THE Year ended 10th of October 1783, was a Year of Famine: It cannot be drawn and considered as a fair, equal Year and Precedent. In that Year, the old Taxes established before the War fell short of the Average Produce of the Nine preceding Years, One Million Five Hundred and Seventy-one Thousand One Hundred and Seven Pounds.

THE Year ended 10th of October 1784, was a plentiful, prosperous Year, almost beyond Example: The fair Expectation, therefore, of the Produce of that Year ought at least, in the first Place, to have exceeded the Year ended 10th October 1783, in —£1,571,107

THOUGH, during the Year ended l0th October 1783, the new Taxes imposed since the American War, from(probably) their having got into a more regular Mode of collecting, did not, in general, fall off or vary much; yet the Taxes for 1783, from the Lateness of their Commencement, produced only, for the Year ended 10th October[Page 5] 1783, Forty-three Thousand Eight Hundred and Ninety-one Pounds; whereas, if not (which is improbable) deficient beyond the Proportion of the other Taxes imposed during the War, they ought to have produced more in the Year ended 10th of October 1784, than in the Year ended 10th of October 1783, £382,546

Total just Expectation of the Advance of the Public Incomes for the Year ended 10th October 1784, compared with that ended 10th October 1783, £382,546

The difference of the Year ended 10th October 1784, in its Favour, ought to be, as above stated, — £1,953,653

BUT if (as is said) the Difference amounts to only One Million Excess in the Excise, and Four Hundred Thousand Pounds in the Customs, — £ 1,400,000

The Consequence will be, that the Produce of the Taxes in the Year ended 10th October 1784, falls short of the fair, just Expectation of the Public in the Sum of— 553, 653 To which is to be added, what-ever (if any Thing) is credited in the above Period of the Produce of the Taxes for 1784.

Q. Is the Amount of the Duties due by the East-India Company paid, and included in the above 1,400,000l.? If in-[Page 7] cluded, and not paid, the Account is like-wise fallacious and uncertain to that Extent.

THIS short Detail will, it is hoped, be agreeable to the Public. It must be so to the Minister; for no Minister of Character will attempt to mislead the Public Opinion; as every Endeavour of this Kind must proceed from a Consciousness of Want of Ability, Industry, Resolution, or Influence, one or all, to perform what he had given the Public Reason to expell from his Administration. It would he palliating Presumption by Misrepresentation. The Excuse would but aggravate the Crime.

THE Writer is no Enemy to the present Minister: Far from it. He means to wait with candid Patience the Event of the[Page 8] High-wound-up Public Expectation; but, though no Enemy to the Minister, he is the stern Friend of Truth and of the People ; and, as far as his Influence can pre-vent it, he will not suffer them to be imposed on by exaggerated Resources, or by defective Establishments (like the present Naval one, than which the Dey of Algiers possesses a more formidable one), or by the most unstatesman-like of all Propositions, viz. " That the commercial " Interests, Prosperity, and Neutrality of " this Country cannot be endangered or " affected by any Troubles or Combinations on the Continent."—Whatever the Tendency of them may be, such Doctrines may give more Permanency, and make the Situation of Ministers more comfortable and easy; but they are dangerous (if not ruinous) to the State.

LET the Minister bring the Public Account fairly forward: Let him shew how he is to provide for the present Exigencies of the Public amply enough, so as not to endanger the Safety of the State, with some Surplus for future Emergencies, without which we cease to be a People: Let him make use of his great Majority to some great and decided, not speculative, public Advantage: Let him do more, and say less: Let him make those who went before him unpopular, not by Clamour and Assertion, and by calling Names, but by doing better: Let him do this—and He and I are Friends.

P. S. SINCE I wrote the foregoing, the Account of the Nett Produce of the Taxes for the Year ended the 10th of October 1784, laid before the House of Commons, has been published; from which I learn with the truest concern, that the above Year falls short of the just, fair Expectation of the Public, in place of the Five Hundred and Fifty-three Thou-sand Six Hundred and Fifty-three Pounds I have stated, in One Million Sixty Thou-sand Five Hundred and Fourteen Pounds; the Year ended the 10th of October 1784 having only exceeded that ended the 10th of October 1783, in the Sum of Eight Hundred and Ninety-three Thousand One Hundred and Thirty-nine Pounds; the Nett Amount of the Year ended the 10th of October 1783 being (Annual[Page 11] Land and Malt included) Eleven Millions Seven Hundred and Fifty-two Thousand Four Hundred and Eighty Pounds, and that of the Year ended the I10th of October 1784 amounting to Twelve Millions Six Hundred and Forty-five Thousand Five Hundred and Nineteen Pounds—estimating (which cannot materially differ from the Truth) the Nett Amount of the Annual Land and Malt Taxes for the Year 1783 at Two Millions Two Hundred Thousand Nine Hundred and Fifty-one Pounds Nett,—and for the Year 1784, at Two Millions Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds.