several departments of the navy, and of reporting to parliament the result of such their inquiries. That this board has made nine different reports, the public have already been informed in the account of the proceedings in parliament. These reports all exhibit ample proofs of the necessity of such an inquiry; they discover most shameful scenes of peculation; and, the tenth is not expected to be less interesting in this way than the former ones. Much of the business of this board remains to be done; and, therefore, as the commission, if not renewed, will, of itself, expire at the end of the present session of parliament, a motion was, on the 1st instant made, in the House of Commons, by Mr. Giles, for leave to bring in a bill to continue, beyond the duration of the present session of parliament, the act appointing commissioners for Naval Inquiry. This motion was resisted by Mr. Pitt, who thereupon moved the order of the day; and, upon a division of the House, the motion of Mr. Giles was lost, there being, for the motion 75, and against it, 92, leaving a majority in favour of the ministry of 17.-Mr. Pitt said, that he by no means meant to propose to the House, not to continue the act, if its continuation should be necessary; but, that he did not think it necessary to vote its continuance before any occasion for that measure should appear. He did not hesitate to say, that the reports of the commissioners had been attended with much benefit, neither had he any difficulty in declaring, that, if there was not sufficient time before the close of the session to terminate the investigation referred to them, their powers should be further continued. But it did not now appear that the remainder of the session would not afford sufficient time. On the review taken by the hon. and learned gentleman himself of the subjects proposed for inquiry, only one of any great importance remained uninvestigated, that was the victualling department; the transport department and the others were of inferior importance. He saw no reason, however, to suppose that the commissioners might not be prepared to make their report of the Victualling Office now, nor that they had not at intervals turned their attention to the other remaining subjects of inquiry, on which no report had yet been made, in such a manner as to leave little to be done to make up what they would submit to the House respecting them. He thought it right, therefore, to wait till a more advanced period of the session, and then if it should be necessary, he should have no objection to the continuance.

The Addington's being called upon to support their own measure, Mr. Bragge, though he seemed not very well pleased to be compelled to speak, declared that bis vote for the previous question would be grounded upon his firm reliance upon the promise of Mr. Pitt, that, if all the objects of inquiry had not been gone through, at the end of the session, the commission should be continued, till they were all gone through. Mr. Canning, the successer of Mr. Tierney, in the Treasurership of the Navy (once held by Mr. Dunda.); Mr. Canning reserved to himself some other grounds of objection., First, it was with him a question, whether it would be neces sary to renew the bill at all. Secondly, whether, if renewed, the powers of the commissioners ought to be so great as they now are. And, thirdly, whether, in any case, the inquiries of the commissioners ought to be continued during war.---As to the extent of the powers of the commissioners, that appears to have been quite sufficiently cir cumscribed, for every good purpose, by the alterations, which were introduced into the bill by the Lord Chancellor, who, being, as all the world must, by this time, have heard, a person uncommonly conscientious, would certainly have left nothing in the bill likely to produce an assault upon the consciences of other men, The extent of the commissioners' powers having, therefore, under gone such an examination, previous to their being granted by parliament, it is rather surprising that we should hear doubts started as to the propriety of renewing them to the same extent. The noble lord, beforementioned, took great and laudable pains (as was noticed at the time, in this work) to provide a shield against the committing of wrong, against the forcing of a man to say what would criminate bimself; and, what more is wanted? I think I have read a poetical moralist, who treats with the ut most ridicule and contempt that candour, which shows itself in tenderness towards "poor suffering Guilt."

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"Barras loves plunder; Mulin takes a bribe, "What then? shall candour these good men proscribe?

"No! ere we join the loud-accusing throng, "Prove, not the facts, but, that they thought them wrong.

I do not approve of this "NEW MoRALITY," whether inculcated in verse, or in prose, and can by no means agree, that the mere names or nation of the guilty make any difference at all as to what ought to be the decision of mankind upon their actions.---With respect to the pro

priety of continuing the inquiries of the commissioners during war, doubts were at first expressed upon that print. The bill was introduced with a declaration, on the part of the then ministry, that Lord Spencer had always had the intention of instituting such a commission; but tha his lordship very prudently determined to postpone it, till- a time of peace, lest the public service should experience a tenporary interruption, or, at least, inconvenience, from the inquiries that it would be necessary to make, and from the measures consequent thereon. Upon the ground of this declaration Lord Folkestone, moved to postpone the passing of the bill, till after the Christmas recess (of 1802), being of opinion, that the House would soon be convinced, that, before the commissioners could carcely be assembled, the nation would be called upon to begin making extensive preparations for war; and, every one must recollect, that the Parliament actually received the King's message for the calling out of the militia in about eleven weeks from the time, that this motion of Lord Folkestone's was made. In the debate upon Mr. Gites's motion, Captain Markham, the person by whom the bill was brought in, unequivocally declared, that it never was the wish of the late ministry to establish the board in time of war; but, he observed, and very truly, that all the inconvenience which could arise to the public service from the operation of the commission was now known; it had already arisen, and, that, therefore, the service would now go on without any chance of impediment from the inquiries of the commissioners.Here it is necessary to recur, for a moment, to the memorable Addingtonian pamphlet, by the "NEAR OBSERVER," who, in describing the conduct of Lords Spencer, Grenville, and Carlisle, says: "Every species of despon"dency was again carefully spread amongst "the people. The finances were decried, and "the statements of the Chancellor of the

Exchequer disputed." [They have since been proved to have been false.] "Even "the resources of the country were attacked." [This is always the accusation against every one, who exposes the falsehood of a minister's statements.] "The conduct of "the government was arraigned in all "its foreign intercourse, and the crimes "of Buonaparté preposterously transfer"red to Mr. Addington. The Admiralty 66 was reviled and calumniated, and those just and salutary reforms in the deckyards, which will carry down the

"victorious name of St. Vincent to pos terity, with every character of public "virtue and devotion, were represented

as cruel persecutions. The insurrection of "jobbers in the dock-yards was abetted and "defended, and the rebellion of boards and "departments encouraged and promoted." Now, who would not imagine, that the three noblemen last named, were at the head of these calumniators of the admiralty? Whɔ, (that knew nothing of them nor of this writer) would not naturally suppose, that they took the lead in these troops of abettors and defenders of the jobbers and peculators in the dock-yards? The truth is, however, that, not one syllable did either of them ever utter, at least in parliament, against the establishing of that commission, for which Lord St. Vincent was so much, and, I allow it, so justly extolled; and, except from persons now acting with the Addingtons, now closely leagued with them in power and emolument; except from persons of this description, no opposition to the commission of inquiry was made, upon any other ground than that of time; the ground opon which solely alone Lord Folkestone's motion was founded, and which ground has now, even by the framers and supporters of the bill, been acknowledged to have been good ground. But, the most important point yet remains to be touched; which is, that we now find the Addingtons joining Mr. Canning and the other partisans of Lord Melville and Mr. Pitt in voting against the motion of Mr. Giles! It would be curious to hear what the NLAR OBSERVER could say to his! Mr. Pitt and Lord Melville and Mr. Canning he would, perhaps, care little about; but, surely, he would spill a little ink for the purpose of endeavouring to defend the consistency of the Addingtons!

TAX ON SALT.--The bill imposing an additional duty upon salt was, on the 4th instant opposed, in the House of Commons, upon a motion of Lord William Russell, who, as an amendment to the motion of Mr. Pitt, that the bill be now read a second time, moved, that the bill be read a second time this day six months. The House hav ing divided upon his lordship's motion, there appeared for it 60, against it 92, leaving a majority of 32 in favour of the ministry and of the tax.His lordship said, that this tax would materially affect the labouring classes of the community, the protection of. whom he was sorry to say, the right hon. gentleman seemed to have abandoned; that he had been in hopes that the report of the committee on this subject would have suf ficiently shewn the inconvenience and op

pression of the tax; that he now hoped that those who urged the institution of that committee, and who had approved of their resolutions, would come forward, and he trusted that as they had recommended the repeal of the original duty, and the consequent removal of all impediments to the free circulation of salt, they could not with any pretensions to consistency agree to lay additional imposts on that article, which would still more impede its circulation; that the immediate effect of this bill would be to raise the assize of bread; and that the price of all kinds of butchers' meat would necessarily be increased, and salt fish, which was the chief diet of many of the poor, would likewise become more expensive. --Mr. Pitt said, that the committee, in the report which they gave in some years ago, and which had been alluded to by the noble lord, proceeded on the ground of rendering salt applicable to many general purposes, among which was even that of manure; it was certainly their object to give facility to the circulation of that article, but the chief hindrance to a free circulation was the regulation which the duty necessarily demanded, and these regulations would equally affect the circulation, whether the duty amounted to five, ten, or fifteen shillings a bushel, so that the noble lord ought not to be satisfied with advising a rejection of a revenue of 500,000l. which the proposed additional duty would produce, but should proceed to advise the taking off the duty How existing, which produced a revenue amounting to double that sum; that it was singular that the noble lord should call on those persons, who, when the country was at peace, approved the report of the committee, and yet did not venture to institute any measure upon it, to come forward, and, in the midst of war, declare their opinion on the present bill; that the report had slept for three years, and the consideration of it was now urged, at a time, than which, none could be more unfit; that it was a most unpleasant thing for him to be under the necessity of imposing taxes, which, in any degree, affected the lower classes, but be bad a sacred duty to perform; that we were engaged in a contest for the defence both of rich and of poor; that supplies must be found, and no mode of raising them seemed to him so little liable to objection as the present; that on the day when he first introduced this and his other measures of fi mance, it was objected by an hon. gentleman, that they did not fall sufficiently on articles of consumption; that the noble lord had not been just in saying, that govern

ment had abandoned the interests of the lower classes; that he ought to look at the taxes from the year 1793 to the present time, and he would find that the poor had been in every instance exonerated at the expense of their superiors; the Income Tax, the wine duty, the duty on foreign spirits, and a variety of others, sufficiently proved this; that the sum estimated as likely to be raised from this additional duty on salt, was 500,000l. at 5s. per bushel, and therefore proceeded on a calculation of two millions of bushels being consumed; that there were eleven millions of consumers, and it must be obvious to the House, how much greater a proportion of this tax would fall on the higher classes than on the lower; that, on a fair calculation, the consumption of a cottage containing a family of five persons, would be considerably short of a bushel in the year, making an annual duty of only three or four shillings, and this it should be recollected, collected gradually from week to week, so that its influence would scarcely be felt; that taxes on consumption to be productive, must be laid on articles of general consumption; that as to the appre hended increase in the assize of bread, it never varied, unless a fluctuation of at least 1s. 8d. took place on each sack of flour, and the quantity of salt used in this case was so small, it was such a trifling fraction, that it could not possibly affect the price; be hoped, therefore, however specious the arguments used by the opponents of the measure, however they might affect to be the advocates and protectors of the poor, that the House would see through the fallacy of their objections; and that, in the support of a cause, in which the higher and the lower classes were equally concerned, they would not hesitate to afford to his Majesty's government those means which were proved by them to be the least objectionable.— He did not say, nor did he affect to say, that the tax was not objectionable. He has no scruple to propose, and to carry, an ob jectionable tax. It is quite suflicient for him, while his opponents refrain from making war upon his whole system, to have to say, that nobody can propose taxes less objectionable than those which he proposes. "It is an unpleasant thing to me," says he, "to impose taxes, which, in any degree, "affect the lower classes; but, I have a "sacred duty to perform; supplies must be "found;" or, what? Why the interest of the national debt cannot be paid; the com missioners of the sinking fund cannot go twice a week into the stock market; and the paper system must be destroyed! Aye,

there's the rub That argument is, with all those who hold that that system ought to be supported, absolutely unanswerable. Merely as a question of choice of taxes; if that is all the House of Commons has, at last, the inclination, or the power, to settle, their functions lie in a very narrow compass; and, in that view of the matter, I am, for the reasons that were stated in page 299 of the present volume, convinced, that the tax on salt is as unobjectionable an one as can now be found out. Taxes on consumption are best, because the burden is so faily distributed; and, the best articles are those, which are in the most general use, and come nearest to the absofute necessaries of life; because no tax upon such articles can possibly diminish the general consumption. The tax on draught horses is better than the tax upon pleasure horses, because its weight, presSing more immediately upon articles of general consumption, is more rapid in its course into general diffusion; and, for that reason, produces none of those sudden changes of property, none of those new domestic arrangements, none of those disturbances in the affairs of masters and servants, none of those partial vexations, inconveniences, and losses, which must inevitably be produced, in a greater or less degree, by the tax upon pleasure horses. And, as to the relative weight upon the poor, in order to be satisfied, that a tax upon the necessaries of life has in it no hardship peculiar to them, we have only to keep in mind, this great and immutable principle, that on labour, and on labour alone, all taxes, of whatever description, must finally fall; because, there is no species of property, which does not, and which must not, proceed from labour.-In stating the grounds of my opinion thus confidently, I beg leave to be understood, as having omitted the qualifying phrases, which it would have become me to use, merely for the sake of avoiding the encumbrance, which would therefrom have arisen to the statement. If any one, who may think me in error, will take the trouble to put me right, I shall gladly receive, and give place to his communication.--But, this opinion of mine is built upon a principle widely different from that, on which Mr. Pitt thought proper to defend the salt-duty. He, in fact, took his opponents upon their own ground. He acknowledged that it was a tax upon the poor; or, rather he acknowledged, that there were two sorts of taxes, one that weighed upon the poor, and one that weighed upon the rich. And,

it grieved him, he said, when ver he was compelled to resort to taxes of the former description! But, said he, in order to be convinced, that my taxes have not, for the far greater part, been such; in order to be convinced, that, ever since the year 1793, "the poor have been exonerated at the expense of the rich," look at the tax on Income, on Wine, on Carriages, &c. &c. ! Just as if all these taxes did not finally fall upon the poor as well as upon the rich! Upon such occasions, it is truly surprizing, that he is never reminded by any one, that, during the operation of this system of exonerating the poor at the expense of the rich, the number of paupers in the kingdom has nearly doubled; very nearly doubled since the year 1786. If such be the effect of exonerating the poor, it would be adviseable to try, for a while, the effect of exonerating the rich.--There is another view of this subject which must not be omitted. The ministerial writers, impatient under the effect, which they, or rather their employers, perceive the divisions upon the salt-tax bill to have produced, are endeavouring to represent its opponents as men, who are perfectly indifferent to the safety of the country, and who would, indeed, rejoice at seeing it conquered. The SUN, of the 5th instant, has the following paragraph upon the subject: "We are surprised to find opposition

hazarding their political credit by attempt

ing to excite a general prejudice against "the proposed addition to the tax upon "salt. The argument they use upon this "subject, if argument it can be called, is, "that the taxes will chiefly fall upon the "poor.-This is, in fact, a mere assertion, "for it is a tax very light in itself, and one "that will have an operation upon the "whole of the community. It will fail "heavy upon none, and in a very short "time it will hardly be felt at all. But, it "is evident, by the clamour which the op"ponents of government make on this "point, that they have no substantial plea "to urge against any of the general mea

sures of administration, or against the "rest of the taxes devised for support"ing the unavoidable burthens of the state. "It never can be supposed that these op"ponents of government have a proper idea "of the danger that threatens the country "from the designs of an ambitious, rau

corous, and unappeaseable enemy; an

enemy whose sole and avowed object is. "to annihilate us wholly as an indepen-, "dent state. When we find some among "the adversaries of government doing all

resources for guarding against the me"naced evil, what must be thought of "their pretensions to patriotism! It must

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really excite astonishment to find, that men of acknowledged talents can calmly "look at the countries under French domination, and yet make such petty and persevering cavils against measures calcu"lated to avert such a dreadful fate from their own, measures that are dictated by wisdom, and that are founded in moderation, and a due regard to the weight which al"ready presses upon the people "This is their way their uniform practice! They always assume, as premises admitted, all those facts which their opponents deny. The opposers of the salt tax deny that it is calculated to promote the interests and security of the country, but, on the contrary, argue, that it is calculated to do great public injury, to oppress the lower orders of the people, and therel y to render them discon tented, and, of course, less likely to be zealous in the defence of the country. They deny that the tax is dictated by wisdom. They deny that it is founded in moderation. They deny that the imposers of this tax have had a due regard to the weight of the burdens which already press upon the people. All this they deny; this denial is the very foundation of their opposition; and, yet these writers have the assurance to draw their conclusion, just as if it had all been adzitted instead of denied; and as if, therefore, one was compelled to seek, in disaftection and disloyalty, for a reason for their opposition!--Upon such occasions the dangers of the country are always mustered, and dressed out with a suitable uumber of terrific epitheta. That the dangers of the country are great, I want nothing to convince me; but, it would take much to convince me, that those dangers are to be diminished by adding to the weight of the people's buideus; and, in exemplification of my meaning, I will, by way of compliment to the " young friend" who writes in the SUN, borrow an illustration from the conduct of an animal, to which he may, I think, fairly be presumed to bear some affinity. An old fellow," says Esop,

was feeding an ass in a meadow; and, "being alarmed with the sudden approach "of the enemy, was impatient with the ass to put himself forward, and fly with all the speed that he was able. The ass asked "him, whether or no he thought the enemy "would clap two pair of such panniers upon "his back. The man said, no, there was no fear of that. Why, then, says the ass, I will not stir an inch; for, what is it "to me who my master is, since I shall but carry my pannies as usual?"

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MIDDLESEX ELECTION.--I heartily congratulate the public in general, and par ticularly the people of the county of Middlesex, that, by the decision of a committee of the House of Commons, Sir Francis Burdett is placed in the seat, from which he has been; daring the present session, so illegally and unjustly kept. During the whole of the last election Sir Francis Burdett's conduct was such as no independent man could disap prove of. At the close of that election, it was such as, all the circumstances considered, is, as to moderation, without a parallel in the history of public and popular men. In my next, I shall submit some remarks upon the several branches of this very important subject; and, in the mean time shall content myself with just expressing my feeling upon the occasion; which is that of sincere satisfaction, arising from the reflection, that, as an inhabitant of Middlesex, I am now represented in parliament by a Gentleman; a man of ancient family, hereditary rank and possessions, of great talents, and of perfect independence of mind.

THE IRISH CATHOLIC deputation have arrived in London, and have brought a pe tition to the parliament for the redress of their grievances. But, this petition, it is said, after having been submitted to the ministers, is to be laid upon the table, without any proceedings thereon being urged, at least, by the deputation, unless the ministers choose it; and, that they will not choose it, we can want very little to satisfy us, when we recollect what are the sentiments of the Prime Minister, Lord Sidmouth. In what degree the members of this deputation con properly be regarded as the representatives of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, I know not; but, the course they are said to have taken, though it may, for reasons too obvious to mention, prove very satisfactory to themselves, does not appear likely to procure any relief to that numerous body, whose discontents form, at this moment, the ground of our most serious apprehensions and dangers.