TO THE NOBLEMEN, GENTLEMEN AND Proprietors of Lands in Scotland, and Inhabitants at large.
SCOTLAND as a part of the united kingdoms altho' having a right to the same protection from Government with its sister kingdom,
England;
yet labours under some hardships, and even imposed by Act of Parliament, which the people of
England
know nothing about. And these are Burrow duties known by the name of
imposts
on
Malt Liquors,
which have of late years spread themselves as a plague over the face of this country. They began first in the capital of the kingdom in the year 1693, an aera, when few classes of men in this country knew their rights and privileges as subjects, or if they had been as well understood as at present, were unacquainted with the mode of application to parliament; all of which circumstances, contributed to the Bill in favours of the town of
Edinburgh
passing without opposition imposing a duty of
two pennies Scots
on the pint of all
malt liquors
brewed, tap'd, or vended within the privileges of said city. From which not only the Burrows and towns of consequence, but every petty town have taken the hint, and have successively applied to Parliament for similar Acts, and is now become almost an universal tax on this country,
viz.
the towns of
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Dunbar, Kelso, Arbroath, Dalkeith, Preston-pans, Bo-ness, Paisley, Port-glasgow, Greenock,
&c. and there is great reason to believe, that private gentlemen, who have the smallest villages situated on navigable rivers, and who are not yet arrived at such a degree of consequence as to have a magistrate of any kind, allured by the surprising revenue which this tax raises, intend applying to Parliament for grants of the same nature; and Parliament, by no opposition having ever been made, have overlooked them as unconnected either with the revenue, the landed interest, or the welfare of the people in general, but which are connected with all these three to a degree of more consequence than is in general understood or attended to.
It is the universal complaint, that the
malt liquors
of
Scotland,
particularly
porter
and
pale malt liquors,
are not equal in quality to that brewed in
London,
and the other towns in
England,
but it ceases to be a matter of any wonder, when the Public are informed that the
malt liquors
of
Scotland
is loaded with 30
per cent.
of the King's excise in
impost
payable to royal borrows and other smaller towns.
The trifling opinion, which the country entertains of
two pennies Scots,
and mankind in general of the fractions of a penny, has made this oppressive tax pass unnoticed, not only by parliament, but by the landed interest of this country, both of whom ought to have set themselves in opposition to so partial and oppressive a burthen on this part of the kingdom. Trifling as
two pennies Scots
may appear, when taken by the pint, it is no less than 1 s. sterling on every 9 gallons which is 1/9 of the whole value of
malt liquor
at 1 s.
per
gallon; but burthensome and oppressive as this must appear to every considerate person, it is enormous when considered as a tax added to the excise, which is so heavy already, that when Lord North in the year 1779, laid 5
per cent.
on the amount of the customs and excise, out of compassion to the laborious part of the nation who are the consumers of
malt liquors,
he exempted the brewery in both kingdoms; and in his subsequent taxes he has still paid such an attention to the brewery (no doubt from a consciousness of its not being able to bear more) that he has all along exempted it, and even in the additional taxes on the
malt,
he provided a drawback of 10 d.
per
barrel on all
malt liquor
above the denomination of
small beer,
and 3 d.
per
barrel on this last species, in lieu of the additional duty on the
malt,
and altho' this drawback is not an exact equivalent for the additional duty on the
malt,
yet it is plain he meant it to be so, according to the best of his judgment and the information he had
For every 10⅔ Gallons Scots (of all strong ale) which is equal to a barrel of 34 Gallons Winchester measure, the neat Excise
L0
7
1½ 6/2
For every 10⅔ Gallons Scots, of small Beer Do.
0
1
2¼ 1/13
 
L0
8
3¼
/
For the above two barrels of
malt liquor,
which is 21⅓ gallons, the brewer in
Scotland
pays 2 s. 4 d⅓. of
impost,
which every body will find that will take the trouble of calculating is upon 8 s. 3 d. the amount of the excise on a barrel of
porter
and a barrel of
small beer,
no less than within the meerest trifle of 30
per cent.
upon the amount of the duty taken complexly; and on
small beer
is no less than the exact double duty. What would the Noblemen and Gentlemen and Inhabitants of
Scotland
say, were Government to lay a double tax or even 30
per cent.
on the
malt liquor
of Scotland more than in England? The very mention of it must strike every person of any consideration with astonishment, how any species of manufacture could support such a load of taxes, especially when it is considered that the price of no kind of
malt liquor
has been raised in Scotland, notwithstanding of this enormous local tax. The fact is, that at the time the
impost
was imposed, the brewers found themselves in possession of a pretty good trade from the very low price of materials at that time, and having no denomination of money equivolent to
two pennies
Scots the amount of the tax, and not being allowed by the law to add it to the price of the pint or gallon, without exposing themselves to be charged the next highest duty,
viz. strong ale,
were under the necessity, in order to indemnify themselves of taking the value of the tax (which is one ninth) out of the quality of the liquor.
Every body will see what a debasement of the liquor would ensue by taking the ninth part of malt out of the quality; to this debasement of the liquor must be attributed the decrease of the brewing business in Scotland, which is evidently demonstrated by the decrease of the malt tax, as any body may be informed of, by appyling to the Excise Office at Edinburgh. This debasement of the liquor does not operate in a common and ordinary proportion on the interest of the country, but in a threefold proportion. It is not only the loss of 1/9 part of the consumption of the barley to the landed interest and to the farmer, but also 1/9 part of the revenue of the malt tax to Government, besides this debasement of the
malt liquor,
makes at the most moderate calculation 1/9 less consumption of the liquor that is brewed, and 1/9 decrease of quantity of malt is 2/9=¼ nearly, (being only 1/36 part less) so that it is plain this tax does not operate to the prejudice of the revenue as 1/9, but as ¼ decrease on the revenue of
malt,
likewise not as 1/9 but as ¼ decrease of barley to the prejudice of the landed interest.
This tax in proportion as it decreases the revenue of the
malt
tax 2/9, it decreases the revenue of the excise on the ale in the proportion of one ninth less consumed than would have been if this tax had not taken place, so that it affects government in no less a proportion than 3/9, or ⅓ loss on the revenue of excise in Scotland.
The author might have availed himself of Mr. Arnot's is history of Edinburgh,
page
521, for the incontestible evidence of the above facts, (who had full access to the records of the city) wherein he shows, that in the year 1724, at or after the time that the town obtained an act extending the impost to the parishes of St.
Cuthbert
's,
Canongate, South
and
North Leiths,
that the revenue of the impost paid to the town of
Edinburgh
was no less a sum annually in the year
1724—
L. 7939
16
0
1736
6101
10
8
1750
4758
18
8
1764
3550
00
0
1776
2197
00
0
During the period betwixt 169
first act the town of Edinburgh procured for levying an impost, which was confined to the city alone, the impost did not exceed
l.
4000 annually, because, as soon as the act took place, the greatest part of the brewers either removed out of the town, or settled in the invirons of the city, which included the above parishes. The amount of this noble income of
l.
7939 16
s.
shews in the most forcible manner the great extent and flourishing state of the brewing business at said period. For at 16 d. every 12 gallons, equal to an English barrel of 36
Winchester
gallons, it is 119, 097 barrels, and in the year 1776, a period not seven years ago, the number of barrels brewed, and consequently that paid revenue to government (for the town of
Edinburgh
takes the charge of the impost from the gaugers return) was no more than 32, 955 barrels, so that there is an annual decrease, comparing these two periods together, of 86, 142 barrels, and suppposing them all
two penny ale,
and at the old duty of 2 s.
per
barrel, is no less a sum than an annual loss to Government of
l.
8614 12 s. on the excise only, for the presumption is, that the revenue on the brewery, would not have fallen short of the above quantity, had the
impost act
not taken place, as the nation instead of a retrograde motion toward
ension has been advancing since that period, (
viz.
the year 1724) in a rapid progress to wealth and opulence, and therefore no other good cause can be assigned for the decrease of the revenue on this article, but the debasement of the liquor which took place in consequence thereof. On the same principle the
malt duty
has likewise fallen short in proportion, for 119, 097 barrels the amount of the quantity brewed in the year 1724 in the city of
Edinburgh,
allowing six bushels
Winchester
measure to every 2¼ barrels or 27 gallons of
two penny,
will take 317, 592 bushels, which at 4½
per
bushel the duty exigible till the year 1776 amounts to
l.
5954 17
s.
In that year the impost revenue of the town of Edinburgh, had fallen to 32, 955 barrels only, which at the above calculation,
viz.
six bushels to every 2¼ barrels produces 87, 880 bushels, at 4½ is
 
Bushels.
l. 1647
15
0
Malt made in Edinburgh in 1724
317, 592 at 4½
5954
17
0
Ditto 1776
87, 880
ditto
1647
15
0
 
229, 712
4307
2
0
By the above calculation there is lost annually on the
ale duty
l. 8614
12
0
On the
malt duty
annually as above
4307
2
0
Lost to the country on the reve
921
14
0
This enormous sum is not all the loss that the country has sustained by this absurd tax, for the landed interest has lost the consumption of 38, 285 bolls of barley at 10
s. per
boll, (a very moderate medium price) is the immense sum annually of
l. 19142
0
0
Lost annually
l. 32,063
14
0
If the principle of these calculations is founded on right reason and common sense, this country has lost betwixt 1693, and the present period (88 years) the enormous sum of
l.
2, 821, 544.
Few instances, perhaps, have occurred that shews in a more forcible light the dangerous tendency of admitting the most trifling tax to be levied on a common necessary of life. This estimation the author hopes, will be thought very moderate, when it is considered, that additional duties have been laid on both
malt
and
ale;
and the price of materials have been annually advancing during the above period, all of which shews, that the author's supposition of 1/9 less consumption of ale in consequence of the impost tax taking place in this country, from which all these calculations,
taken,
Are too, too well founded,
more especially when it is considered, that the above enormous sum has been lost to the country on the consumption of Edinburgh alone, exclusive of all the other parts of Scotland.
The author hopes, what he has said, will meet the attention of the Noblemen and Gentlemen, Lords of Council and Session, Barons of Exchequer, and Commissioners of Customs and Excise, as likewise the worthy Manufacturers and useful Mechanic and Labourer, who are also interested that this oppressive tax should be abolished in Scotland, to put them on a footing with their brethren manufacturers and labourers in England, as also house-holders of all denominations, whose interest it is to have as in England, a nourishing, sound and wholesome malt liquor.
The
impost acts
have the effect of a monoply against the inhabitants of every town where it is established, in loading with an additional tax, one of the commodities of life, and prevents people at a distance from relieving them by serving them better and cheaper than their own brewers either can or choose to do, it being the interest of every community, to open the most free communication for all sorts of provisions, and therefore it is their interest to oppose all such Acts.
In short, it is the interest of the community at large, and of the inhabitants of towns in particular to guard against magistrates introducing by act of parliament, and without their own consent; any species of taxation, and carefully watching over any bill in its progress through the House of Commons, and the author of this address takes the liberty to advise the inhabitants of corporated towns in all cases where magistrates propose getting new acts of parliament, to chuse a committee of the most worthy and respectful of their number, unconnected with the council, to watch over the steps the magistrates and council take in such a piece of business, and that they would always employ a council at law to take care of their interest in the House of Commons, the expence of which would be a mere trifle. But of all the ranks of men in the community, he would advise the brewers in Scotland at large, to be upon their guard when any revenue laws are applied for, more especially those whose avowed purpose is to subject them alone to a tax exclusive of the rest of the inhabitants, as all impost taxes on malt liquor are—taxes to the prejudice of the revenue, the landed interest, and the ruin of a respectable rank of citizens, who are subjected
partial, local and unequal tax which their brethren the brewers of England know nothing about.
It has been said, and is still averred by the abettors of this tax, that it is the inhabitants that pay the tax and not the brewers, and as this doctrine is industriously propagated among the inhabitants of the different towns, the author begs the reader's indulgence, until he explodes this magisterial doctrine calculated to mislead the well meaning citizen who would spurn the idea of contributing by his consent to load his neighbour and fellow-citizen with a burthensome and oppressive tax, of which he himself bears no part. It is well known that two-penny ale, at the Union of the two kingdoms, was sold at two-pence the Scots pint, the brewer had then the malt 50
per Cent.
cheaper than at present, and yet every body knows, that the two-penny ale all over Scotland, is sold at the same price at this very moment. If this is the fact, the author begs the favour that the advocates for this impost tax will say, where the impost (which is ⅙ of a penny) is added to the price: But however trifling it appears on the pint, it is 1⅓ of a penny on the gallon, and on a barrel of 36
chester measure, or twelve Scots gallons, is 16 d. which is the exact duty of excise on small beer, and consequently
small beer in Scotland,
pays exactly double duty of what it is charged with in England. It is in this way (say the trifling denomination of the tax) that the iniquity and oppression of it has escaped the notice of the legislature and all good citizens. And unless the inhabitants at large pay the tax, where is the equity of charging a few individuals as much as all the inhabitants besides, for the ornamenting of any town whatever. And what is more extraordinary, perhaps those very people who pay this oppressive tax, do not reside within the precincts of the town, as is the case in many places having an impost. In short, every view you take of this tax, it is fraught with absurdity.
It is much to the honour of this country at the present period, that a spirit of patriotism prevails among the Noblemen and Gentlemen, to promote the manufactures of their own country, which if followed out with steadiness and perseverance will raise this country to a degree of opulence unknown to former ages. It is therefore from them we are to expect
pport in opposition to all our oppressions, and as there never was at any period, a Prime Minister, who seemed to be more the friend of the manufacturer, or lower class of the people, we have every reason to expect, that he will oppose attempts, that are prejudicial to them in any shape, provided the representatives in parliament from Scotland, show a truly spirited zeal for the public welfare. It is to them we have to look for redress, and as they are mostly men of patriotic principles, we cannot entertain a doubt, but they will be the guardians of our interest. The author, in the firm persuasion that the Legislature and Public at large, will unite in redressing the evil complained of,
REMAINS, Their most obedient, humble servant, JOHN CUNNINGHAM, Senr .
(BREWER GREENOCK.)