A.D. 1689 
—-1776. 
and as to 
the desira- 
bility of 
destribut- 
ng 
504 PARLIAMENTARY COLBERTISM 
itself against the maintenance of a restriction which had 
always been a matter of controversy. 
Another fundamental principle of Parliamentary Col- 
pertism had been that taxation should be levied, so far 
as possible, in forms that were not unfavourable to the 
industry of the country. This had been the basis of 
Walpole’s scheme, whereas Davenant and the Tories at- 
tached the first importance to questions connected with 
the incidence of taxation. They desired that contributions 
should be drawn from all classes of the community, though 
the burden should be made to rest as lightly as possible on 
those who were least able to bear it; and these principles 
were clearly borne in mind in Pitt's fiscal reforms. Many of 
these were of an administrative character®, but his view as 
i The party cleavage on the policy of the Navigation Acts is not so marked as 
m other questions. Child, and more doubtfully Davenant, pronounced in their 
favour. Their alleged advantage in promoting shipping was probably more 
ipparent in some trades, e.g., the East India Trade, than in others. 
t The Tory tradition was maintained by Lord Liverpool ; see Dict. Pol. Ec.,8.v. 
3 Owing to the gradual additions which had been made to the sums levied, the 
sustoms rates were extraordinarily confused ; each article imported paid a number 
of separate taxes which were answered under different headings. The collection 
and administration of such a complicated system was most wasteful; while the 
taxes, when taken together, were so high as to interfere seriously with the 
consumption of the article and to offer a great temptation to the smuggler. Adam 
Smith had laid stress on these matters, and had advocated the policy of simpli- 
lying the departments and diminishing the taxes in the hope of lessening the 
trauds and of putting down smuggling. The duty on tea was reduced from 119 to 
12} per cent. But such a considerable change appeared to be a very rash step. 
As Adam Smith had pointed out, what was required was an entire change of 
system (Wealth of Nations, 874). On the pressure of existing taxes, see Parl. 
Hist., xx1. 398 (Bunbury); but while Pitt set himself to face the difficulties of 
sarrying this through, he was also determined to have & sufficient margin in case 
the project did not answer his expectations. He therefore levied additional 
duties on windows and on houses, by the Commutation Act (1784); and was thus 
able to make his reduction and to wait for the expected expansion of the revenue 
without hampering any of the departments of Government. The reform thus 
initiated established Pitt's reputation as a financier; he also set to work to 
improve the fiscal administration by grouping a certain number of exactions on 
carriages, men-servants, horses, etc., and treating them as Assessed Taxes 
Dowell, rm. 188, 1785), which fell almost entirely upon the richer classes. In 
a somewhat similar fashion the complicated customs duties were replaced by 
a single tax on each article; the methods of collection were improved, and the 
proceeds of the whole were lumped together as a Consolidated Fund (1787), 
instead of being kept under separate accounts. Pitt's success, in carrying 
through these simplifications and changes, was partly due to the care he took to 
provide some new form of revenue which might tide him over the period of 
transition (75. 192).