other, so in this particular case, the king (previous
to the commencement of hostilities) gave the nation ample satisfaction
for the errors of his former conduct, by passing an act[c], whereby he
renounced all power in the crown of levying the duty of tonnage and
poundage, without the express consent of parliament; and also all
power of imposition upon any merchandizes whatever. Upon the
restoration this duty was granted to king Charles the second for life,
and so it was to his two immediate successors; but now by three
several statutes, 9 Ann. c. 6. 1 Geo. I. c. 12. and 3 Geo. I. c. 7. it
is made perpetual and mortgaged for the debt of the publick. The
customs, thus imposed by parliament, are chiefly contained in two
books of rates, set forth by parliamentary authority[d]; one signed by
sir Harbottle Grimston, speaker of the house of commons in Charles the
second's time; and the other an additional one signed by sir Spenser
Compton, speaker in the reign of George the first; to which also
subsequent additions have been made. Aliens pay a larger proportion
than natural subjects, which is what is now generally understood by
the aliens' duty; to be exempted from which is one principal cause of
the frequent applications to parliament for acts of naturalization.

[Footnote a: Dav. 12.]

[Footnote b: Stat. 6 Hen. VIII. c. 14.]

[Footnote c: 16 Car. I. c. 8.]

[Footnote d: Stat. 12 Car. II. c. 4. 11 Geo. I. c. 7.]

THESE customs are then, we see, a tax immediately paid by the
merchant, although ultimately by the consumer. And yet these are the
duties felt least by the people; and, if prudently managed, the people
hardly consider that they pay them at all. For the merchant is easy,
being sensible he does not pay them for himself; and the consumer, who
really pays them, confounds them with the price of the commodity: in
the same manner as Tacitus observes, that the emperor Nero gained the
reputation of abolishing the tax on the sale of slaves, though he only
transferred it from the buyer to the seller; so that it was, as he
expresses it, "_remissum magis specie, quam vi: quia cum venditor
pendere juberetur, in partem pretii emptoribus accrescebat_[e]." But
this inconvenience attends it on the other hand, that these imposts,
if too heavy, are a check and cramp upon trade; and especially when
the value of the commodity bears little or no proportion to the
quantity of the duty imposed. This in consequence gives rise also to
s