuppos'd to be
brought into the Exchequer, would be 252, 500/.
This, tho' according to the lowed Calculation,
is more by 50,000 /. than was purpos'd to be
f rais'd by the Tobacco.

Tho' the Expence of 150 Officers would
come to between fix and feven thoufand Pounds,
yet as there would be a proportionate Difcharge

in

( 7* )

in the Cufloms, this Expence would be balanced
by an equivalent Saving.

As to the Frauds in the Wine-Trade, they
are very extenfive indeed. For the CotnmiJJtoners
of the Cu ft 07ns received Information upon Oath
in the Year 1725, that there had been run only
in the three Counties of Hamfjhire, Dorfeipire,
and Devon/hire, from Ghriftmas 1723, to Chrlfi-
mas 1725, no lefs than 4738 Hogfheads, and
moftly French Wine. And akho' fuch prodigi-
gious Frauds have been difcover'd, yet it is
obfervable, that of the Quantity feized, and of
the Running of which the Commijft oners have
been informed,' no mere was condenm'd fince
Chrijhnas 1723, than 2208 Hogfheads, which
mews to Demonftration, how ineffectual the
pre fen t Method of collecting the Duties upon
this Commodity is, and what a Neceflky there is
for altering it. And now, Sir, can you, or any
Gentleman whatfoever, be of Opinion that the
Scheme would not have anfwer'd the End pro-
pos'd, when there is the greateft moral Cer-
tainty (the on-ly Kind of Evidence the Subject
' is capable of) that it would ?

Tho' you have reprefehted the Frauds, as
difcover'd by the Committee, fo trifling, yet, by a
flight Calculation I made of them t'other Day,
for my own private Satisfaction, they amount
to above one Million and an Half Pounds-
Weight of Tobacco -, the Duties of which come
to between 80 and 90 thouiand Pounds ; and
therefore the Duties upon what remains undil-
cover'd, will not prove to be lo inconfiderable
a Sum as has been infinuated.

Amongft the meaner!, and moir. ignorant
Clafs of Pilferers and fraudulent' Dealers j fuch

who

( 72.)

who have not the minuteft Forefight into the
Courfe of human Tranfa£tions, or any Appre-
henfions of the Sagacity and Penetration of others
who overlook them, there are not difcover'd one
tenth Part of the Frauds they carry on ; nay,
perhaps I mould come nearer Truth, if I faid
not one in an hundred ; and have to fup-
port me in this Affertion, the concurrent Opi-
nion of all who are well acquainted with the
"World, and are ingenuous enough to declare
their real Sentiments. And if we compare the
Difability and Incapacity of thefe narrow-
fighted Creatures , with the Cunning and Ex-
perience of thofe Gentlemen, who have been found
to be the prime Agents, and principal Con-
ductors of thofe Frauds which have been dif-
cover'd by the Committee ; no Man can doubt,
but where one of thofe Men have been detected
in their fraudulent Practices, there are at leaft,
ten of the petty Clafs. If then, fo many
Frauds may very reafonably be prefum'd to
be committed by Perfons in low Life, it is
a very natural Conclufion, that there are an
hundred committed to one difcover'd amongft
thefe Gentlemen, who are concern'd in the
Frauds at the Cufiomhoufe \ and confequently
we have the ftrongeft moral Demonftration
that there are an hundred Times more Frauds
have been carried on, than the Committee have
been able to difcover: So that if we were
to reduce the Pounds of Tobacco into Pounds
Sterling, and even reckon from the Fraud given
in Evidence by Thomas Parr Efq-, of Datchet,
in the Year 1705, we mould find the annual
Lofs to be pretty confident with my preced-
ing Calculation.
0 But

( 73 )

But this Conclusion cf the Extcnfiver.efi of
the Frauds will ft ill appear more juft, if we
confider the great Difadvantages the Committee
laboured under in detefting them. The Mem-
bers of that Committee, could not be lup-
pos'd to be acquainted with the Nature of
thofe Frauds* and therefore the chief Part of
their Tim- was empfoy'd in examining into the
various Species of Frauds* and not into the Quan-
tity of them. Moreover,

Every Fraud difcover'd at the Cujlomhcufe,
brought an odious Imputation upon the Con-
duct, Honour, and Vigilance of all concerned
in the Collection of the Cujloms ; whim moil:
certainly mud be a Motive to all the Cuftom-
houfe People, rather to obilrucl all Kinds ot
Evidence, and to fupprefs the Difcovery of every
Fraud* than to be heartily and in good earneft
inquifitive into them ; left the Sufpicion of their
having been wanting in their Duty* fhould give
their Superiours too ill an Opinion of their Con-
duct, to continue them in their Places.

If then the Committee could not, from the Na-
ture of the Thing, be expected to receive that
Information from tiie Officers of the Cuftoms ('the
chief Perlons on whom they could depend for
fuch Information,) from whom could they hope
to receive any Affi (lance in their Enquiry ? Tne
Body of Merchants* fair and unfair,- all united
in their Oppofition to the Bill's Faffing ; and as
the Reafofis for Pafling of ic, were grounded
upon the Extenjivenefs of the Frauds commit-
ted, we muft naturally be led to think, they
ufed all poffible Means in their Power to ftifls
and fupprefs every Fraud.

K And

( 74)

And here, in Confirmation of the Greatnefs of
the Frauds 1 1 might take notice of the large Gra-
tuities Traders have made Officers, who are
their Confederates, out of their unjuft Gains from
the Revenue ; which they would not be able fure-
]y to do, were not their Gains by fuch Frauds
very confiderable. This notorious Confederacy
between Traders and Officers, muft render it ex-
tremely difficult for the Committee to make any
thorough Examination. But the Difadvantages
the Committee laboured under, we mall flill
find to be much greater, if we reflect upon the
Shortnefs of the Time they had to make the En-
quiry in. For thefe Reafons, and under fuch
Circumftances, it was impoffible for them to
make many new Difcoveries of Fraud.

And fince it was fo difficult in a Cafe of this
Nature, to bring clear Evidence of many In-
ftances of thefe Abufes, becaufe People, who
combine together to carry on fraudulent Practi-
ces, are under very ftrong Ties of Intereft not to
difcover one another •, what could the Committee
do in fuch Circumftances?

Though two Perfons in Goals were admitted
as Witneffes, yet their Evidence is fo well cor-
roborated by others, that no one can poffibly
doubt the Veracity of it •, and therefore to what
End fuch an Objection is made, I am at a Lofs
to difcover!

When the Duties upon Coffee and 'Tea were con-
verted into Excifes, it was never imagined the Frauds
committed in thole Branches were fo extenfive,
as afterwards they appear'd to be, from the great
Annual Surplus they have ever fince produced.
But when the Frauds in the Articles of Wine and
Tobacco appear to be fo very confiderable, under

the

(is)

the greateft Difadvantages of Examination, is
there not the ftrongeft Prefumption ; founded up-
on what has prov'd experimentally true, that the
Surplujfes, arifing from thefe Commodities, would
have raifed the Sum propofed ?

Few Men, I believe, entertain fo dishonour-
able and undue an Opinion of the Abilities of the
Prime-Minijler of Great -Britain, as to think, had
He not all defireable AfTurances ; nay the ftrong-
eft Conviction, even fuch as was very near
a-kin to Certainty and Demonftration itfelf, the
Scheme would have anfwer'd his End, he would
ever have propofed it ; efpecially at a Time when
he was allured it would meet with the moft vi-
rulent Oppofition. Were the Oppofers of it more
certain, as they pretend to be, that it would have
fail'd in its End, than its Propofers were that
it would have fully anfwer'd it, they would never
have ufed fuch low Arts of Mifreprefentation, to
prejudice the People againft it. The Mifcar-
riage of it now will redound to the eternal Ho-
nour of a certain Gentleman \ but had it been in-
effectual and mifcarried, when it had been put
in Execution , how his Enemies would have
triumph'd ! But its Oppofers, Sir, were too
fenfible it would have anfwer'd the Defign pro-
pofed, and therefore it would have put an End to
their Projects for the Deftruction of the trueft
Friend to Great-Britain, whofe Abilities and In-
tegrity, hitherto, have only been more confpicu-
oufly exalted by their violent Oppofition to all
his Meafures.

Amongft the various little Tricks ufed by the
Enemies of the Adminiftration to decry this
Scheme, there is one which calls for the higheft
Indignation of every Englijhman \ and that is,

K 2 their

I 7<>

their Attempt to fet the Landed and Trading In-
terest ar Variance. But this Scheme, Sir, I have
demonftrated to you to be for the mutual Intereft
of both ; what tends to the Benefit of Trade,
does to the Eafe of the Land •, and what to the
Eafe of the Land, does to the Benefit of Trade,
Here are both the great Intere'fts of the Nation
reconciled ; than which, it is out of the Power
of human Wifdom and Policy to do more for
the general Advantage of the Nation.

And how after, all, Sir, can you, or any Gen-
tleman living, who will not naffer his Underftand-
ing to be drow ned in popular Clamor, be of O-
pinion that this Project was calculated to be of
any Detriment to 'Trade or Liberty ? The Eafe
of the Briiijh Freeholders, and the diftrefled
Planters, by keeping all Traders upon an Equa-
lity at Home, were the ftrong Incentives to carry
the Defign fo far as it was carried •, Incentives
powerful enough to infpife every true Patriot to
Jay down his Life to accomplifh it. And can
any Mali, any j u licious and confeientious Man,
lay his Hand upon his Heart, and fay that
thefe are rot the mofi; invaluable and ineffable
Bleffings chat can be enjoy 'd by a Trading King-
dom? Sure no fVIan can fo much violate his
Reafo i aricl pon'fejence, as to fay that an Encreafe
of one hundred and fifty Excife Officers1, about
three to a County, can be of fo much danger
to rive Starr, as to overbalance all the national
Advantages 1 have proved would accompany
the Qefign,? Ivlave 1 not fhewn, I was a going
to fay the ImrofTibility oj'Officefs being able to
have any Influence over Electors? This, at leaft,
I have mace appear, that if they attempt any
fuii Thin^, tne'} run the rifque of Ruin and De-

flruclion ;

(7.7)

ftruction ; and is it poffible for human Laws to
do more? The Point of Juries I have fet in a
clear, and a faithful Light, and fhew'd that his
Majejty could not any ways be interefted in the
Determination of Contefts between the Publick
and Delinquents ; and that the Commijfioners
could no ways recommend themfelves to a
'Prince , or a Prime- Minifter , by haraffing
the Trader. The Fallacy of one Excife tending
to a general one, I have expofed in its true Co-
lours, and fhew'd how abfurd it is to argue from
Particulars to Generals.

I have laid open the bare-fae'd Sophiftry of
the anticonjlitution Argument, and the pretend-
ed Danger or the Ceflation of Parliaments drawn
from the Duration of the Excife. But Things
that are temporary thefe Men mzkt perpetual ; what
is particular they make general ; what is to pre-
vent Roguery they conftrue to encourage it ; what
is to eafe the Subject and promote Trade, they
fay is to en (lave them, and deftroy it : And thus
is England daily pefler'd with what tends to mif-
guide the Bulk of the People, to create Di-
visions and DifaiTeclion at Home, and bring up-
on us Ridicule and Contempt from abroad, by
liftening to jefuitical Fallacies of wicked and ill—
defining Men.

finis.

?.«-

^

<*,