MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.
Parliament met on the 23rd of January. During the preceding year Fredrick the Great passed off the stage of life, having previously involved the French and English governments in disagreements, concerning the troubles which still existed in the Netherlands. No mention was made of these disagreements and troubles in the king’s speech; but his majesty dwelt much upon the treaty of navigation and commerce which, as before related, had been concluded with the French monarch. Against this treaty and its negociator, Mr. Eden, who had quitted their ranks, and now supported Pitt, the Whig opposition had a rooted aversion; and in the debate upon the address, Fox, whose professions of friendship towards the French were proverbial, not only censured the arrangements, but sounded the old trumpet of war and national hatred. He denounced Louis XVI. as a dangerous monarch; dwelt on the ambitious designs and encroaching spirit of France; blamed ministers for laying aside all jealousy of that power; and asserted that the court of Versailles was at that very moment labouring to counteract Pitt’s diplomatists. But though Fox censured the French treaty, which formed the leading topic of the king’s speech, he voted for the address, a circumstance for which he received a little banter from the lips of the minister. Pitt remarked:—“I am happy that, notwithstanding the vehemence with which the right honourable gentleman has argued against the address, he is ready to vote for it. I hope he will continue the same line of conduct throughout the session; for, if he makes a practice of voting in direct opposition to his own speeches and arguments, we may look for a greater degree of unanimity than could otherwise be expected.”
DEBATE ON THE TREATY OF COMMERCE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE.
In his speech his majesty promised that a copy of the treaty of commerce between England and France should be laid before the two houses; and recommended the members to take measures for carrying it into effect. In accordance with this promise and recommendation, on the 5th of February, Pitt moved that the house should resolve itself into a committee, to take into consideration that part of his majesty’s speech which related to this treaty. This motion was carried; and on the 12th Pitt brought the subject before the house, and moved these three resolutions:—That all articles not enumerated and specified in the tariff should be importable into this country, on terms as favourable to France as to the most favoured of all other nations; that if any future treaty should be made with any other foreign power, in any articles either mentioned or not mentioned in the present treaty, France should be permitted to enjoy the same terms as that power; and that all the articles specified in the tariff should be admitted into this country on payment of the duties, and with the stipulations stated in the treaty. In moving these resolutions Pitt entered into an eloquent vindication of the measure, enforcing its object, spirit, and provisions. He expressed his abhorrence of the maxim, that any nation was destined to be the natural and unalterable enemy of the other; it was a libel on the constitution of political societies, and supposed the existence of infernal malignity in human nature. In most of our wars, he said, France had been the aggressor; but her assurances and frankness in the present negociations were such as to entitle her to a return of confidence. Even from the recent American war Pitt deduced arguments in favour of the treaty with France; reflecting that though she had gained her object in dismembering our empire, she had done it at an expense which had sunk herself in extreme embarrassment, he thought that she was sincere in her wish for the benefits of a mutual connexion. These benefits were represented by opposition to preponderate on the side of France; but Pitt endeavoured to show that if the scales were held with an even hand, the weightiest would be on our side. He remarked, “It would be ridiculous to imagine that the French would consent to yield advantages without any idea of compensation. The treaty would undoubtedly benefit them, but it would be still more profitable to us. France might gain, for her wines and other articles, a large and opulent market; but we should procure the same to a much greater extent for our manufactures. Both nations are prepared and disposed for such a connexion. France, by the peculiar dispensation of Providence, was gifted, perhaps, more than any country on earth, with what made life desirable, in point of soil, climate, and natural productions: Britain, on the contrary, possessing these advantages in a less degree, had, from the happy freedom of its constitution and the equal security of its laws, risen to a state of great commercial grandeur, and acquired the ability of supplying France with the artificial conveniences of life in return for her natural luxuries.” Many objections were brought against this treaty by the opposition; Fox distinguishing himself on this occasion by his hostility to its several provisions. In his speech Fox re-asserted that France was the natural and unalterable enemy of England; and that she ought to be considered, not only as a rival, but as a nation with whom there ought never to be any political or commercial connexion whatever. Fox, also, again spoke of the restless ambition of France, and denounced the character of the French monarch with great bitterness. Like Pitt, he alluded to the American war; but it was only to heap coals of fire on the heads of Louis XVI. and his subjects. He accused them of treachery and duplicity; pointed out the mean way in which they had taken advantage of our difficulties, and to revive the national animosity existing between the two nations; and he re-affirmed that no doubt could be left on the mind of any thinking man, but that the French nation was actuated by a regular, fixed, and systematic enmity to this country: she might have changed her policy, but there was no proof that she had changed her sentiments. But though some plausible objections were suggested by members of opposition against this measure, the only topic on which they insisted with any advantage, and, in truth, the only real difficulty respecting the execution of the treaty, arose from its inconsistency with the celebrated Methuen treaty, concluded between Great Britain and Portugal, by which the duties of Portuguese wines imported into England were in future to be only two-thirds of those imported from France or any other country. This point, however, was conceded by France during the progress of the measure, the duty on French wines being lowered to that existing on the wines of Portugal, which latter it became necessary to reduce. After several discussions, in which some young members distinguished themselves, the measure received the concurrence and sanction of parliament. On the 8th of March both houses presented a joint address to his majesty, for concluding a treaty calculated to promote a beneficial intercourse between the two countries, as well as the permanent blessings of peace. On the whole, the measure tended to increase Pitt’s popularity; many great commercial towns, which had hitherto been hostile to him, declared their entire approval of the treaty, and expressed a conviction that he was seeking the good of his country.
PITT’S PLAN OF FINANCIAL REFORM.
Encouraged by his success and increased popularity, on the 26th of February, Pitt introduced a plan for consolidating the various duties upon articles in the customs and excise, so as to convert them into single duties upon each article, and thereby get rid of multiplied grievances to the people, and of a perplexing confusion of accounts, and wasting expenses of collection to the government, an operation by which the revenue would gain about £20,000 per annum. At the same time Pitt proposed to lower the duties on foreign spirits, with a view of annihilating the smuggling trade, which he stated amounted to 4,000,000 of gallons annually; whilst that which was legally imported and paid duty did not exceed the sixth part of that quantity. The whole of Pitt’s plan obtained a large majority in both houses; the leading members of opposition expressing their approbation of it, as well as the clearness and perspicuity with which it had been unfolded. On a subsequent day, the 29th of April, when Pitt opened his budget, he informed the house that the state of the revenue would enable him to provide for all services of the current year, and apply the stated surplus to a sinking-fund, without the necessity of any loan or new tax. Fox and Sheridan contended that the finances were not in so prosperous a condition as he had represented; and after specifying certain supposed errors and fallacies, they called on the minister to supply the alleged deficiency by the imposition of new taxes. Pitt, however, defended his own estimates; contending that it was his duty to render, by every possible means, the taxes already established more productive, rather than increase the burdens of the people. In following out this judicious line of policy, he afterwards proposed a measure for enabling the board of treasury to divide the country into districts, and to farm the duty on post-horses, the greater part of which was now lost to the exchequer by collusion between innkeepers and collectors. To make it certain that the revenue would not suffer by this experiment, he suggested that the tax for each district should be put up at the highest point it had ever reached. This was opposed as contrary to the principles of the constitution, and as tending to oppression, like that exercised in France, where the taxes were generally farmed. Pitt, however, defended the measure by the analogy of turnpike-tolls and cross-posts, and by showing that the oppression alluded to arose, not from the system of farming, but from an arbitrary form of government, which naturally led to oppressive modes of collection. The bill passed the commons by a large majority, and was carried in the upper house without a division.