colony in which it was to be consumed. Besides
the duty of one penny a-gallon imposed
by the British parliament upon the importation
of molasses into America, there is a provincial
tax of this kind upon their importation
into Massachusetts Bay, in ships belonging
to any other colony, of eightpence the hogshead;
and another upon their importation
from the northern colonies into South Carolina,
of fivepence the gallon. Or, if neither
of these methods was found convenient, each
family might compound for its consumption
of this liquor, either according to the number
of persons of which it consisted, in the same
manner as private families compound for the
malt tax in England; or according to the
different ages and sexes of those persons, in
the same manner as several different taxes are
levied in Holland; or, nearly as Sir Matthew
Decker proposes, that all taxes upon consumable
commodities should be levied in England.
This mode of taxation, it has already
been observed, when applied to objects of a
speedy consumption, is not a very convenient
one. It might be adopted, however, in cases
where no better could be done.
Sugar, rum, and tobacco, are commodities
which are nowhere necessaries of life, which
are become objects of almost universal consumption,
and which are, therefore, extremely
proper subjects of taxation. If a union with
the colonies were to take place, those commodities
might be taxed, either before they
go out of the hands of the manufacturer or
grower; or, if this mode of taxation did not
suit the circumstances of those persons, they
might be deposited in public warehouses, both
at the place of manufacture, and at all the
different ports of the empire, to which they
might afterwards be transported, to remain
there, under the joint custody of the owner
and the revenue officer, till such time as they
should be delivered out, either to the consumer,
to the merchant-retailer for home consumption,
or to the merchant-exporter; the
tax not to be advanced till such delivery.
When delivered out for exportation, to go
duty-free, upon proper security being given,
that they should really be exported out of the
empire. These are, perhaps, the principal
commodities, with regard to which the union
with the colonies might require some considerable
change in the present system of British
taxation.
What might be the amount of the revenue
which this system of taxation, extended to all
the different provinces of the empire, might
produce, it must, no doubt, be altogether impossible
to ascertain with tolerable exactness.
By means of this system, there is annually
levied in Great Britain, upon less than eight
millions of people, more than ten millions of
revenue. Ireland contains more than two
millions of people, and, according to the accounts
laid before the congress, the twelve
associated provinces of America contain more
than three. Those accounts, however, may
have been exaggerated, in order, perhaps, either
to encourage their own people, or to intimidate
those of this country; and we shall
suppose, therefore, that our North American
and West Indian colonies, taken together, contain
no more than three millions; or that the
whole British empire, in Europe and America,
contains no more than thirteen millions
of inhabitants. If, upon less than eight millions
of inhabitants, this system of taxation
raises a revenue of more than ten millions
sterling; it ought, upon thirteen millions of
inhabitants, to raise a revenue of more than
sixteen millions two hundred and fifty thousand
pounds sterling. From this revenue,
supposing that this system could produce it,
must be deducted the revenue usually raised
in Ireland and the plantations, for defraying
the expense of the respective civil governments.
The expense of the civil and
military establishment of Ireland, together
with the interest of the public debt, amounts,
at a medium of the two years which ended
March 1775, to something less than seven
hundred and fifty thousand pounds a-year.
By a very exact account of the revenue
of the principal colonies of America and
the West Indies, it amounted, before the
commencement of the present disturbances,
to a hundred and forty-one thousand eight
hundred pounds. In this account, however,
the revenue of Maryland, of North Carolina,
and of all our late acquisitions, both upon
the continent, and in the islands, is omitted;
which may, perhaps, make a difference
of thirty or forty thousand pounds. For the
sake of even numbers, therefore, let us suppose
that the revenue necessary for supporting
the civil government of Ireland and the
plantations may amount to a million. There
would remain, consequently, a revenue of fifteen
millions two hundred and fifty thousand
pounds, to be applied towards defraying the
general expense of the empire, and towards
paying the public debt. But if, from the present
revenue of Great Britain, a million could,
in peaceable times, be spared towards the payment
of that debt, six millions two hundred
and fifty thousand pounds could very well be
spared from this improved revenue. This great
sinking fund, too, might be augmented every
year by the interest of the debt which had
been discharged the year before; and might,
in this manner, increase so very rapidly, as to
be sufficient in a few years to discharge the
whole debt, and thus to restore completely
the at-present debilitated and languishing vigour
of the empire. In the mean time, the
people might be relieved from some of the
most burdensome taxes; from those which
are imposed either upon the necessaries of life,
or upon the materials of manufacture. The
labouring poor would thus be enabled to live