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method to have it equally assessed. This tax may, by the good old word, be called a subsidy; and the parliament, now, and at other times, may please to grant either one subsidy, or part of one, or a subsidy and a half, or two or three subsidies or more, according as the publick occasions require.

But still, after all hath been done, the taxes will not yet be exactly equal. For there are divers, as I am well informed, that do not pay six-pence a pound to the great tax* now upon us. I leave these to be further considered, and, in the mean time, though they do not pay to the full, yet they will pay three times as much in proportion, as they did formerly.

I have all this while been driving at equality; but there is an equality so unequal, that I cannot but declare my sense against it; and that is, that houses should bear equal proportion with lands, for which there is no reason, as every man's reason will tell him. They ought, therefore, to be abated a fourth or a fifth part.

If the parliament shall not think fit to enter upon this great work at present (though it is every man's work, and would be soon done) they may however, by a shorter way, give some relief (if they please) to those that are oppressed in the land-tax; that is, to those that pay plainly above their proportion. And this may be done, by making the sum of the tax, next granted, to be something less than the last, and then distributing this abatement among the counties, that are now notoriously overcharged, the other counties continuing as they are. Thus, whereas the last tax was for about seventeen hundred thousand pounds, the next may be for fifteen or fourteen hundred thousand; which is two or three hundred thousand pounds less. And then the oppressed counties, which counties are well known, may have their monthly payments abated, in such proportions as the parliament shall find meet. The raising either of men, or counties, is such a noli me tangere, that there is no meddling with it; but there is great reason to hope, that the giving just ease, to those who want it, will meet with no opposition. For my own part, I have no particular concern in this matter. I am in a county that is not like to be eased; and I pay about three shillings in the pound, which is near the true propor tion: But I wonder the counties, that are concerned, have not peti. tioned all this while. In such a case as this, even clamorous petitions would be excusable.

There is another consideration about taxes, which I recommend to those worthy persons who have a hand in granting them; and that is, that the payments be not made too quick. We know that, the present great tax (to say nothing of those precedents) is paid with exceed. ing difficulty. And such another tax in the neck of it, to be paid like. wise forthwith, it is doubted would occasion extreme distresses. When a man hath bled much, if you go to take a further great quantity from him, at once, and presently, it may prove fatal, his body cannot bear. it: But, after a while, his blood being recruited, and supplied, you may take more without hurt or danger; especially if you do it by de

Three shillings in the pound.

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grees. And it is just so with our nation in point of taxes. We could pay a moderate tax for many years, and be little the worse; and people would have room, and time, to supply all by industry and parsimony, the two great promoters both of private and publick riches. But our money, of late, hath been swept away so fast from us, little of it returning, that it hath not only sheared from the landlord a good part of his rent, but also disabled the tenant from paying the rest, the market being dead, and no money stirring; and then the cities, and towns, must needs, as they do, find a grievous deadness of trade; so that a general poverty hath suddenly overwhelmed us.

We could better pay two millions in four years, than a million and a half in one year. In which first way, the war might be maintained by taxes, that probably would be paid in time of peace, when we shall be better able to do it. Also his majesty's present occasions will be as well provided for this way, if there be a credit given upon those future payments. You will say, this will draw on interest. But I answer, that the interest will not do us so much harm, as the respite will do us good.

In this affair we must consider, not only what is best to be done, but also, and more especially, what we are able to do. Perhaps, it were best to pay ready money down; but, if we cannot do it, we must be glad to take time, and allow interest: And it is better to have upon us, for some years, a burden we can bear, than to be crushed at once by a burden we cannot bear.

If it be an advantage to lend money to the publick above the com. mon interest, it is among ourselves, and any one that will may have it. There is also this convenience, that all those lenders will be firmly engaged to wish well to the government.

I would not have us follow the example of Holland, where their whole standing revenue is anticipated for a great many years, by vast sums of money taken up at interest; and there are many families, that live upon the constant interest of monies lent to the state. But I hope we shall never be brought to such necessities; and I would have our dealings, in this kind, to be for moderate sums, and a moderate num. ber of years.

We may remember, that, in King Charles's first Dutch war, the parliament gave at once two millions and a half; but to be paid in some years: So that what is here offered, in this matter, is, even in England, no new thing.

But, what if this war continue next year, and we must raise more money? How, and upon what, shall the tax be laid? My answer is, that, if there be a necessity for it, it may be a concurrent land-tax; or the tax may be pushed further on, upon some years to come: That is, after the end of the four years before-mentioned.

It cannot be denied, but that the ways now mentioned, and espe cially the last, will draw on more interest. But, to make this interest easy, it is further humbly proposed:

1. That a land-tax be granted, suppose for a million of pounds, payable at the end of five years.

2. That, upon the credit of it, the king be enabled to give tallies, LI

VOL. IX.

or tickets, of one hundred pounds each, amounting in the whole to ten thousand.

3. That these tickets be made current, according to their value, by act of parliament.

4. That these tickets be pieces, or plates, or medals of silver, coined, or stamped, in the best manner, to avoid counterfeiting, and each having its number fairly stamped upon it.

5. That each of them be affixed, or appended, under a seal, to a pocket-book.

6. In this book shall be written, to whom, and by whom, the ticket was first delivered, with all the assignments afterward.

7. That no man shall be obliged to take them at first from the king, but with the allowance of five per cent. nor shall the king's receivers be obliged to take them back at their full value, till after a year from their first delivery.

8. That, when these tickets are brought in, at the end of the five years, they, that bring them in, shall likewise have the allowance of five per cent.. So that they are first taken at ninety-five pounds, and paid back at last at a hundred and five

9. If any of those tickets be lost, yet he that had it, to have the benefit of it at the five years end, he proving that it was delivered or assigned to him, and there being no proof that it was farther as signed.

10. The form of the pocket-book may be this:

March 1, 1691.
merchant: By

April 17, 1692.

Kent, knight:
June 24, 1692.

Number I.

Delivered to A. B. of the city of London, me, C. D. the officer's name.

Assigned to Sir E. F. of S. in the county of
By me, A. B.

Assigned to G. H. of the city of London,

goldsmith: By me, J. K. executor of Sir E. F.

Here now is money taken up for the publick service, at ten per cent. for five years, which is two per cent. yearly.

The first five per cent. will take the tickets cleverly out of the king's hands, without any appearance of hardship to the subject, and it will set them fairly afloat. The five per cent. at last will secure those that take them from being left in the lurch; it will make them not afraid, but desirous, to have them at the five years end; and it will keep up their value and reputation during the whole time.

These tickets will be a treasure that can be neither stolen, nor lost; for they will be of no value, more than the medal, save only to those who have the right to them.

They will be a good supply for the money we have lately lost, and money will then be less needful. Great sums will be paid with tick. ets, and lesser sums with money.

Perhaps, hereafter, when we have seen the way of it, we may, in the same manner, take up greater sums, at easier interest, and for more years.

But, I doubt, it will not be convenient, that the amount of these

tickets should ever exceed the half of our running cash, though we could have them without interest. A moderate quantity of them will impede our money; but too great a quantity would drive it quite

away.

I must add one thing more to the foregoing part of this discourse; and that is, that when a land-tax is granted, there should a poll-tax go along with it: That so, the whole kingdom being concerned, every man in it may contribute something. The land-tax draws hard from those that have estates, and the poll-tax will draw something (though a general excise would insensibly draw more) from those that have them not. And surely when the men of estates bear the main of the burden, and put their shoulders to it; it is but reasonable, that the common people also should each of them lend a finger. They ought not therefore to complain, if, for every shilling in the pound which the land-tax rises to, there be twelve-pence a head laid upon men, and upon the women six-pence. Thus a great difference is here made, as it ought, between women and men. For there is no reason that women should pay equal, when they do not get half so much. And I have the rather designed them some little ease in this matter; because I think our nation hath been too valiant, in making hard laws against women.

When I speak of so much a head, my meaning is, that it should be upon all alike, both high and low. Or, if any difference be made, it should be only some such difference as this, that gentlemen, and all so reputed, should pay double or treble to common men.

It seems a great mistake, that a poll-tax should run high upon de. grees, and titles, and dignities, especially if a land-tax likewise be then on foot; for, generally, they, that have titles, have also estates, which pay to the land-tax. If a land-tax come to two shillings in the pound, and there be a poll-tax proportionable, a common person pays two shillings for his head, and a knight of a thousand a year pays a hundred pounds for his estate; and it seems very hard, that he should pay ten pounds more for his title. Why should we lay more upon those, that have their load already?

And, though there were no land-tax on foot, yet a poll-tax, that runs upon titles and dignities, is of all others the most unjust, be. cause it is the most unequal. It is very unequal and unjust, that an esquire, not worth a hundred pounds, should pay as much as one worth five thousand a year.

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A TRUE AND FAITHFUL RELATION

OF THE

PROCEEDINGS OF THE FORCES OF THEIR MAJESTIES, KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY,

IN THEIR EXPEDITION AGAINST THE FRENCH,

IN THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS, IN THE WEST INDIES: Under the Conduct of his Excellency Christopher Codrington, Captain-General and Commander in Chief of the said Forces, in the Years 1689 and 1690. Written by Thomas Spencer, Junior, Secretary to the Honourable Sir Timothy Thornhill, Baronet, to whose Regiment he was Muster-Master, and supplied the Place of Commissary. London, printed in 1691. Quarto, containing fourteen Pages.

To the Right Honourable Edward Russel, Admiral of their Ma jesties Fleet for the Year 1691, Treasurer of their Majesties Navy, and one of the Lords of their Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council.

Right honourable,

I MIGHT justly imagine myself to be thought rude and impertinent,

when I first presumed to tender this account to your honour; and I should never have adventured upon so great a boldness, if I had not thought it really my duty to present it to your honour's view. And the reason which moved me to it was, because the most notable ac tions herein related, as the taking of St. Christophers, and St. Eus. tace, were the immediate success of part of that royal navy, which your honour now happily commands in chief; I mean that squadron commanded by Admiral Wright in the West Indies, without which it had been utterly impossible for the English to have enterprised any thing in those parts. For their majesties islands there were so depo. pulated by a raging mortality, that the surviving inhabitants were even harrassed with a daily fatigue to defend themselves. Upon this motive, joined with the consideration of the innate generosity, which is generally found in all persons so nobly and honourably descended as yourself; but is so peculiar to the most noble family of Bedford, and with which (as you are a principal branch thereof, so) you are principally adorned; I first assumed the boldness to address your honour with a copy of this relation; and the high favour you were pleased to vouchsafe me, in your perusal and approbation of it, when it was a manuscript, hath encouraged me not only to send it to the press, but hath also emboldened me to implore your patronage

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