to submit to all the inconvenience of the excise, instead of paying on the scale of the assessed taxes, he might be at liberty to enjoy his option. This was all that was intended by the word "accommodation" which had been used, and on which the right hon. gentleman who spoke last had dwelt. But, on the whole, whatever might be his opi nion with regard to the tax, he was glad that it was postponed for the present. In the difficulties in which the country was placed, we could only make choice of the least of two evils, and it became necessary for the House to consider, principally, what tax might be the least objectionable. With regard to the addition to the assessed taxes, there was reason to believe that it would be produc tive in some degree. It would be found impossible to avoid pressing, either more immediately, or more remotely, on the poorer classes of society. Even the assessed taxes must have this effect to a certain extent.

Mr. Wilberforce observed, that had the tax been persisted in, he should have congratulated the House, that the part respecting the excise had been left out; but he now felt still more gratified that the noble lord had relinquished the measure, at least for the present; and he must say, that the conduct of the noble lord on this occasion had increased that respect which he had uniformly felt for: his character. He had shewed, that he remembered that he was the financier of a free country, and that the general stock of good-will towards the government should not be diminished. Had the tax been persisted in, he should not have opposed it, as he had already resisted a preceding measure, which he considered as hostile to the manufactures of the country; but he should have regretted the effects which he feared it would have had in many parts of the country, where it was common for families to brew their own beer-a practice which he should ever consider as equally favourable to comfort and sobriety, and as deserving of every encouragement. In the main, he considered the proposed addition of 10 per cent. on the assessed taxes as an excellent measure, though it might perhaps be better to make the increase greater on some of these taxes than on others. A very considerable increase on the tax on men-servants, for instance, would never bear hard on the poorer classes of society.

Mr. Johnstone expressed his astonish meat and regret, that the noble lord should have abandoned a former tax,

and

and relinquished the present, while nothing hitherto had been imposed for payment of the interest of the loan, except the trifling tax on appraisements, and on tobacco, &c. He contended that the principle of the tax was good, and that it only required courage and perseverance on the part of the noble lord to render it productive. He quoted the words of Dr. Adam Smith, who had long ago recommended a tax precisely similar, though he had proposed that the duty should rather be imposed on the malt, than on the private brewer. On the whole; he conceived that ministers had thought the relinquishment of the reasure necessary for the support of the military plans of their right hon. colleague, and not produced by any conviction of its hurtful tendency.

Mr. Tyrwhit Jones thought, that had the tax been persisted in, the present ministers would have become as unpopular as any who had ever gone before them. He would advise the noble lord, however, to revert to the tax on iron, in preference to an increase of the assessed taxes.

Sir W. Williams Wynne observed, that private brewers generally used double the quantity of malt and hops to that consumed by the public brewer for producing the same quantity of beer; and therefore as much expence attended the private brewer, as the consumer of beer from public breweries. Besides, it was not always in the option of an individual to have recourse to public brewers; he could state, that in the whole principality of Wales there was only one man of that description.

Mr. W. Smith considered the clamour that had been raised against the tax as unnecessary and excessive. He thought, that if the people of that part of the country, with which the last hon. gentleman who spoke was connected, put less malt into their beer, both their health and their morals would be improved by the change.

Sir W. Williams Wynne, in reply, observed, that they used malt and hops, which the public brewers did not. (Laugh.)

Mr. Carlert was not aware of any peculiar pressure on the labouring poor, which had been produced by taxes lately imposed. The demand for labour had in creased, and with it the increase of wages; but the middle ranks of society had felt the pressure much more severely.

Mr. Rose thought, that the situation of the public brewer was not such as called for favour and protection, by imposing a countervailing duty on private brewers. The quantity of malt used by the public brewer was inconsiderable, when compared with that used by the private brewer. It had been found, that the porter brewers of London produced three barrels and a half of beer from eight bushels, while the private brewer required ten bushels to produce a hogshead. It had been calculated that the public brewers produced as much from 2,400,000 bushels, as the private brewers from seven millions of bushels. He could not, therefore, see how the public would gain, by throwing the production of beer principally into the hands of the brewers; as what might be gained by the increase of the duty on beer might be lost by the defalcation of that on malt.

Mr. Whitbread declared, that the concern to which he belonged did not produce their beer in the proportions stated by the hon. gentleman who spoke last. So far as he recollected, the hon. gentleman's statement was not even correct; for the quantity there alluded to was not 3 barrels, but 3 barrels. But even in that proportion he asserted that the calculation did not apply to the house in which he was concerned. Surely, however, it must be seen that the public brewer must know little of his trade, and make little of his capital, if he could not produce a better article out of a smaller quantity of malt and hops than a private brewer could.

Mr. Alderman Combe confirmed the correctness of this calculation, and observed, that the public brewer had great advantages over the private, in respect of the quantity from the same materials, arising from superior skill and machinery.

It was then ordered that the House resolve itself into a committee of ways and means on Monday next.

MUTINY BILL.

Mr. Windham having moved the order of the day for the third reading of the mutiny bill,

Mr. Wallace rose to express his disapprobation of the new regulations introduced into the bill, which he conceived to be unnecessary, and as only tending to preclude his Majesty from the exercise of his prerogative, because,

if he refused his assent to the new measure, he must withhold it at the expence of letting loose the army. He did not see what occasion there was for making this distinction between the pledge given by the crown and that given by parliament, but to degrade the royal prerogative. Neither did he see why parliament should now be called on to give their sanction to a measure which they might afterwards. feel it their duty to accuse ministers for adopting. He did not know which most to admire, the rashness of the measure itself, or the meanness with which the right hon. gen tleman had staved it off: from time to time-to a time, he hoped, in which he would no longer have a share in the government of the country. What did the plan hold out to the existing army? That they should be relieved? No. They had fought our battles, but they were to remain in a state of confessed slavery, and were to receive no benefit from the new regulations. He should have less objection to the measure, if the men to be raised were to be placed in separate corps. But two men standing next each other in the ranks may know that the one is bound for life, while the other, who has served a shorter period, must be discharged within a few years. As to the idea that a better description of men would be procured, he did not believe it; nor did he like the mixture of soldier and citizen "It had been said, if the measure did not succeed, it could easily be réscinded. Of this, however, he was not so much convinced. It must first have gone on for 7 or 10 years, and then, impolitic as it might be found to have been, probably 70,000 or even 10,000 men would fall to be discharged.

Mr. Wilberforce declared, that he had not been able, till lately, to turn his attention to the consideration of this question; but upon considering it, he was convinced that it had been truly said, that it should not be considered merely as a military question, but as an appeal to the great principles of human nature, which gentlemen, who had not the advantage of a military education, might be competent to decide. In the consideration that he had thought it his duty to give to the subject, he had perused several of the military treatises which had lately been written, one by an hon. member of that House (General Stuart), and another professing to be a discussion of the present state of the English army, and both these treatises met with his decided approbation. This was a circumstance which he only mentioned, that the House might

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not suppose he rose to speak upon a military question, without having previously taken any pains to inform his judgment. It was allowed on all hands, that the great question at present was, to increase the regular army. Gentlemen might differ as to the degree of necessity for the increase, but to him it appeared that a considerable increase of our regular army was necessary, to enable us to resist the enemy. If this country once possessed a large regular army, its naval power would give it great advantages in the use of it. If the enquiry, then, were simply to find out the most effectual means of increasing the regular army, the argument of his right hon. friend (Mr. Windham) appeared perfectly fair, when he supposed that the same measures should be taken to induce men to enter into the army, as would be taken to induce persons to enter into any other occupation where hands were wanting. The greatest inducement that could be held out was hope. Hope was the great stimulus to every exertion ; and mankind were so constituted, that their happiness was more in the pursuit of a distant advantage, than in the actual enjoyment of it when it should be obtained. It was upon this great principle of human nature, that the nations which had most excelled in military renown, had wisely formed institutions which facilitated the advancement of men from the lowest ranks to the highest situations. Although from the measure as proposed by his right hon. friend, he hoped a great deal, and anticipated much good, yet he considered that the positive inducement to men to enter into the army must come from some other source. At present, whatever inducements there were to enter the military life, were balanced by the consideration that it is a step which can never be recalled, “vestigia nulla retrorsum." They were also opposed by the opinions of parents and friends, who considered a young man ruined and lost to his family and friends for ever, should he embrace the life of a soldier. He considered then, that the principal effect of this measure would be to remove the obstacles and impediments which now stood in the way of recruiting, but that the positive inducements must come from some other quarter. He thought that the strongest inducement would be to see the means of promotion within their reach, and attainable in a short time. Ile thought that there was many a man who would not set great value on a distant advantage at the expiration of

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