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<P> <HI>Columbia Vniversity in the City of New York</HI> LIBRARY</P>
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<P>THE SELIGMAN LIBRARY OF ECONOMICS PURCHASED BY THE UNIVERSITY 1929</P>
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<HEAD>A &s;hort Account of EXCISES.</HEAD>
<P>IT is certainly impo&s;&s;ible in the pre&s;ent State of things, that this Govern|ment &s;hould &s;ub&s;i&s;t, and much le&s;s be able to bear its part in the Alliance again&s;t our Common Enemies, unle&s;s there be great Sums of Money given. The&s;e are the Sinews of War and all other Bu&s;ine&s;s. Our dear-bought Experience has taught us what va&s;t Taxes are ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary to main|tain tho&s;e Armies and Fleets which are requi&s;ite for our Security, and for the Defence of our Religious and Civil Rights: and provided we attain tho&s;e Ends, it will not be thought hereafter we have bought them too dear. A wi&s;e and good Man will rather chu&s;e, if it come to that pa&s;s, to enjoy one half of his E&s;tate with the Liberty of his Con&s;cience, and the Pre&s;ervation of his Birth|right, than to po&s;&s;e&s;s a double or treble Proportion of Riches, whil&s;t his Mind mu&s;t be en&s;laved to the Super&s;tition of Knavi&s;h and Intere&s;ted Prie&s;ts, his inno|cent Friends and Country-men &s;acrificed to the Idol of Arbitrary Power (as we not long &s;ince &s;aw it practi&s;ed) and the Title that is left him to his own Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions and Liberty only precarious and during Plea&s;ure.</P>
<P>The Que&s;tion therefore with all &s;ober Men and &s;incere Prote&s;tants will not be, Whether we &s;hall maintain our Liberty by &s;upporting this Government, and enabling it to carry on the War; Nor con&s;equently, Whether we &s;hall rai&s;e Sums of Money proportionable to that end; but only, What will be the be&s;t Manner and Method of rai&s;ing Money, &s;o as may be mo&s;t for the Ea&s;e of the Subject, and above all for the upholding our Con&s;titution, and &s;ecuring tho&s;e Ends for which we took up Arms; and that was not any Per&s;onal Regard what|&s;oever, but the Recovery and Security of our Rights and Liberties, which had been unju&s;tly invaded. This is the thing we mu&s;t always keep in our Eye, and &s;teer our whole Cour&s;e by this Pole-Star; otherwi&s;e the Hazards we have hi|therto expo&s;ed our &s;elves to, and the Succe&s;s with which God has ble&s;&s;ed us will little avail us, whil&s;t by flying one Extream we run into another.</P>
<P>The Way which has been mo&s;t di&s;cour&s;ed of by &s;ome who pretend a great Zeal for the pre&s;ent Government, and which &s;eems to be mo&s;t agreeable to &s;ome People, is, to lay a HOME EXCISE upon things &s;old in the Market. This is the way u&s;ed in <HI>Holland,</HI> and the like was practi&s;ed in <HI>England</HI> in the time of our Civil Wars. But becau&s;e I cannot approve this manner of Taxing at this time in this Kingdom, as thinking it of the utmo&s;t Hazard to the pre&s;ent Settle|ment, and apparently de&s;tructive to the Ends of it, I &s;hall &s;et down my Rea&s;ons, with as much Plainne&s;s as I can, that &s;o if other Men be convinced by them, I may have the Satisfaction of reflecting, that I have been u&s;eful in &s;ome degree, in &s;ugge&s;ting tho&s;e things which may contribute to the maintaining and conti|nuing
<PB N="2" REF="6"> the Liberty of my Country; which as it is dear to me above all things in the World, &s;o, in my humble Opinion, it is very much concerned in this Point.</P>
<P>My fir&s;t two Con&s;iderations in reference to &s;uch an <HI>Exci&s;e</HI> are, That if the Parliament &s;hould grant it, they neither know what they grant, nor can ever hope to &s;ee an end of &s;uch a Grant as that is. To make this out, I &s;hall give a &s;hort Hi&s;torical Account of the Exci&s;e now in being, that &s;o we may judg of <HI>Hercules</HI> by his Foot, which I think will afford us &s;uch Mea&s;ures as cannot ea&s;ily deceive us.</P>
<P>Our Ance&s;tors, who&s;e chief Care was to maintain tho&s;e Rights and Privileges which di&s;tingui&s;hed them &s;o advantageou&s;ly from all the other People of the&s;e We&s;tern Parts of <HI>Europe,</HI> and who delivered tho&s;e Privileges to us as our be&s;t Inheritance, did con&s;tantly avoid this &s;ort of Tax, knowing its danger, and abhorring the Servile Look of <HI>Bureaux</HI> in their Market-Places, and mi&s;erable Fellows to come into their Hou&s;es like Searchers, as if they had hid &s;ome Crimi|nal, or conceal'd &s;ome Arms or Papers to the Prejudice of the Government. This Example of our Ance&s;tors, with the good Succe&s;s it has had, I &s;hould think, ought to weigh a great deal with us in a matter of this Importance: to which, if we add the Condition of the <HI>French,</HI> and others of our Neighbours, who are loaded with an infinite Number of Entries, Impo&s;ts, in a word, Ex|ci&s;es of all &s;orts (which at fir&s;t were contrived and impo&s;ed upon &s;pecious Pretences of great nece&s;&s;ity of the State, but never were, nor will be let go by tho&s;e who have found the Sweetne&s;s of them) this will add great force to our Argument. But we mu&s;t come nearer the Point, and &s;hew how, and in what manner Exci&s;es have been rai&s;ed in <HI>England,</HI> and what u&s;e has been made of them, together with the Artifices by which they have been procured.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t Exci&s;e rai&s;ed in <HI>England</HI> was in the time of our Civil Troubles and Di&s;orders. Neither did tho&s;e who rai&s;ed it adventure upon this way, till they had tried all others to &s;upply the Nece&s;&s;ities into which they were brought; and it had never been paid at that time, but for the Army which was then kept up, as appeared in the Sedition of the Butchers and others upon that occa&s;ion. Yet they who impo&s;ed the Exci&s;e in tho&s;e days, omitted nothing that might help to &s;weeten &s;o bitter a Potion. They urged the great Nece&s;&s;ity there was of it, which was at lea&s;t equal for tho&s;e who then rai&s;ed it, with any that can be now pretended to carry on this War. To make it pa&s;s the ea&s;ier, they be|gan it in the mo&s;t mode&s;t way they could devi&s;e. If I mi&s;take not, it was at fir&s;t but for a Month or two, or three Months at mo&s;t. They were &s;en&s;ible how aver&s;e the Nation was to this way of Taxing, and therefore dur&s;t not in their fir&s;t Attempt adventure further. When the Nece&s;&s;ity of Affairs, and the Straits in which they found them&s;elves forced them to go on with the Ex|ci&s;e, yet they would per&s;wade the People it &s;hould la&s;t but a little while, and be pre&s;ently over. But for all that Pretence we know too well it has not cea&s;ed to this very day. When the Serpent gets his Head into a Hole, 'tis no hard matter for him to draw his whole Body after it. Wi&s;e Men, like good Phy&s;icians, mu&s;t oppo&s;e the beginnings of Evils. 'Tis ea&s;y to prevent Mi&s;|chiefs,
<PB N="3" REF="6"> which it is not ea&s;y nor po&s;&s;ible to remedy. The Ability of Politicians is known by their fore&s;eeing and obviating Inconveniences, too &s;trong to be removed when they are once e&s;tabli&s;hed.</P>
<P>Soon after the Return of King <HI>Charles</HI> the Second, the Hou&s;e of Commons expre&s;&s;ed a De&s;ire (as their Predece&s;&s;ors often had done) to take away the <HI>Court of Wards,</HI> and they had long Deliberations how to &s;ettle upon the Crown a Recompence for it. Many Ways were propos'd, but at la&s;t it was thought be&s;t to lay it on Land, and they agreed the Sum to be 100000 <HI>l. per Annum,</HI> and appointed a Committee to &s;ettle an equal Rate upon every Coun|ty towards it. This would have procured another great Advantage to the Nation, by bringing in a ju&s;t and equal way of Taxing all the Lands of <HI>England</HI> according to their true Value. The Committee in pur&s;uance of the Order of the Hou&s;e, having taken great Pains in &s;ettling a new Rate, at length agreed upon one, and reported it to the Hou&s;e, and it is entred in the Journal. But whil&s;t they were taking all the&s;e Pains, the Court was pri|vately informed by &s;ome &s;elf-de&s;igning Men, that it would be of much greater Advantage to them to get a Grant of the <HI>Exci&s;e upon Beer and Ale,</HI> &s;ince the Value of that was unknown; and they a&s;&s;ured them that it would amount to a Sum va&s;tly beyond what the Parliament intended them in lieu of the <HI>Court of Wards.</HI> The&s;e Men encouraged the Court to undertake this Work, and promi&s;ed their own A&s;&s;i&s;tance and Endeavours for the Succe&s;s of their Pro|po&s;al. Hereupon the Court re&s;olved to pu&s;h for the &s;ettling of the whole Exci&s;e; and by threatning privately the Members of that Hou&s;e with a Di&s;&s;o|lution, and by giving to &s;ome con&s;iderable Places, they got a Que&s;tion put, To &s;ettle one Moiety of the Exci&s;e (which had been invented and rai&s;ed on evident Nece&s;&s;ity in the times of Civil War, and not granted longer than a few Months) upon the Crown in Fee, in lieu of the <HI>Court of Wards,</HI> and the other Moiety on the King for his Life. The former part to give the Moiety in Fee, in Recompence of the Ward&s;hips, was carried in the Affirmative; tho in truth it was the giving 300000 <HI>l.</HI> a Year for one; for which that Hou&s;e is ju&s;tly blamed, and will be &s;o, as ill Husbands for the Kingdom, and unfaith|ful to their Tru&s;t. A great Parliament-Man undertook to make out, that it was the giving away all the Barley-Land of <HI>England.</HI> The other part, <HI>viz.</HI> to give the other Moiety for Life, as much as that Hou&s;e was influenced by the Court, was fir&s;t carried in the Negative, which enraged them to &s;uch a degree, that the next day a Me&s;&s;age was &s;ent to the Hou&s;e to let them know they were to be di&s;&s;olved a Month after. This was a &s;trange and un|u&s;ual Me&s;&s;age. They might have been quickned to di&s;patch Publick Bills, and told the Se&s;&s;ion would be but &s;hort: But the Me&s;&s;age, as &s;ent, put Men throughout the Kingdom on &s;upplanting them. If the Members &s;taid in Town, their &s;everal Intere&s;ts in their Countries were endangered: if they went down, the &s;ettling of Exci&s;e for Life might be carried in their Ab|&s;ence. This was the <HI>Dilemma</HI> the Court had brought them to; and accor|dingly it was granted before that Se&s;&s;ion ended. All this was compa&s;&s;ed by the Artifices and Clamours of the Court-Party, who, we &s;ince have &s;een,
<PB N="4" REF="7"> aimed at nothing lower than the getting &s;uch a Revenue in the Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the Crown, as might enable them to govern by Arbitrary Power, and aboli&s;h Parliaments.</P>
<P>Upon the Death of K. <HI>Charles</HI> what nece&s;&s;ity was there to continue the Exci&s;e to K. <HI>James,</HI> I mean the Moiety then determined? Could any thing under a Popi&s;h Prince be a greater Security to the Prote&s;tant Religion and Liberty of the Kingdom, than the Smalne&s;s of the Revenue? And was it not the main Argument of King <HI>Charles</HI> and the Clergy again&s;t pa&s;&s;ing the Bill of Exclu&s;ion? They urged, that tho the Crown &s;hould come to a Popi&s;h Succe&s;&s;or, he could not be able to force his Religion upon the Nation, by rea&s;on of the falling off of the one half of the Exci&s;e at K. <HI>Charles</HI> his Death, and thereby the cea&s;ing of &s;o great a Branch of the Revenue. If ever an Exci&s;e would have been let fall, no doubt it would have been then. But we &s;ee in the In&s;tance of K. <HI>James</HI> his Parliament, when Exci&s;e is once begun, there is no End of it to be expected. That Parliament gave him for his Life what was fallen, and not only &s;o, but an Increa&s;e upon Linen, Wine, Tobacco, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> worth near the double. It's ea&s;y to find a Nece&s;&s;ity to continue Exci&s;e; and where that is wanting, yet one Par|liament mu&s;t be as kind as another, or el&s;e it is want of Re&s;pect to the pre&s;ent Crowned Head.</P>
<P>This Principle, That the Hou&s;e mu&s;t ever be as kind to the pre&s;ent Govern|ment as their Predece&s;&s;ors were to others, will carry things at any time again&s;t the Intere&s;t of the Kingdom; and therefore Money &s;hould not be rai&s;ed by the Commons in that manner, in which the Hou&s;e may be pre&s;&s;ed with Arguments they have formerly experienced have wrought on their good Nature, beyond the Intere&s;t of their Country that &s;ent them.</P>
<P>If it be &s;aid, Are not the Parliament Ma&s;ters of their own Re&s;olutions, and may not they &s;afely tru&s;t them&s;elves, &s;ince it is in their Power to put on end to an Exci&s;e, when&s;oever they think there is no farther Occa&s;ion for it? To this I an&s;wer, They are not &s;o much Ma&s;ters of their Re&s;olutions as &s;ome think. Solicitations go a great way, Pretences are &s;pecious, Men are frail. Taxes of this kind do not immediately touch the Members of Parliament them|&s;elves, who are landed Men, and therefore not &s;o directly concerned to get them off. To this I add, that our wi&s;e&s;t and be&s;t Policy is to keep a Parlia|ment out of the Temptation of doing that which may prove the Ruin of the Nation. Men do not care for being thought di&s;affected to a Government, as it is always thrown in their di&s;h, if they offer at dimini&s;hing any Revenue that has been given, and are not as forward as other People to gratify the Crown and the Mini&s;ters in all their Expectations.</P>
<P>'Tis well known that eight hundred thou&s;and Pounds <HI>per annum,</HI> or there|abouts, with good Husbandry, will di&s;charge all the Expences of the Govern|ment in time of Peace. Therefore in the Year 1660, when the Court had &s;crewed their Demands to the highe&s;t, they de&s;ired only the &s;tanding Revenue to be 1200000 <HI>l.</HI> and whatever they got afterwards was not on pretence that more was nece&s;&s;ary, but that they had not &s;o much. That very &s;tanding Re|venue which was &s;ettled in King <HI>Charles</HI>'s time was &s;o great, that every body
<PB N="5" REF="7"> remembers, when a great Army was rai&s;ed, the Hou&s;e of Commons was tried to give but one 300000 <HI>l. per annum</HI> more, which if the Court could have ob|tained, no one doubts but it was de&s;igned there &s;hould have been an end of Parliaments. And that very thing was pre&s;&s;ed &s;o hand&s;omly, and &s;o much to the purpo&s;e by &s;ome who were then Members of the Hou&s;e of Commons, that the very Pen&s;ioners in that Parliament voted again&s;t the Augmentation of the Revenue which was de&s;ired, le&s;t Parliaments &s;hould end all at once, and their Pen&s;ions with them.</P>
<P>The Revenue now in time of Peace will yield above all Charges 1500000 <HI>l. per annum:</HI> if more be given in the way of Exci&s;e, and it &s;hould be continued, 'tis the giving up the very Being of Parliaments.</P>
<P>There are &s;till many other Rea&s;ons again&s;t this way of Taxing by an Exci&s;e. I have &s;hewed already, that this is a giving Men know not what. That Moie|ty of the Exci&s;e given in 1660 for one hundred thou&s;and Pounds <HI>per annum,</HI> hath &s;ince proved worth three and a half. That which King <HI>Charles</HI> de&s;ired as 300000 <HI>l.</HI> when it was got by King <HI>James,</HI> proved to be worth more than double that Value. And to this I may add, that the more &s;uch Revenues prove, if they &s;hould be continued, the more dangerous to the Nation. This is a trouble&s;ome and a &s;lavi&s;h &s;ort of Tax. The pre&s;ent Government came in upon a Foot of Liberty; what was the Rea&s;on that the Chimney-Money was taken off, but only this, that every Man might have his Hou&s;e free? Shall the Nation be mock'd by taking off a Feather, and in the room of it laying on a Mill-&s;tone? This is the way to bring a <HI>Lord-Dane</HI> into every one of our Families.</P>
<P>The Difficulty of rai&s;ing this Tax will be very great: the People of <HI>Eng|land</HI> di&s;reli&s;h it extremely. I have heard &s;ome Members of the Hou&s;e of Com|mons &s;ay, they would be hanged up at the Door of the Hou&s;e before they would con&s;ent to it. All that lived in the late times remember with what Dif|ficulty the Exci&s;e was rai&s;ed by tho&s;e who were then in the Government; and 'tis certain they could never have compa&s;&s;ed it, but by the Terror of the Army then kept up. Now if the Parliament &s;hould rai&s;e Money in this way to pay our Army, and &s;hould be nece&s;&s;itated, as they were, to keep <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">p a &s;tanding Army to gather it, we &s;hall be at a fine pa&s;s: The Money mu&s;t be rai&s;ed to pay our Armies, that they may carry on the War vigorou&s;ly again&s;t our Ene|mies abroad; and in&s;tead of any &s;uch Service from them, they mu&s;t be kept at home to rai&s;e the Exci&s;e.</P>
<P>The common Argument for an Exci&s;e, that it will &s;pare our Lands, is grounded upon a fal&s;e Suppo&s;ition. This is not a &s;paring our Lands, but a charging them for ever with double what is needful. The dearer the Farmer pays for his Commodities, the le&s;s Rent he will pay; and the le&s;s his Product yields him clear, accordingly he mu&s;t value his Farm. The more, for exam|ple, is laid on Lead, the le&s;s will Woods and Oar yield; and &s;o of other Com|modities.</P>
<PB N="6" REF="8">
<P> The greate&s;t Exci&s;es that are laid in <HI>Holland</HI> are upon Commodities which are not of the Growth of the Country. Their Corn comes from <HI>Dantzick;</HI> their Fle&s;h from <HI>Denmark;</HI> and &s;o of &s;everal other things: &s;o that by loading them they oblige their People to con&s;ume the Goods produced by their own Coun|try and Indu&s;try, &s;uch as Chee&s;e, Milk, Butter, Herrings, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Whereas if an Exci&s;e be laid here, it mu&s;t be upon things growing in this Kingdom, which undoubtedly will hinder the Con&s;umption of &s;uch things; for the dearer they are, the le&s;s People will buy of them, and the more they will reduce their Families that they may live cheap. The Policy of our Ance&s;tors tended to en|courage the Con&s;umption of all home-Commodities, which is certainly the true Intere&s;t of the Nation. Such a Tax would go directly again&s;t this Maxim. Heretofore the Nobility and Gentry of <HI>England</HI> lived altogether in the Coun|try, where they continually &s;pent the Product of the Land: Now they all flock to <HI>London,</HI> where their way of Living is quite differing from that for|merly u&s;ed, and they do not &s;pend in proportion the third part of Things of our Product, to what they did when they lived among&s;t their Neighbours. The Yeomen and Gentlemen of &s;mall E&s;tates are now, generally &s;peaking, the only con&s;tant Re&s;idents in the Country. If an Exci&s;e &s;hould come to rai&s;e the Price of all Things, how &s;hall the&s;e Men maintain their Families? And if they put them off, who &s;hall &s;pend the Growth of the Lands?</P>
<P>But tha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> which, I confe&s;s, with me is of the highe&s;t Weight, is this: We know the Safety of the Nation depends upon the Liberty of Elections of Mem|bers to &s;erve in Parliament. The Exci&s;e-men go already a great way in many Corporations, by their Intere&s;t in Inns and Ale-hou&s;es, in influencing the Ele|ctions to Par<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">iament. What then do we think they will do when they have an Intere&s;t in e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ery private Hou&s;e? If there were no other Objection again&s;t Taxing by a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> Exci&s;e, I &s;hould think this one abundantly &s;ufficient to any Man that knows how much the Being and Well-being of the Nation depends upon Free Parlia<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ents, and con&s;equently upon the entire Liberty of tho&s;e who are Electors in g<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ving their Votes.</P>
<P>If &s;uch a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> Exci&s;e &s;hould not be General at fir&s;t, yet when once that way of Taxing is b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ought in, it will quickly grow General: If it be laid one time up|on &s;ome Co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">modities, it will next time be laid on others: All we have will come to be exci&s;eable, and it will be with us at length as it is at <HI>Am&s;terdam,</HI> where (to u&s;e the Words of one who has lately written concerning that Coun|try) a Di&s;h of Fi&s;h with its Sauce, before it be &s;erved up to the Table, pays Exci&s;e thirty &s;everal times. And this indeed ought to be con&s;idered the more, becau&s;e of tho&s;e in our Court and Councils, who have been bred up in <HI>Holland,</HI> where every thing is taxed.</P>
<P>One thing more I mu&s;t add, which is, That no Tax whatever is &s;o charge|able in the Gathering as an Exci&s;e. That which is already laid upon Beer and Ale, co&s;ts more than eighty thou&s;and Pounds <HI>per annum</HI> in Collecting: And if there &s;hould be a General Exci&s;e rai&s;ed, it would come to near three times that Sum.</P>
<PB N="7" REF="8">
<P> My chief De&s;ign in writing this Paper, was to &s;hew the danger of granting an Exci&s;e by Act of Parliament, which I hear di&s;cour&s;ed of in all Conver&s;ati|ons, as a Way which will be offered by &s;ome to &s;upport this War, tho it has bin more than once debated and rejected in Parliament before. Perhaps there may be &s;ome, who do not &s;ufficiently apprehend the dangerous Con&s;equence of this manner of Taxing; and it is for their &s;ervice that I &s;et down my Thoughts upon this Matter: No Man in <HI>England</HI> is more thorowly &s;en&s;ible than I am, of the nece&s;&s;ity of carrying on this War. I am of Opinion, that the Liberty of <HI>England,</HI> and the Security of the Prote&s;tant Intere&s;t throughout <HI>Europe,</HI> do mainly depend upon the Succe&s;s of it. I have &s;hewed that it is impo&s;&s;ible to go on with it, without giving great Sums of Money, and I am heartily for giving tho&s;e Sums; only I wi&s;h the Taxes might be &s;o laid, that when the Ne|ce&s;&s;ity of Taxing cea&s;es, the Taxes may cea&s;e with that Nece&s;&s;ity.</P>
<P>There are other ways of rai&s;ing Money, be&s;ides a General Exci&s;e. The Engli&s;h Nation has at the Expence of its own Money and Blood, reduced <HI>Ire|land.</HI> Mu&s;t none of the Lands of tho&s;e Rebels, after all, be applied to the Charge of this War? Is all that has been &s;aid and declared in Parliament up|on that Head, to no purpo&s;e? Mu&s;t the <HI>Iri&s;h</HI> Papi&s;ts be again re&s;tored to the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of their E&s;tates, and &s;o this Kingdom not only brought under the ne|ce&s;&s;ity of maintaining a great &s;tanding Army, to keep them from ri&s;ing and cutting the Prote&s;tants Throats; but likewi&s;e be defeated of the Lands which they were made believe &s;hould &s;erve in a great Mea&s;ure, to reimbur&s;e them for the prodigious Sums, that have been advanced for the Reduction of that Coun|trey? I hope the Wi&s;dom of the Parliament will take that Matter into Con|&s;ideration, and not &s;uffer them&s;elves to be fru&s;trated of &s;o great a Sum of Mo|ney as tho&s;e Iri&s;h Lands will yield.</P>
<P>It were better to return to the Chimney Money, than to load the Nation with this new Exci&s;e. I do not &s;ay, that ought to be done; for I think it ab|&s;urd and di&s;honourable, after having taken off that Burden with &s;o much pom|pous O&s;tentation and Expre&s;&s;ion of de&s;ire to gratify the People, to lay it on a|new; that would have a very ill look. But yet I think, &s;uppo&s;ing &s;uch a Ne|ce&s;&s;ity, it were Wi&s;dom, of the two Evils to take the lea&s;t, and rather return under the pre&s;&s;ure of an old Burden, than &s;ubmit to a greater; and run &s;o great a Hazard as that of &s;ettling a Revenue, which if continued, might give Opportunity and Encouragement to ill Mini&s;ters of State to attempt, and per|haps to atchieve De&s;igns like tho&s;e, which, we tell the World, were the Cau&s;e of our joining in the Revolution.</P>
<P>There will doubtle&s;s be many Propo&s;als made in Parliament, of different Natures, for Ways and Methods of rai&s;ing Money. Whenever there is occa|&s;ion for a Tax, there is always great variety of Projects of that kind: but when all is done, I humbly conceive, there will be nothing upon the whole Matter found &s;o &s;afe, and &s;o much for the good of the Nation, as a Land-Tax. Other things may help, but this will be the main Re&s;ource. 'Tis true, this will &s;mart whil&s;t it la&s;ts, but we are &s;ure to have an end of it. The Members of Parliament them&s;elves will be obliged in Intere&s;t to take it off when the Oc|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 span">
<PB N="8" REF="9" MS="y"> cea&s;es: And be&s;ides, the Freeholders of <HI>England</HI> will never endure the continuance of a Land-Tax longer than there is an evident Nece&s;&s;ity for it. This is the way that our Ance&s;tors walked in upon the&s;e Occa&s;ions, and this is the &s;afe and &s;ure way.</P>
<P>I do not decide which of the two &s;orts of Taxes upon Land is be&s;t; The Monthly A&s;&s;e&s;&s;ment, or the Pound-rate. I know Opinions are much divided upon this Point. But one thing I think all are for, The pre&s;ervation of the Con&s;titution, as the only Means to &s;ecure our Liberty, for the &s;ake of which all this Money is to be rai&s;ed, and that is all that I am pleading for. Let no Man be mi&s;led by a pretence of convenience, or disburdening his Land in this way of Taxing. All tho&s;e are mi&s;taken Arguments. And tho they were not &s;o; tho all the Conveniencies in the World were to be found in this new Me|thod; tho there were never &s;o great ea&s;e to our Lands in it; yet the &s;ingle Con&s;ideration of what the Nation hazards in giving a Revenue, that probably will never be di&s;continued, and the Danger to which the Liberties of <HI>England</HI> will be expo&s;ed, if ever the Crown &s;hall be rich enough to govern without Par|liaments, is abundantly &s;ufficient to over-ballance whatever can be alledged to the contrary, from Topicks of pre&s;ent Ea&s;e, or private Intere&s;t. The Con|&s;titution, the Con&s;titution is our Happine&s;s. Let any Inconveniences be &s;ub|mitted to, rather than that brought into Danger. We &s;tand upon a Needle's Point: The Revenue of the Crown is &s;o very high already, that one Remove more does our Bu&s;ine&s;s. <HI>England</HI> can never be undone, but by its own Con&s;ent: Have a care then of giving that fatal Con&s;ent. We have hitherto been the En|vy of all our Neighbours on the account of our Liberties, and the Privileges we enjoy; the greate&s;t of which is, being governed by Laws made by our own Repre&s;entatives. All we have is owing to the pre&s;ervation of Parliaments, and making their frequent Meetings nece&s;&s;ary. Let Taxes be laid &s;o, that they may cea&s;e with their Cau&s;e, <HI>That Parliaments may not become unnece&s;&s;ary.</HI></P>
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